New Year's Day

LGiven the night we had it was a miracle everyone was in great health the next day. But either way it didn't matter, we had things to do and people to see. Today consisted on visiting the world's largest sundial (Jantar Mantar) as well as the City Palace.

We started at the city palace. Our tour guide took us to a museum that housed royal clothing. My favorite items were from a king so large only an elephant could lift him. He was 500 lbs and 7 feet tall. I honestly thought this king was a myth, but Bandhana assured me he really did exist. His clothes were ridiculous. We couldn't take pictures, so I drew what it looked like:

After that we toured the palace grounds which have been repurposed to serve other purposes like coffee shops and other businesses.

Then we went to see the giant sundial. Oddly enough we never actually went close enough to it to actually see it. We just looked at about a dozen of other oversized sun dials and other astrological devices. The day was already beginning to feel long, so when we were given 15 minutes to explore I started to head towards a shady bench. (A lovely trait I got from my dad). But on my way to bench heaven I had a life changing though:

"I did not fly 14.5 hours to India to sit on a f*#€%ing bench."

So I didn't. I caught up to my friends, and we all found our astrological signs, and joined a random Indians family home video.

Many of us thought our day was done then, but we went back to the palace area to see more. On our way we saw snake charmers. Even though the snakes were defanged, I kept a safe distance; the snakes were terrifying.

Connor and Courtney with the snake charmer.

Once we got back to the palace, we saw artists at work and other rooms used in the past. Our guide also brought us to a room that held ancient weaponry. He must have really hated us because at the end of our tour he took us to a pashmina scarf shop. The "presentation" turned into a sales pitch real fast. It felt like a live QBC commercial that you couldn't leave. I actually considered fainting to get out of it. 

No one wanted to be rude and just get up and leave. Once again, Bandhana came to our rescue. We'd probably still be there if it hadn't been for her.

After leaving the scarf shop we had a choice: go to the Jaipur Market or go back to the hotel. 

Now I know I said I didn't come all this way to sit on a bench, but I also didn't come kill myself by shopping and exhaustion. I went home, because at this point we all wanted to go out later.

When I finally did wake up from my nap I was greated with food from a 300 year old resturant my roommate, Alyssa, thought I might. No one was going out, so I happily ate my food and went back to sleep.

एक कमबख्त बेंच पर बैठने के लिए भारत को 14.5 घंटे उड़ नहीं था (I did not fly 14.5 hours to India to sit on a f*#€%ing bench.)