Pink City

We arrived in Jaipur mid-day, ate lunch, and checked in to our hotel - the Holiday Inn. Jaipur is known as the Pink City because all of the buildings are washed with a pink paint. Much less chaotic than Delhi, we set out in the afternoon to all of the street shopping to look for Indian goodies. Unlike the US, India is all about the bargaining, much to my dismay. Fortunately, our friend Ash, who is Indian, was our negotiator for everything we purchased. Unlike what we were taught in b-school, our aim was to not make the pie bigger.

After many tiring hours of shopping, I walked away with a couple handmade purses, two shawls, two decorative pillowcases, all for the low low price of 900 rupees. The biggest triumph was one shawl initially priced at 1250 rupees - I bought it for 350. (45 rupees per $1). At the last store we went to, the shop owner knew about 5 different languages - we knew we were in trouble. Athought we were still able to bargain, the prices were not quite as good.

The next we day, we went to the following attractions:

• Amber Fort
• Observatory
• Palace of Winds
• City Palace

We also went to a government store where the prices are fixed - no bargaining - which was nice. Before heading here, our "tour guide" took us to some very expensive shops where he received a payment for simply taking us there, and would receive a commission if we purchased anything. The guide books say this is common practice for tour guides as well as taxi drivers.

We also did some shopping at the City Palace, where Jeremy and I purchased some nice original art of Indian miniature paintings, famous in this area.

We're about to head to our next destination in India, where there will be more cyber cafes - more to come.