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Breakfast was very nice at our hotel-the Indian selection was rice with vegetables, and deep fried vegetable balls that tasted a bit like butternut squash. The bread for toast was brown and actually was a bit filling comapred to white toast we've been having which has the same effect as eating air for me. We both had scrambled egg to top it. Alice dared to have some of the fruit and has been ok.
Mahesh drove us and our tour guide to Amber fort. the guide was telling us that we had the same facial features and could be sisters. We stopped for a photo, and we weren't allowed to take it how we wanted-the guide told us how to stand. A snake charmer let his snake out the basket right near our car!
We turned down the chance to ride an elephant up to the fort (Alice did it before and they were cruel to them) so we went up by car. Again, the guide told us where to stand for our phtographs, and we didn't go round at the pace we wanted to. We saw Antonia, and so she tagged along in our tour which worked out well since most of the time the guide did the tour in SPanish. He kept saying that he normally charges but if he can't get paid he does free tours, because if he doesn't work he just eats and sleeps which is bad for his health. On the way back to Jaipur, we stopped for a photo of the Lake PAlace which is goiung to be turned into a hotel- I can't wait to come back and stay!
We went to a textile factory (which is one of the sort of places that tour guides get commision from) and had a demonstartion of hand block printing. We asked whether we could have the sample elephant print and he said that we could. Then he took us upstairs and offered us a drink of pepsi and started trying to sell us different textiles. I asked to see the trousers but I didn't like any of them, so he showed us the fabric which they can make troiusers form for you at no extra cost. He was trying to convince us that one particular fabric wasn't see through despite the fact his fingers were clearly visible beneath it. We didn't even get shown out, let alone get the elephant sample but at least we got a free coke!
Our way round the city palace was like before at the amber fort- a bit rushed and dictated by the guide (I know this is fairly ovbiouos, but it would have been nice to have spent a bit longer in the textile bit for example). The guide said that the Maharaja's daughter fell in love with one of his old workers who ignored him after that.
There was a market where the sellers had the space rent free because the Maharaja wanted to preserve traditional Rajasthan handicrafts, but the paintings weren't in as fine a detail as in Bikaneer.
The guyide recommended us going to the industrail outlet, out of the city where they sold the clothes at wholesale prices. It started off well as they did another demonstration for us and let us do one print, and let us see the workers at the sewing machines but then the man lead us over the road (to which the guide later exclaimed 'why did you go over there, that's the expensive touristy bit!'. He gave us a deep fried bread/pastry type thing with a spicy onion filling, and as we sat down to eat them, a mouse bounded from one side of the room to the other, at which point I began to notice a whole bunch of them in the corner.
After we had finished, he started shwoing us some scarves, skirts, trousers and tops. I nearly brought some elephant print hareem trousers, but at the time decided I wanted some straight trousers instead (although I keep changin my mind). Alice brought some Xmas pressie and a nice skirt.
The point at which I started to feel really uncormfatable was when he dressed us in saris. First he wrapped them round our waist, tucking it into our waistbands, but then he smoothed them down over our bums. Then he folded them concertina style and yanked our waistbands and pants forward tucking the sari in, but I'm sure he delibrately pulled them so that he could see down. The he wrapped the sari round our top half and brushed against my chest!
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at a shop to get some hand sanitizer and water which cost us Rs203. The shopkeeper asked us if we had the 3 but we didn't so offered to pay Rs210, but he only charged us Rs200!
Before going to dinner, we picked up Antonia (from hew new hotel, just over the road from the one she was supposed to be staying in but refused), and got taked to a gem shop (Jaipur is known as Pink City, Gem city and Handblock printing City). Some of the rings were really nice despite the fact I'm not really a jewellry person.
Went to the same restaurant, I had cheese steak sizzler and Alice had veg steak sizzler- the 'steak' was cooked in tomato sauce and served with veg and chips. Antonia had nothing as she doesn't trust the food. We refused to dance tonight!
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