No Expense Spared

Jaipur, India -- October 24-26 -- Day 2-4

Monday and Tuesday were not too different except we ventured out to one of the bazaar areas to shop. We were hoping to find some Christmas gifts but didn't have much luck. Later, on Monday, after lunch and a nap, I left everyone watching Miss Congeniality to search out the Puma and Adidas shops I’d seen on Google. A week or so ago, I misplaced the one pair of shorts I brought from home so was now down to a single pair of pants with zip-off legs.

One man in the Wildcraft outdoors shop, Jahi, was very excited to meet me since his brother also lived in the US. He proclaimed “I love America” and after I paid for the shorts, seemed reluctant to let our meeting end.  He walked me down the street to what looked like a jewelry shop (did he own it?) and also mentioned drinking chai together. I decided it was best to be on my way despite the fact he also, apparently, owned a tuk-tuk and was more than happy to take me back to the hotel. A quick detour to a man selling flowers, where I spared no expense and got all the pink and yellow gerbers, to give Meg a surprise when I got home. [Meg's Note: It was the neatest, sweetest, surprise!]

To my amazement, later that night, I actually ran into Jahi again.  While we all were walking down one of the dusty and chaotic roads to the Copper Chimney restaurant, Jahi suddenly appeared, happily greeting me and the rest of the family. He led us across the road where he proudly showed off his tuk-tuk, complete with the names of his three children on the windshield. Once again, he insisted on giving us a ride to where we wanted to go, but we truthfully explained that we really did just want to walk.

As we negotiated the next street corner, zigzagging between street stands, parked motorcycles, and pedestrians, Jahi came roaring by in his tuk-tuk and two minutes later, had parked and was happily accompanying us along the crowded sidewalks asking the age of the kids as we went. When we found the restaurant a few minutes later we said our goodbyes, both to Jahi and another man, a salesman anxious to “give” Dex and Kylie a black and gold, hand-sized elephant figurine.  Although I certainly nothing untoward about Jahi or his enthusiasm for being with us, it was still a relief to get inside and I found myself hoping he would not be waiting when we were finally done. Unsolicited attention just seems to go with the territory. As uncomfortable as it sometimes feels, I’ve recently found myself completely ignoring those doggedly trying to get my attention, sometimes even when standing just a feet away. Dex was frustrated at the park the other day because eventually, a few people gathered around to watch them play.  I suspect what we sometimes experience here is just a hint of what it would be like to be famous and anonymity is a scarce commodity.

Wednesday, our last day in Jaipur, gave us a chance to do all the things that had become part of our routine: we had a late breakfast buffet at the hotel restaurant, made our way to the pool for a refreshing swim, took a walk to the park to let the kids play with their toys (while I went for a run, and Meg played Candy Crush, Words with Friends, etc), took a tuk-tuk to do some shopping at the central Bazaar, and made two visits to our favorite restaurant, the Four Seasons. We had grown so used to seeing the head manager at the restaurant that he was really starting to feel like family. In fact, he told us on our fifth and final visit, that he was disappointed we were leaving as he had thought to invite us to celebrate the upcoming Dawali celebration with his family. What a bummer. Nevertheless, it's been fun to see the colored lights being hung on all the buildings. Just tonight, our hotel was sporting a bright pink glow from a series of colored spotlights.

During our shopping excursion this afternoon, Meg and Dex bought a couple beautiful tie dye scarfs. Kylie was intent on buying a dress, but unfortunately, the one she liked -- bright yellow, red, and green with plenty of sparkles -- was too long and just not practical for traveling. Nevertheless, once back at the hotel, the staff was more than happy to help the kids model the new “clothes”. Once adorned, Kylie became a minor celebrity attracting tons of attention (and picture taking) both at the hotel and the restaurant.

At 9:50, we finally asked for our bags out of the storage room and left our home away from (well, actually, quite a bit nicer than our home). A two-hour delay pushed our expected departure back from 23:00 to 01:00. From the looks of it, there were plenty of other people settling in for the long haul. On the bright side, our 6:35 arrival in Udaipur would now be a much more respectable 8:35 a.m.