Jaipur

So this weekend me and three of the other volunteers traveled to Jaipur, also known as the Pink City. You can see why when you get there. So many of the buildings and walls are painted bright pink. It is about a 6-7 hour drive from Delhi so we left early afternoon on Friday. We got in at around 7 o'clock pm and checked into our fancy schmancy hotel. It's so strange here how there is the super super wealthy right next to the   extremely impoverished. Like back in the states, you know when you've reached an area of significant wealth, because the neighborhood changes. The shrubs are trimmed and you see the gated communities, you can just tell. But here in India, it's so different. There will be a luxurious resort, but then less than 100 meters away, a group of people laying on the streets and sleeping in tents. Very strange. Anyway so we got to our hotel and basically just crashed because we were so tired. I woke up Saturday feeling sick again. Ugh I hate being sick. I thought I could tough it out because I really wanted to see Jaipur. That morning we were scheduled to go to the Amber Fort and ride elephants. Now riding elephants was something I just could not pass up didn't matter how bad I felt. We got to the fort and were just greeted by these huge 4 legged creatures with their trunks all painted and ready to take us up to the fort. It was so cool. Me and Amanda (another volunteer) rode on a young girl elephant named Mooney. She was so cute. We got to the top of the fort and it was amazing. The fort was beyond what I expected and it gave a magnificent view of Jaipur. Really really beautiful. Unfortunately, I was feeling really sick, and I decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a while. So other than the Amber Fort, I really didn't see much of Jaipur on Saturday. Bummer, I know, but I did end up feeling better on Sunday. Sunday we went to the Gem Palace which is basically this ginormous jewelry store that specializes in rare gemstones and really expensive stuff that I and basically no one else in Jaipur can actually afford. Haha, but it was cool to go inside. This place had quite the celebrity customer reputation. Framed photos of Princess Diana and the Queen of England getting their jewelry from the Gem Palace, as well as, Gwyneth Paltrow, Prince Charles, Bill Clinton and some other people I didn't recognize. After the Gem Palace we went to the Monkey Temple. That was really cool because the temple was actually built into the side of a huge rock wall. Sadly, we only saw like 5 monkeys there. But those monkeys are super scary and aggressive, so we only spent like 10 minutes there. After that we were so ready to head back to Delhi. Overall a solid second weekend here in India. Fortunately, I am feeling much better than I did on Saturday, and I wish you guys all well back home! Namaste!