City Palace and Hawa Mahal

I finally found Jaipur's City Palace and Hawa Mahal. I only saw the outsides, because I didn't want to spend the money. The walk there was an experience. You pass through the main bazaar. It's located on a wide avenue and the sidewalks are relatively clear. It's much more pleasant than the chaotic Old Delhi bazaars, if not as memorible. I was feeling friendly and said hello to a man in rags walking next to me. He said hello back and I thought our interaction was done. He had other ideas. He then asked for 10 rupees. Apparently, a "hello" costs you 10 rupees here.

The main bazaar was littered with pollution. It got to me a little bit. It gets to the locals too. People are always spitting. Men wear bandanas over their mouths and noses. Young women wrap their faces and arms in scarves, although that might be for another reason. Whatever the reason, it doesn't do me any good to have all the young ladies covered up.

Of the couple dozen people who I have approached on this trip to India, all have been helpful. Of the hundreds of people who have approached me, only one genuinely wanted to give me directions. The rest haven't had my best interest at heart. Today, as I walking through the nicer part of Jaipur, around the Jai Singh statue, a young man rode his motorcycle up beside me. Within two minutes of the conversation, he had asked for my full name, if I had a cell phone, the name of my hotel, and my email address. I didn't give him any of it. He must be new to the scam business.

Since last night, I've gone a little crazy while in public. I sing Only Fools Rush In and Skee lo's I Wish I Was A Little Bit Taller. I yell random things like the Mike Singletary look-alike on the Letterman show. For the most part, people leave me alone then, because they think I'm nuts. My new thing is, when asked, "Where you want to go?" by a rickshaw driver, to reply, "Away from you!" Oh, snap! I've also asked the rickshaw drivers who they think is better, Manny Pacquiao or Miguel Cotto. Two went for Pacquiao (probably, just repeating what I said), 5 wanted to take me to the park, and one mistook Miguel Cotto for Monkey Temple. I told him that was racist.

There's an old saying in Jaipur, we have it Moldova, I think you have it in Jaipur, that goes, 'I don't want to go to the fucking Monkey Temple. The monkeys will shit on me.' One guy asked if I liked elephants. I told him that I did not because an elephant did something terrible to my (ficticious) sister, but I won't tell you the terrible thing I told him. Then he told me he has a wife and a baby daughter, which wasn't the logical place for that conversation to go. In any event, ESPN-Star cut away from the Yankees game in the 11th, but at least came back before the end. They never came back after leaving the Red Sox game in the 7th. I was pissed!