When traveling for an extended period of time, it is imperative that one packs the right amount of clothing, electronics, personal items, and maybe most importantly, medicine. Other travel bloggers online have advised against pre-packing medicine since all of the necessary remedies are readily available no matter where you are in the world. This didn't make sense to us for many reasons: there are long stretches of train/bus/plane travel where it is not possible to acquire medicine, communicating effectively with someone who does not speak our language is not always possible, and because when it comes to stomach issues, they tend to arrive rather quickly. In India, it happens within minutes. Luckily for us, Nadine is an excellent packer. In her bag there is a slew of medicine for any unfortunate situation that may arise, diarrhea pills included.
The strongest pill in the world, however, could not stop onslaught that India would throw at Ben. One small cup of "drinking water" from the public train station in Agra put him out of commission for nearly 48 hours.
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, the largest of the 28 states in India. It's nicknamed "the Pink City" for the soft pink shade on the majority of the city buildings. It was painted this color to welcome Queen Victoria when she paid the city a visit in 1876. We had a heard tales the Jaipur's beauty long before we came, and were stoked to explore the city.
It also happened to be Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement in the Jewish religion. Traditionally Jews are supposed to fast, abstaining from food, water, and medicine from the sundown the night before to sundown the following day. Ironically, due to Ben's illness, eating wasn't an option anyway. Nothing would stay down. Nadine, bless her heart, also spent the day fasting. Even though we aren't supposed to, Ben drank water and took medicine. Also on Yom Kippur Jews aren't supposed to use electricity, use a car, spend money, or anything else besides rest, pray, and atone for the sins of the previous year. We did all those those several times over. Nobody is perfect.
In the afternoon Ben mustered up the strength to get out of bed and hit the down.
The first stop was Hawa Mahal, Jaipur's most recognizable building.
Next we went to Jal Mahal, a palace resting in the middle of a lake just outside the city.
FYI, mahal means "palace" in Arabic, which was borrowed in India. The palace and surround scenery was gorgeous, but it's tough to fully appreciate the moment when the shorelines are full of trash and locals trying to sell you their cheap goods. We watched as a few guys
Our third and final stop was the Amber Palace, located in a town called Amer, a 45 minute drive from Jaipur. Aside from the Taj Majal, it was easily the nicest place we had seen in India. Yes there was trash everywhere, and the lake outside was covered by some weird fungus, but putting that aside, the place was majestic. Wild monkeys, dogs, and goats roamed the Palace grounds. There were signs to beware of crocodiles, but we weren't lucky enough to spot on. There was also a Bollywood movie filming a few scenes at the Palace, so that was cool to watch for a few minutes.
On our way home we saw dozens of black pigs!
One of the many traditions Nadine's family has is to break the fasting of Yom Kippur in a very specific way. No matter what country, no matter what time zone, no matter who is present, each member of their family will go to the closest McDonald's, order french fries, and send a selfie to the WhatsApp family group chat. This year would be no different. On back to back nights, we ate at Mickey D's :)
Instead of eating a full meal, we went across the street to a large, Western style mall that appeared out of place in India. Still sick of traditional Indian food, we had our first proper meal of the day at Domino's.
The night commenced after we packed our bags in anticipation of our early flight to Goa the following day.
Indian Tracker:
Diarrhea Free Nadine 6 days
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