Jaipur: Day 2 in the Pink City

Our next day in Jaipur was a bit shorter because we had to catch a train for Jodhpur that evening.  We still got some fun sightseeing in!  Three of us went with Shakeer as well...ahh, our good friend, Shakeer.  We all became such good friends and had a lot of fun.  He also had a big crush on Leanna, so that made the journey fun :)

First, Shakeer took us to the Monkey Temple.  This temple was built on the top of a small mountain/hill.  We had to climb up all the way to get to the temple...but of course, this meant walking past the most monkeys I have seen in my life.  They were everywhere and eerily comfortable with humans around...because everyone feeds them, of course!  We followed the trend and fed them some peanuts.  I'll be honest, I was terrified.  But I did it...here is the proof: 

My new friend

Some more yoga from the monkey temple

After the money temple, we went...shopping!  What is a trip to Jaipur without going to shopping?  First, Shakeer took us to this jewelry shop.  We had to get off the rickshaw and walk most of the way, winding through gullies and taking turns through the innards of the market.  Let's just say I probably would not have been able to find my way out.  The jewelry shop owner was a good friend of Shakeer, so we knew we were getting the real deal on our prices and quality.  I bought a silver ring with a green stone in the middle.  While we were there, we met an Aussie girl who had been traveling through India for a month and two girls from France who were doing the same sort of thing.  It was quite the international scene in that tiny store!

Our last stop was a textile store.  This owner was also a friend of Shakeer's (was everyone in Jaipur a friend of Shakeer?  Sometimes I wonder...).  The store had the most amazing scarves, bed spreads, and other textiles.  We found out two amazing facts:

1. The store Anthropologie (here's the website) buys their scarves and bed spreads from this store! How cool is that?? Anthropologie of course sell their products for a ridiculous amount of money (over $50 for ONE scarf!), but since we were at the wholesaler, we got the wholesale price!
2. Oprah came to this store (yes, this store!) and bought a jacket from them.  She later wore it on her show..they have pictures to prove it and everything!  How crazy!

My home dog, Shakeer, chilling in the textile store

After shopping, off to the train station we went!  Jaipur was beautiful...I would go back in a heartbeat.  Next stop: Jodhpur!

The group with Nepali on the left and Shakeer on the right