5:30 Wake up, pack, and head down to the lobby to check out.

6:10 Sonny (our driver) is waiting for us. He packs our bags and we are off. We make good progress and see the same old smoggy traffic out on the road. However, this time the road is freshly paved (parts of it anyway.)

9:30 It must be our lot in life: Once again we get stuck in a massive traffic jam. Today seems like the hottest day yet. My clothes are drenched because of the humidity. Sonny and I try to have conversations along the way. But, his English isn't the best and my Hindi is completely non-existent.

13:00 Although we have seen many small, steep hills for some time now, we finally see our first true glimpse of Jaipur: The hills are lined with stone walls and towers - similar in sight maybe to the Great Wall of China. The road to Jaipur is very windy and it takes us past the Amber Fort. The whole area is wall after wall of Mughal architecture. As we approach the city I begin to realize why Jaipur is known as the Pink City.

Sonny, our driver, gets a little lost as he's never been to our hotel before. But, after a few inquiries, he pulls up to our hotel, The Rajputana Sheraton.

13:45 We check in and go up to our room, 1534. Within a minute or two, our tour guide calls us to ask us when we'll be ready to begin. We ask him to give us an hour so we can have lunch.

14:45 Our Jaipur tour begins with the pink walled part of the city. Hundreds of years ago the Maharajah ordered a new city (he was living in the Amber Fort at the time) to be built in this valley. He planned out the city very carefully and laid it out in square sections, much like Salt Lake City, our home. He also ordered that the walls be painted pink. Today these same ornate walles are filled with dirty shops - although the city is making an effort to restore the walls.

Our guide then takes us to the famous observatory. It is a huge complex of stone and marble structures. Each structure seems capable of working as a calender or clock. While climbing one of the larger structures, Ember and I meet three students from Norway. I can't remember their names but they are all really nice. After the observatory we move on to the city palace. This is where the present day Maharajah lives. We visit the courtyard, the historic museum, the weapons museum, and the art museum. When the Maharajah is in the palace two Indian flags are flown: a smaller flag atop a a larger one. In his absence only the larger one is flown. We then move to a carpet making shop. This is where it all turns sour. It becomes apparent that they will try to sell us something. The whole carpet making process is really cool though. The weavers commit carpet weaving patterns to memory through songs which they sing as they weave. After seeing the whole process they take us upstairs. Sure enough! They try to push carpets on us. They even show us that they have made it into the Guiness Book of World Records. None of us buy and we ask to be taken back to the hotel. The girls go back up to the room and I hit the streets. This time I don't care about buying anything. I just want to be out in the streets to try and figure out what this place is all about.

20:00 I return to the hotel long enough to change into my swimming suit. I then head down to the pool. While at the pool I meet a guy grom England named Jasper and his girlfriend, Meriam. They've been in Jaipur for ten days now and were previously in Kashmir on a house boat.

21:30 The girls come and get me so that we can all go and get ice cream.

22:00 I hang out at the pool.