Violently Ill!

Woke up at 7:30. Slept crappy. The bed here is hard.

I showered, went downstairs for breakfast and had an omelette and a banana pancake with honey (yum!)

My guide/tuk-tuk driver, Mr RAfid, came at 9:00 and off we went. First he took me thru parts of the Pink City, not quite pink anymore, more of a rusty brown. Then to Hawa Mahal, Palace of Winds.

Then to Jantar Mantar, the largest stone observatory in the world. Very cool. Giant sized instruments to make astronomical calculations. It was built from 1728-1734 and was the most accurate observatory of it's time.

Then to the City Palace and Museum, which was ok. Here one can find two massive silver urns, certified by Guiness as being the largest pieces of silver in the world. The stand about 5 feet high, and have a diameter of about 6 feet, I'm guessing. Also at the City Palace, as I was taking a picture of something, one of the workers there, dressed up in a maharaja robe (I guess) jumped into my picture, then wanted me to pay him for being in the picture. Oh brother.

There were lots and lots of foreigners at the observatory and city palace and museum. Most were on group tours and most were older and/or families. Hardly any backpacker types.

Then it was off to a fabric shop, where I saw how they make designs on the fabric, and semi-pressure to purchase. I didn't.

Then headed north of town to Amber Fort and Jaigarh Fort. I walked up to Amber Fort, but didn't stop. I wnated the grand view, so kept walking and walking and walking up to the fort on the top (which I thought was still part of the Amber Fort). It was blistering hot, and I knew I would be getting a sunburn today! When I got up there, I realized it was a different fort, Jaigarh Fort. Absolutely amazing views of Amber Fort and the water palace and the city of Jaipur. Jaigurh also has the worlds largest wheeled cannon. It's humongous, has a range of 22 miles and requires 100kg of powder per shot. It's was only ever fired once, and never used in combat. The fort was also flying to flags, meaning the current maharaja is in town.

Jaigarh is huge, it took my quite a while to find my way around it.

Finally walked back down to the Amber Fort, but didn't go in, I had spent too much time already at the other fort. IN the courtyard in front of the fort, are lots of monkeys, with tourists feeding them. One guy tried to trick the monkey, by holding out his emtpy hand, the monkey ain't stupid, though, and swatted his hand away. Everyone laughed.

Then I headed back to my tuk-tuk driver and stopped my the lake for pictures of the Jal Mahal, the WAter Palace.

I was pretty red at this point, from the sun.

Then he wanted to take me to a "fortune teller", and asked me if I believe in that. I told him know, then asked how much, and he said there is no charge (Ya right!) But I was curious, especially after the story about Soness and the fortune teller.

So, off we go, and when we get there, I learned that the fortune teller works out of a gem/jewellery shop. When we arrived, the mystic was busy with someone else, so we sat outside and watched the world go by, talking with other tuk-tuk drivers who were dropping other foreigners off at the gem shop for pressure sales. We sat outside for about 30 or 45 minutes.

Finally was taking inside the gem shop, there was another white couple in there learning all about gems. I was taken into a back room, where a guy was sitting behind a glass case with lots of gems and pieces of jewellery inside. He immediatelly remarked about my LiveStrong bracelet, which Lisa had given before I left. He said he had done some work for that organization. I thought he was lying, trying to generate a repoir with me, so prodded a bit, without giving up any information about the significance of the bracelet. I asked him what he has done for the organization. He said he as collected for them, and he also done some work for the cancer society in England. So, he wasn't lying. (For those not in the know, the LiveStong bracelet is essentially a yellow rubber band, LiveStong printed on it, and was started by Lance Armstrong (Tour De France winner many times). Lance had cancer, and he beat it, and he has started an organization to support cancer, by selling these bracelets.)

I first asked about payment, told him I was told that there was no charge. He reaffirmed that there was no charge, he has a very successful gem business, and he doesn't need my money, he does this for free. He spoke excellent english, and he asked were I was from, Canada, and he said he born in Victoria, BC. His family moved back to India when he was four years old, but he has returned to Canada many times to visit relatives.

He then started telling me what he does. He's not a fortune teller, he works with alternative healing methods, and can see people's aura's and help provide healing that conventional methods can't. Interesting.

He told me a few different things, like cancer and arthritis will be a problem for me. He made a remark that I have a problem with only one of my knees, which is true. When I do workouts (on a bike, for example), or running for long periods on a treadmill, one knee gets very sore. He told me my gem is CAt's Eye", and that cat's eye would be very helpful for my arthritis. He also told me about chakras, and my throat chakra is a problem. He said I am restless, and I can't meditate, but I need to learn, so I can "settle down" inside. He suggested yoga would be good for me to learn to meditate.

He wanted me to ask questions about things, health problems, or other "alternative" ideas, but I could come up with nothing. I'm pretty darn healthy overall, and don't really have any problems.

Mr Rafid took my back to my hotel, I paid him. A very enjoyable day.

I went up the room, showered in cool water (felt so nice!), then started writing in my journal. Went downstairs to order food (potato curry and rice) and wrote in my journal some more in the eating room. As I was writing, I had a diarrhea fart. Oops. Ran up to the room and had a small bout of diarrhea. Back downstairs, in a new pair of underwear, and sat down, about a minute later, I had to go again, really bad, all of a sudden. I ran upstairs, but didn't make it, some came out going up the stairs. Went into my room, and had a good diarrhea bout, put on a third pair of underwear and went back downstairs. My food came, and I ate about half of it, and I wasn't feeling well. Went back upstairs, and laid down, feeling hot and cold, sweaty, then I started barfing and diarrheaing like crazy. Over and over. I soiled two more underwear. Must do laundry tomorrow!

This went on for about 5 hours, about 11:00, I finally settled down. I was still slightly nauseas, but no more vomitting or diarrhea. I was still kind of hot/cold, and my joints all over were aching. I'm sure the hard bed didn't help.

I started reading in my Let's Go, and I believe I had sun poisoning. It's a condition that can come from excessive sun exposure, and causes nausea, vomitting and all that stuff. I don't think it was anything I ate or drank, as I had breakfast in the morning, then didn't eat anything, only had bottled water and bottled cola for the rest of the day.

I didn't sleep much the rest of the night, watched TV, and tossed and turned. Finally fell asleep, maybe 4:00 or 5:00 and got a few hours anyway. I'm feeling ok today, still a tad upset stomach, but nothing else. I must say, though, just like in SE ASia, my stomach is starting to turn at the thought of "yet more" Asian food, day after day. It's ok once in a while, but my body craves more substance in it's food, meat. I'm going to go to Pizza Hit or McDonalds tomorrow, I think and have to good grease.

Here's what's being advertised on Channel V in INdia right now:
Super Singer Finale, in 3 days...down to five singers. Assuming this is Indian version of American Idol.
Wildest VJ ever to hit TV...All Flesh, No Talk...debuts in 2 days. Not sure what this is about!