Indian Medical System

Jaipur is a shopper’s town. There are lots of textile and jewelry stores. It is all about the bargaining. It is part of the culture, but difficult for Americans to do. They usually beat us! We had hired two women that live in Jaipur to be our guides to their favorite stores. They were interesting, both British, One lives here with her husband and has a tour company, the other is a vet, that comes to Jaipur to work for a charity that assists with helping street dogs (there are many in India).

Cathy spilled some food on her white Kurta, the staff used fresh limes to remove the stain. It was a good trick to learn.

The traffic here is terrible; the city was a planned city from the 1700’s. They obviously didn’t’ plan on cars, busses, trucks, bicycles, motorbikes, pedestrians and rickshaws. The narrow gates to fortified city get unbelievably congested.

Sitting in our van, it fun watching the congestion. It is complete chaos to our eyes. We constantly think we are going to be in an accident! I have developed laryngitis and can’t talk, which makes everyone happy I am sure. They took me to a Doctor yesterday. He had a 15 minute appointment with me looked in my throat, etc. Then he prescribed some anti-histamine. The cost of the doctor visit was 200 rupees (about $ 4.00). The medicine cost 20 rupees.

Our Haveli is located in the Muslim area of Jaipur and we are surrounded by Mosques. We seem to always be having a bottle of wine outside by the pool when the Call to Prayer is issues from the Mosques loud speakers. Each call sounds different and we have our favorites. The call to prayer is one of the most special things about being in a Muslim area. We really enjoy it!