Jackpot!!

Our guide janu, helping to bag the stones
One of the brothers weighing stones
Mom and I checking out the goods...
Mmmmmm......
Just a few days after the last post, my mom and I headed on another night train ride to the city of Jaipur, also in Rajasthan. Through a contact we made in Udaipur, we were hooked up with Janu, a fantastic guide in Jaipur. Until this point I had been so frustrated with being unable to find the stones and silver I was looking for.
When I told Janu what I was searching for, he immediately took us to the shop of a family of gem dealers. When I walked into the showroom I was surprised at how small it was, but pleased that it wasn't another high end jewelry store tourist trap. Janu brought me to the real deal. There are somewhere around 10 brothers in the family, not to mention several cousins. I sat down at the counter and got to it telling a couple of the brothers what I was looking for. Next thing you know, phone calls were being made to cousins, and bins of stones were being pulled out. I was in hog heaven, picking out stones, having them weighed to find out the prices and making piles of 'yes, definitely', and 'maybe, I really want this but am on a budget.'
After 3 hours mom, Janu and I left, totally spent ;), and with a large, heavy bag full of stones. I got some great deals and some gorgeous, gorgeous new gems.
The next day, after a bit of sightseeing, Janu took me to the silver guy where I spent another 3 hours, waiting for the clasps guy to arrive, or the earring hook guy... In India, when you need something, and the vendor doesn't have it, they make a call, and you wait for the friend to show up with what you need. This happened with the stone guys, as well as the silver guy. It was pretty interesting to see how everything works, and I definitely got to know and had a great time chatting with my new best salesmen while awaiting their colleagues.