jodhpur/jaisalmer

Okay, so wandering India solo is actually pretty cool. It's only been like 2 days but they've been a really neat 2 days. I was happy to leave Jaipur - too touristy, which means it's too scammy and you get hassled alot. The guys hassling you are really smart there, too. One guy trapped me into a conversation by asking me why all westerners were so rude and why we ignored people trying to talk to us. So naturally I got all defensive and argued with him. He started to piss me off severely and finally I pulled a "I'm going to meet my husband now, bye" type of thing. Then not even 10 minutes later, I got stopped by a different guy who tried to have the exact same conversation with me... both guys were like "I'm a student, I don't want to sell you anything, I just want to practice my English. Do you want to go for tea?" but in a much more roundabout and clever way. As soon as I realized I was in an identical conversation, I figured out some kind of scam was happening. What the scam was, I don't know, cuz I left, but still... very slick. I met another girl today actually who told me of a similar conversation she got pulled into in Jaipur too. I don't know what their operation is, but it's shady... hmmm. The lesson is, don't talk to men in the street, ever. They're all huge creeps. Tiffany (my sister) suggested I make a t-shirt that says "If I haven't seen you in Bollywood, I'm not interested" and wear it around everywhere. I think I'm gonna have to do it.

Anyway, yesterday I went to Jodhpur. I was worried taking the overnight train alone but actually, it was really good, because apparently there is some massive supercomputer in Delhi that deals with train reservations, and when you make a train reservation here they enter all these details about you in the computer, like age/sex, etc. and when the computer sees a girl travelling alone, it automatically puts you into a spot on the train with other girls. So I've been travelling with other female tourists actually, and no creepy men staring at me while I sleep - what a clever train system. Jodhpur was excellent - being on my own lets me take it easy a lot more. Micah's preferred method of attack is to hit as many temples and monuments in a day as possible, while I like to wander around the markets, try out different ice cream shops, spend excessive amounts of time in used bookstores, and maybe hit up some forts or temples if I get around to it. Yesterday this is what I did. I also visited a big fort overlooking the city (all the buildings are bright blue in Jodhpur, so it's a neat view), had dinner at a Bollywood themed restaurant, and read a book under the stars on the roof of the hotel with a sweet view of the fort. It was a really nice day, and Jodhpur ranks comparatively low on the tourist-hassling scale so it wasn't stressful.

Jaisalmer, on the other hand... ohhhh my god. I took the train this morning, and ended up meeting a girl from Montreal. We got off the train together, and as we walked into the train station... we got SWARMED by men, hotel touts and rickshaw drivers all freaking out for our business. There were like 20 of them surrounding us, all talking at once, shoving brochures in our faces, fighting with each other, refusing to leave us alone. We couldn't even get breathing room. It was unreal. You always get hassled to an extent when you arrive somewhere but this was INSANE. Normally people will back off if you firmly say no, but not here. I didn't know how we'd ever escape, then suddenly 3 police officers barged in waving sticks and everyone scattered. It was hilarious. Later we got swarmed again and the police came back with their sticks and rescued us. They gave us space to figure out where we were going. Audrey (Montreal girl) had a hotel already so I opted to go with her to her hotel until I figured out where I was staying. (Hers was too expensive for me, but it gave me time to put my bags down and call some cheaper places without the station hassle.)

We went for lunch on a rooftop, it was really nice. Except when we were walking back, a shopkeeper said to me that I looked like I'd had too many chapattis. I.e. I look fat. I might blow this off except a guy in Jaipur the other day also told me I looked pregnant. Great. India is making me gain weight. It's not my fault they freaking deep fry everything here and load it up with cheese. Ahhhhhh!!! Oh well, I'll eat healthy when I get home.

I found a hotel this afternoon, did a bit of gift shopping, and am now debating whether or not I should go on a camel safari while out here in the desert. It's the thing to do here, I guess. We'll see... I probably should... I mean, when am I gonna ride a camel again, right? Haha. I also had a really interesting conversation with the guy that runs the hotel tonight - we spent an hour talking about Bollywood and various other things, and he traumatized me slightly by telling me about the goings-on of the industry, the underworld, and other such shady things. Apparently the only way to be a Bollywood actress is to sleep your way to the top. He seems to think I'll have to sleep with someone even to get on set as an extra! What madness. Well, if it gets me in... ;) I jest, of course. That can't possibly be the case, they always need foreign extras, and they can't sleep with all of them.

Random: I bought 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking at the used bookstore and I've read half of it since yesterday. (True to India, I think it's a pirate copy too, it looks photocopied and the pages keep falling out so who knows what I'm actually reading, haha.) Dad, I am marking all the pages where I don't understand things so you can explain them to me when I get home. Quantum mechanics goes right over my head.

Even more random: Just found this news story: Newborn survives fall through train toilet

Apparently a baby fell through an Indian train toilet onto the tracks. Weird. I was having this conversation with Micah a few days ago, about how weird the train toilets are. You can actually watch the ground go by under you while you pee. I wouldn't have expected a baby to fit through though... insane.