Delhi to Jaipur

The rest of my day in Delhi was wonderful. I took a taxi to see Sarah Traweek's friend Sachin. The taxi ride was a new experience, the roads in India are filled with a million cars, taxis, auto rickshaws (3 wheeled gas run carts), bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles, and scooters. No one uses the lanes and everyone honks there horns constantly. At first it seems like chaos but it is actually strangely efficient. More lanes are created, there is constant movement, and honking the horn is actually used for communication rather than expressing frustration.

Sachin and I walked around a couple of local markets in the area and had lunch. It was great to have a friend in a new place, and someone to talk to. I returned to my hotel in Paharganj, and fought off the urge to take a nap. I figure that I'll kick the jet lag faster if I force myself to be active all day so I can then sleep during the right hours. I walked down the main bizarre, a very busy street with many shops and cafes. I think it is pretty obvious that I am a new arrival so I just walk quickly to avoid all of the shop keepers from trying to lure me into their stores.

I only slept a couple of hours, I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I checked out of my hotel at 5am and took a bicycle rickshaw to the train station which was already busy with local travellers. Luckily I was able to navigate to the correct platform and find the right car waiting area. The train arrived and everyone scurries on board with their luggage and in a matter of minutes the train is gone. I was sitting next to an Indian woman and her young son, they were very friendly but spoke no English which was ok with me because I was memorized by looking out the window the entire time. Along the tracks leaving New Delhi there are miles of shanty towns, people living in tents made from what looked like trash. In addition many of these people were doing their morning business right beside the tracks just watching the train go by like it was nothing. It seems that certain things like this are not kept private like they are in the US. There is no shame in doing what everyone does.

Four hours later I arrived in Jaipur also known as the pink city because of the pink stone wash on all of the buildings. When I walked out of the train station I was swarmed with rickshaw drivers wanting to give me a ride. I kept walking and found a driver that was not hassling me and asked if he would give me a ride to my hotel for 10 rupees. He agreed and we were off. My driver was very nice, and told me a lot about the city and the people. I liked him so much I asked him to come pick me up the next day at 8:30am to take me to a couple of places I want to see.

My new hotel, Pearl Palace, is very cool. I went to the rooftop cafe for lunch and had REAL coffee, which can't be found everywhere you go in India. I met two girls that were also staying here, one from Mexico and the other from Washington DC. They were very nice and I ended up joining them that afternoon to check out the old city palace and observatory. It was nice to have company and someone to take pictures of me (having t

rouble uploading pictures from this computer). After a long hot afternoon of walking around the city, we came back to the hotel and had dinner. Not long after a thunderstorm came through and it poured rain all evening which was great because it cooled off a lot. All of the locals were very excited as it never rains here. Jaipur and Rajasthan are desert regions that have been experiencing water shortage for many years now.

The largest sun dial in the world

Snake charmer

After dinner we chatted in the common area for a while but I was very tired and went to bed. I think I'll sleep more than a couple of hours tonight....can't wait for tomorrow!