Jaipur

We got on our first sleeper train not exactly sure what to expect, bu thanks to the nice Irish 24 year old guy sitting next to us (I think his name was Darragh or something Irish like that) who gave us a little crash course of what to expect and tell us stories of his travels it didn't look like it would be so bad. The next morning at about 8AM we arrived in Jaipur and found an amazing super cheap hotel with a rooftop restaurant. We put our stuff in our room and immediately headed up to eat our first meal of real food in what seemed like forever. We all had survived on no more than a few crackers and almonds since we got on the train the night before at 6PM. After stuffing ourselves we each spent the next few hours by ourselves having some alone time. I spent mine taking a shower, writing, listening to my iPod and walking across the street to the Internet cafe to check my mail and post a blog. At about midday we all got back together to discuss plans for our next 3 days in Rajasthan. First stop- Pink City. We got a rickshaw and headed on our way. Our driver, Salim, turned out to be pretty much the coolest guy ever and our own personal tour guide for the next day and a half. He took us all around from Amber Fort to Water Palace giving us tips and travel advice about India. We were all in agreement that the best part of the day was the elephant ride. We all rode on the same elephant (they are huge, they can handle it) wandering through back rodes into an open field where a group of kids were playing a game of cricket. None of us could get over that fact that we were riding an elephant in freaking India. Epic. At the end of the day Salim took us to another hotel's rooftop restaurant and we all ate and hung out for a few hours.

The next morning Salim met up with us as we were eating breakfast at our hotel. Until about 5 or 6 we rode around town in his rickshaw visiting more sites we missed the day before. At one point I even lost my debit card. That was exciting. I had a small panic attack until Salim pulled it out of his pocket and told me to be more careful with it. Not a funny joke. Lesson learned. Apparently I had forgotten to take it back from the ATM earlier in the day and the lady in line behind me noticed and ran out to give it back to me. Salim grabbed it from her and put it in his pocket before I even noticed anything was wrong. I didn't even notice until an hour later when Salim asked if he could see my debit card claiming he had never seen one before, which was an obvious lie. I questioned him a bit then went to grab it from my wallet and noticed it wasn't there, giving me a small heart attack. I'm so happy it wasn't actually lost. I would have killed someone. Anyway, other highlights of the day included feeding monkeys at the monkey temple and a visit to a jewelry store where Maggie and Steven had personal sessions with a very popular half Canadian half Indian healer man. (astrology, ora, stones, that kind of stuff.) Matt and I got an odd feeling from the guy, plus that kind of stuff kind of freaks us out so we just hung out looking at stuff. We also made a stop at the textile store we had visited the day before to pick up the pants Matt and Steven had made for them. The store was founded by a German, an Australian and an American from Washington DC seven years ago. The money they make go towards helping Indian widows and getting books and things for Indian children's schools. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the men that worked there as they showed us fabrics, Saree's and scarfs. Each of us spent probably a little too much, but it's for a good cause so, it's worth it.