Up to Jaipur

Life aboard the Indian rails.

Another thing to cross off the todo list: Sipping Bombay Saphire in Bombay.

Palace of the current Maharaj, taken from the courtyard which we presume holds frequent gladiatorial competitions and live sex shows.

The colourful women of Rajasthan.

Just protectin' the Amber Fort.

Our Rickshaw driver. He made 100 rupees a day and blew 42 of those on a bottle of whiskey at lunch. Needless to say he constantly stunk of booze, but drove one hell of a rickshaw.

If only the movie had been as good as the poster.

My 30 hour train ride back up to Mumbai was as fantastic as you can probably imagine a 30 hour train ride would be. I was dumped off in northern Mumbai sometime at night in the middle of a monsoon. After another train ride into the city center, followed by a ride with a cabbie who had no idea where he was, I finally arrived at the Salvation Army, where I intended to stay. It was a little odd sleeping in a rundown soup kitchen, but given the costliness of Mumbai, beggars can't be choosers. The following afternoon saw the arrival of cousin as well as the return of my stomach issues.

Jas and I decided to make the most of our one night together in Mumbai by visiting the nicest hotel there and having a drink worth about as much as the average monthly income of the regional citizen. The next day saw us grabbing a quick 18 hour train up to Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan. Jaipur has traditionally been known as the "Pink City" because many of the downtown buildings were painted a "welcoming shade of pink". The pinkness of it is still quite evident, but the heaps of garbage and human debris tend to detract from the "welcoming" side of it all. We managed to find a great little hotel amidst the destruction of the city and luckily have had a nice, peaceful getaway each night while running from the smells and sights of the outside world.

Our first night in Jaipur was another hotshot night (they're just so cheap and fun here...). We started off at the OM Revolving Restaurant, I think we were seated somewhere behind the Cache Manager (ha, yes, finally a nerd joke), where we feasted on yet another fantastic Indian meal. From there we jumped into a rickshaw and were pedalled over to the movie theatre (apparently the nicest in India) where we bought box seats to the latest Bollywood blockbuster, Munna Bhai. Although we ended up walking out during the intermission, the movie was a great experience. The crowds are much more involved in the whole production as they constantly cheer and clap at anything that the actors do. I've seen a few bollywood films now and am actually starting to like how they spontaneously combust into music videos throughout the show, although I suspect it's because that's the only thing I can kind of understand.

The next day Jas arranged for a rickshaw driver to wisk us around to Jaipur's main sites. We visited the current residence of the Maharaj as well as the Pink Palace among other things. It was this day that we also got our first glimpse into the shady underworld of Indian gem scams. I had been warned about this by so many people and actually wanted to take advantage of them a little bit. When asking how I would find some gem scammers, I was always assured that when arriving in Rajasthan, the gem scammers will find me, and sure enough they did. Our rickshaw driver took us to a gem shop (one of probably 9000 that inhabit this city) where we were slyly told about how much money we could make if we exported some of these priceless stones back to Canada. Having met some seasoned vets of this type of thing I knew what to expect and sure enough we were soon offered trips out to the gem dealers private ranch and free meals etc, all in an attempt to gain access to our credit card (as collateral for the gems we're exporting of course). I would have liked to continue the whole tirade but was simply too tired and the slimy salesmen irritated the both of us.

Sunday saw us with the same rickshaw driver headed up to the Amber fort. The fort was built by Akbar, a great Rajasthani general or some such thing. Parts of it were quite cool and looked like something out of Aladdin. On the way back we of course visited different shops so that the goddamn rickshaw driver could earn a commission from each. We knew it was coming because we didn't pay him much for the day and he had to make it up somewhere. Luckily one of the worst stomach attacks of my life hit during the middle of an intense carpet selling speech and I spent the majority of the time in a cell-like Indian bathroom with pain shooting through my torso while Jas had to listen to the guy, pretty sure I came out on top. Following that episode we thought it best to get our Ayurvedic massages done. These maseuses go to school for 4-5 years before practicing their trade and a massage that would cost a helluva lot more in Canada went for about $19 here, so we figured it was worth it. I wasn't expecting the transparent, g-string-like underwear that the fellow made me put on, but when in Rome...

Today was spent lounging around and eating, with the highlight being the guy who stitched a cover for our package home at the post office. Tonight we board a train bound for the deserts of Jaisalmer, where we hope to partake in some kind of camel safari to further our dislike of the cartoonish beasts.