In Which India Finally Gets The Better Of Me

So everyone was right.

Jaipur has me completely overwhelmed, not so much with its size (which is huge), but with its general atmosphere of intense aggression. It's a virtually unending assault as soon as we step outside, and it doesn't end until we gratefully duck our heads into wherever our destination happens to be. Oy, I tell you, oy.

After an unusually chilly overnight train ride, Evan and I arrived here in Rajasthan's capital at 6 a.m. Exhausted after a night of not sleeping, we headed off to our hotel, a short walk away. With our front-and-back travel backpacks, obvious non-Indian features, and very Western clothing, I started to feel like the blackhole of rickshaw drivers, drawing them towards us with incredible force and impossible to remove for the twenty minutes it took to find our hotel. I have yet to meet a more determined rickshaw force than here in Jaipur.

The Atihti Guesthouse, however, is an absolute haven from the bustle of this city. It's by far the cleanest place we've stayed, with an incredibly nice staff, comfy rooms, and a fantastic rooftop terrace with card tables and cushioned chairs. I breathed a sigh of relief as I dumped my luggage to the floor and fell onto the mattress, relieved to stop for awhile.

Soon enough, however, Evan and I were on our way out again, with big plans to visit the Jaipur City Palace Complex and then bus it to the Amber fort, apparently a Jaipur must-see. An autorickshaw awaited us right outside the hotel, with quite a friendly driver willing to drive us for a fair price to the entrance. As we were getting into the rickshaw, however, another rickshaw driver told us to get in his rickshaw, and then words in Hindi between the two drivers were exchanged, and then they started to tussle, and then it was seemingly resolved when our driver pulled the other driver into the seat next to him and we drove off. Evan and I were completely confused as to what had gone on, but were just relieved it seemed to over. "Seemed" being the operative word. We drove all the way across the street to a parking area filled with other men. As soon as we pulled in the two drivers got out, at which point a third man in a turban immediately reached for our driver's throat before the whole scene became hidden from view by the throng of male spectators who quickly gathered around the growing fight. It was then that Evan made the wise suggestion of perhaps finding ourselves a new driver.

And find a new driver we did, this time on a cycle rickshaw. It was the first time I've ridden one, and I think I may prefer autos, if only because it feels a bit weird to be cycled around by a man old enough to be my grandfather and not offer to do the biking myself. Anyway, he ended up biking us to the city center, NOT the city palace, and after much sign language and then bringing in an interpreter, it became obvious the cyclist had no idea where the city palace was but wanted about three times more than what he first requested to bring us there. Didn't seem like such a great deal, so we paid him for the ride and then finally, finally found a guy who knew where he was going and didn't get into any fights along the way. Huzzah!!

The city palace had some gorgeous sections, like a courtyard with four beautifully decorated gateways, and two urns made of pure silver (their size earned them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records) that a king used to bring water from the Ganges River to England as his own personal drinking supply. There was also a museum full of the best miniature paintings we've seen thus far, depicting godly events and stories. After the museum, we battled our way towards the Hawa Mahal, a historic estate known for its outer facade and view of the city. By that point, my sleep deprivation had entirely caught up with me, and instead of heading off to the forts we decided on a food-then-nap plan.

After another interesting rickshaw trip, in which our cycle driver stopped halfway through the trip to try and barter a new fee (this was the first time that's happened... usually all the bargaining is done at the beginning and both the driver and passengers stick to the agreement), we found a cool, calm restaurant with good food and great lassis. Fantastic. And then, on the drive home, our driver was just incredibly nice and friendly and looking to improve his english so we chatted the whole way. Oh, oh the gratitude I felt towards that man. He was also the first Indian man I've met who has been adamant in his dislike of the country and his fellow countrymen (he said the only Indians he liked were his wife and kids). Verrrrry innnnnteresting.

And then I fell sound asleep until dinner, where after a very short venture outside I decided it wasn't worth the anxiety and we went back and ate at the small restaurant in the hotel, which was more than fine. Now I think it's going to be an evening of cutthroat jungle boogie and cuarenta (which Evan learned from David and just taught me today, and David, it's just so hard NOT to call that first game jungle boogie that I've now given in to the temptation for good, mwa ha ha).

Tomorrow, we're off to see the Amber Fort first thing in the morning, after which I think we're gonna hop the first bus outta here, off to see a wildlife refuge specializing in tigers. Rawr.