Live from Japiur!

So my body's not entirely sure when to sleep (if at all), which is starting to catch up with me. Fortunately insomnia is better suited to touring than, you know, constantly falling asleep.

Basically every travelogue I read about India described it as "an assault on all five senses" and an emotional spiritual journey, implying it was somewhat akin to watching cartoons while sitting too close to the screen and having a seizure. Therefore I was actually somewhat surprised that I did not, you know, fall into some travel version of a diabetic coma and required the constant application of CNN and reruns of Simpsons on the hotel TV to get me out of it. India is India. Up is still up and down is still down. It's an incredible place, but I think I was sufficiently psyched for the culture shock. It's noisy. It's crowded. Some people are nice, some people totally ignore you, and some people are overly nice because they want to sell you something. The only thing really off-putting was the beggars who knock on your window when the van is at a stop.

Today started by traveling six hours to Jaipur, the Pink City, so called because the ruler actually painted it pink in the 1800's because he couldn't get enough red carpet in time for Prince Albert's arrival or so the story goes. It's the capital of Rajastan, which is a large state in India, though honestly all of them are pretty large. It is thoroughly Indian, even though every tourist who comes to Delhi and sees the Taj Mahal also comes here. 99.9% of the people were locals or Indian tourists. The only people I saw of a different skin color were Philippino tourists at the central palace. I get the feeling tourism has been a little slow, as they upgraded me to a suite for free and also, like, there's no tourists in a major tourist city. Also it's hot, but really, not as hot as I expected. I expected to melt. It's very hot, but I've forgotten that after a certain point (usually about 96 degrees) it stops being a certain temperature and just starts being "really hot." At which point you don't have to worry how hot it really it. It's hot and that's that.

Today I toured a bunch of places that I will totally put up pictures of when I am not being charged by the half-hour at a rate that while not ridiculous, is something I'd rather not spend money on right now when I am really tired. Really, Japiur is incredible. I see why it's a major tourist city now. The highlight of the day was my guide deciding to take me with him to a Hindu temple so he could say prayers, and me getting to see a Hindu prayer ceremony, which I had never seen before. People gathered, they pulled back the drapes covering the statue, people sung and put their arms in the air, and there was a lot of walking around the statue. I couldn't get close enough to see what god it actually was, but I seem to vaguely recall Praveen (the guide) said it was Ganesh. I took video of it; I'll post that on Youtube when I get home.

The hotel is very nice, the tour guide and the driver are very nice, and they really are good at sheparding me around, which is good because I would be lost without them but strange because I'm not used to it. Downer was spending too much money on a tailored outfit (Jaipur is known for their textiles), but I'll get use out of it, as it's a light outfit and as I might have said before, it's very hot.

If I don't seem to be bursting with joy over my trip, it's not because I'm not having the trip of a lifetime. It's because I'm very tired and my internet card is running out.

Tomorrow: The Amber Fort at Jaipur, then a drive to Agra. Wish me luck!