i got really, really, really sick. basically i had every symptom in the book, short of hair loss. i thought i might die. ok, i didn't really think i would, but it was scary. maybe it was the "aquafina" water that definitely tasted like it had come straight out of the ganges, or worse yet, the yamuna river. who knows. i prayed a lot and took some miracle drug, ciprofloxacin. thankfully now i'm doing much better, although i'm still nowhere near 100%. i was staying at this place in jaipur that was 20 degrees hotter than it was outside during the day, which was already pretty darn hot. so i foolishly decided to take a rickshaw to this fort nearby in amber. it was a climb and a half to get to the fort, and at the top i was basically delusional and completely messed up. i had to lay down in this shady area with the guards for a couple hours to get myself together for the trip back. then i just stayed in my hotel room. but the fort was pretty cool. i think.
the day before that i explored the old walled city of jaipur, the capital of rajasthan and home to 3 million people desperate to rip off a tourist. can't blame them, there's nothing else to do in town. its a pretty crazy place - the bazaar area is absolutely huge and there is a separate street for every imaginable thing to purchase. also any camels, cows, monkeys... wandered around all morning looking for something to eat - remarkably not a single establishment around opened until 11 am. climbed this huge free-standing minaret in the middle of the city for a great view. and i went to this amazing structure called the palace of the winds that is a huge facade that women used to hide behind to watch the world go by back in the dark ages when they weren't allowed to be seen in public. beautiful building. a rickshaw driver promised me a great rate for an extensive tour (20 cents). i now know that any time something sounds too good to be true in india it most certainly is. i knew that before but i must not have been thinking straight. it turns out the rate was contingent upon him taking me to all these overcharging textile factories where they pressure you to buy things and he as the driver who brought the tourist there gets a kickback. i don't have room in my backpack for textiles. so we argued, and we argued, and we argued, and i ended up walking.
"all" the trains from jaipur to delhi were "booked" - hard to believe considering i inquired 2 days in advance and there's a train leaving for delhi every 10 minutes, but whatever. so i took the bus. call me shallow, but my first day in delhi i was magnetically drawn to a shopping mall. i just felt this need to get away from the heat, incessant touts, beggars, bicycles trying to hit me, etc. and to eat something other than veg thali, masala dosas, and puri, as tasty as those foods are. "the great india place" is apparently the best mall in india. it was really nice - for india. don't let the hype and the gdp growth figures fool you though - india is very much "developing", and will be for a long, long time. a month ago i would have imagined the nicest mall in india to be a lot more amazing than it was.
after saying that, delhi has an amazing new metro system, being built in preparation for the commonwealth games that are going to be here this fall. the best thing is that you don't have to barter for how much the trip is going to cost. although that sort of takes the fun out of it i guess. anyways, after taking it to the mall in the suburb of noida, i took it to the largest hindu temple in the world. today (sunday), i went to the international church here (after searching for quite some time to find it. rickshaw drivers sometimes say they know where something is and it turns out they have no idea). it was so nice. first "normal" church service (i'm not really counting the rift valley academy church that was aimed at the middle school crowd - although that was pretty good too) in maybe over 4 months - it was absolutely refreshing. i love church. had a sit down chat with the pastor after the service, at his request. he was the man. there aren't many churches here, to say the least. then i went to a museum devoted to gandhi on the site where he was shot, then humayun's tomb, perhaps india's most impressive piece of mughal architecture. apparently there was a serious delhi-specific terrorist alert issued this weekend. so the military is absolutely everywhere right now, doing pat downs and waving their ak-47s around. they even had a little bunker set up in a shiny new metro station - completely surrounded by sandbags. i'm not going to say its overkill or they might arrest me - after all i had to give up my passport and every piece of personal data imaginable just to use this computer. personal liberties............ i digress.
tonight i head down to indira gandhi international airport to embrace my good friend devin from home, whom i will be joining as wingman on his indian adventures. he was supposed to get here last night but the toilet on the plane broke or something, so its 3:15 am tonight. yay! it will be really nice to have someone sleeping next to me every night.
the day before that i explored the old walled city of jaipur, the capital of rajasthan and home to 3 million people desperate to rip off a tourist. can't blame them, there's nothing else to do in town. its a pretty crazy place - the bazaar area is absolutely huge and there is a separate street for every imaginable thing to purchase. also any camels, cows, monkeys... wandered around all morning looking for something to eat - remarkably not a single establishment around opened until 11 am. climbed this huge free-standing minaret in the middle of the city for a great view. and i went to this amazing structure called the palace of the winds that is a huge facade that women used to hide behind to watch the world go by back in the dark ages when they weren't allowed to be seen in public. beautiful building. a rickshaw driver promised me a great rate for an extensive tour (20 cents). i now know that any time something sounds too good to be true in india it most certainly is. i knew that before but i must not have been thinking straight. it turns out the rate was contingent upon him taking me to all these overcharging textile factories where they pressure you to buy things and he as the driver who brought the tourist there gets a kickback. i don't have room in my backpack for textiles. so we argued, and we argued, and we argued, and i ended up walking.
"all" the trains from jaipur to delhi were "booked" - hard to believe considering i inquired 2 days in advance and there's a train leaving for delhi every 10 minutes, but whatever. so i took the bus. call me shallow, but my first day in delhi i was magnetically drawn to a shopping mall. i just felt this need to get away from the heat, incessant touts, beggars, bicycles trying to hit me, etc. and to eat something other than veg thali, masala dosas, and puri, as tasty as those foods are. "the great india place" is apparently the best mall in india. it was really nice - for india. don't let the hype and the gdp growth figures fool you though - india is very much "developing", and will be for a long, long time. a month ago i would have imagined the nicest mall in india to be a lot more amazing than it was.
after saying that, delhi has an amazing new metro system, being built in preparation for the commonwealth games that are going to be here this fall. the best thing is that you don't have to barter for how much the trip is going to cost. although that sort of takes the fun out of it i guess. anyways, after taking it to the mall in the suburb of noida, i took it to the largest hindu temple in the world. today (sunday), i went to the international church here (after searching for quite some time to find it. rickshaw drivers sometimes say they know where something is and it turns out they have no idea). it was so nice. first "normal" church service (i'm not really counting the rift valley academy church that was aimed at the middle school crowd - although that was pretty good too) in maybe over 4 months - it was absolutely refreshing. i love church. had a sit down chat with the pastor after the service, at his request. he was the man. there aren't many churches here, to say the least. then i went to a museum devoted to gandhi on the site where he was shot, then humayun's tomb, perhaps india's most impressive piece of mughal architecture. apparently there was a serious delhi-specific terrorist alert issued this weekend. so the military is absolutely everywhere right now, doing pat downs and waving their ak-47s around. they even had a little bunker set up in a shiny new metro station - completely surrounded by sandbags. i'm not going to say its overkill or they might arrest me - after all i had to give up my passport and every piece of personal data imaginable just to use this computer. personal liberties............ i digress.
tonight i head down to indira gandhi international airport to embrace my good friend devin from home, whom i will be joining as wingman on his indian adventures. he was supposed to get here last night but the toilet on the plane broke or something, so its 3:15 am tonight. yay! it will be really nice to have someone sleeping next to me every night.
