India - Part 3

Ok, post number 3. Week 2 is in the books and I don't have a lot to report.  It was a fairly quiet week; working at the orphanage in the mornings and sight seeing in the afternoons.

To be honest, I'm pretty Forted out.  I think I've been to more forts in the past 2 weeks, then the rest of my life combined.  We've probably seen 5 or 6 now.  They are all beautiful, but I'm a bit over it. They are all starting to look the same - the amber fort, the tiger fort, the red fort, the monkey temple, etc.  They sound very different by their names, but in actuality they are not.  They are all similar colour (due to pollution), they all have monkeys, and none have tigers.  Anyway, think its time to lay off the forts for a while so that I appreciate them more again.

I figured I would use this post to talk about Indian life a bit - what it's like to be here.  The day to day cultural differences are the most interesting thing about this trip so far; how even simple things are really different. I hope this doesn't come across as me complaining - its not intended to.  I am just trying to paint an honest picture of what it's like to be here.  Despite some of the not so great things I'm going to discuss below, I'm having a wonderful time so far and am really enjoying the experience.

Firstly, I think the pollution deserves a mention.  I remember it being bad in China, but not this bad.  It's crazy the toll it takes on an otherwise very healthy person; my delicate western raised body does not like it.  My sinuses are driving me mad, my throat hurts, I have a cough and I actually find myself wanting to spit numerous times throughout the day (I don't, but I feel like I could).  At least I have gotten used to waking up to the smell of burning garbage now.

And while we are on pollution, I guess I can talk a bit of shit.  Literally.  It seems to be a much more prevalent part of my daily life here.  With the 100 different types of animals you see strolling the streets (cows, pigs, goats, dogs, donkeys, camels, horses to name a few), there is inevitably a lot of crap around.  Add the human excrement from the orphans, clogged toilets and fact that some people use their front yards as a toilet, and it feels a lot more prevalent than at home.  However, I will say that the public toilets are better than expected.  Yes, there have been some bad ones, but on the whole, there have been more clean western toilets, with toilet paper (!!!) than crappy ones (that's a pun).  I think it's because most places I'm using the toilets are geared towards western tourists and charge a fee, but still, not nearly as bad as expected.

There does not seem to be many western (aka white) tourists here in Jaipur.  There are some, but not a lot.  My modeling career is really starting to take off - my hair and I are very popular.  I had about 10 people take my picture at the amber fort on Wednesday. I wasn't feeling great (see pollution above) and was grumpy about all the attention.  So 10 people are going to have a grumpy looking redhead in their Amber Fort photos; an authentic photo of me I suppose. As with many other countries I've been, lots of touts at tourist attractions want to know where we are from: "Hello.  What country?" I've had a few people try to tell me about their cousin in Canada who owns a jewelry shop that they export their gems to, but its not nearly as bad as in Egypt (where, surprisingly, everyone you met had at least 3 good friends in canada).

We've been finding that most places have two sets of prices, the Indian price and the tourist price.  Obviously rickshaws and shops try to charge more to Westerners and you have to bargain, but we've been finding it in restaurants as well.  The English menu often seems to have suspiciously high prices (that no local would pay). At one place, we had to bargain for our meal - managed to negotiate a 40% discount on the menu prices.  It gets pretty tiring having to bargain for everything.  I paid 100rs ($1.70) for a necklace which the guy was originally asking 600rs ($10) which gives you an idea of how they try to rip us off.

We have had some good luck with the rickshaws though.  There is a guy who lives quite close to where we stay that we have sort of claimed as our personal driver.  His name is Abu and he is often parked just outside. Abu gives us fairly reasonable prices (we only have to bargain a bit) and we don't have to worry about him knowing where to go, or how to get us home.  We sometimes will hire him for 4 hours or so, which usually costs about $10.  Split that between 5 or 6 and it's pretty cheap. He will drive us where ever and then wait for us and drive us home after.  One of the forts was free, so he even came in with us.

The other good thing about Abu is that he will take as many people as we can fit in his rickshaw.  Some drivers are funny about it and will charge different rates for different numbers of people, or won't take more than 4. I think there is a law that says no more than 5 people are allowed in a rickshaw, but I'm surprised anyone worries about it, as I have yet to see anything that remotely resembles a police officer, let alone a traffic cop.  If there were traffic cops, they would have much more to worry about than too many people in a rickshaw.  One time, we fit 10 people in Abu's ride. It was pretty tight and uncomfortable.  I would rather just shell out an extra few dollars and be comfortable, but it was fun that one time.

I don't feel unsafe in the rickshaws, even though I probably should.  I think its because there is so much traffic, that you are never moving very fast.  One thing that does make me a bit worried is when he driver takes a mobile call as he is driving - an activity that requires full concentration here in India. That is very common here; answering your mobile at all times, under any circumstance.  There seems to be no situation where it is rude or inappropriate to answer.  Driving 10 people around in your rickshaw? Just slow down and stop in the middle of the busy road and take the call.  In a packed movie theatre? Have your ring on extra loud (so you can hear it above the movie) and answer all 10 calls you receive throughout.  In the midst of ripping a tourist off in your store? Ignore them and answer your phone.  Have your family of 4 on your motorcycle? Answer your phone with your right hand so that you dont need to take the left off the clutch. 

Rajasthan is a fairly conservative state.  Finding booze is tough.  Even most restaurants dont serve it.  You have to be at a "non-veg" restaurant to get any.  Meat and booze together....they keep all the good stuff in one place.  Despite the alcohol and meat issue, the food has been better than expected. I love Indian food, but I was quite worried about sanitary issues.  It does take about a week to adjust to the different spices and stuff that they use, but so far I haven't had any major issues (knock on wood).  It helps that we have meals available in the house which are prepared with filtered water and that everything on the street is deep fried.  I'm loving the panzer tikka malasa with Gaelic naan and the lassis.  

The orphan work is still going ok.  We found out this week that one of the girls is being adopted and leaves on 9 November!  The even more exciting part for her is that it's a family in California who has adopted her.  Talk about lifestyle change.  It's so great for her as her life was pretty bleak here.  We have been joking that maybe its Angelina Jolie or Madonna who is adopting her.  Unlikely, but the people must have money, as it is apparently quite expensive to adopt from overseas. So that's a happy story.  We notice she is getting special attention now - I guess they want to fatten her up before the new parents come so that it looks like she has been really well taken care of.  Of course, the unfortunate truth is the for every one adopted, there is at least one abandoned. We had a new girl on Wednesday who is in pretty rough shape.  She is covered in scabs and cries constantly looking for her mom.

Anyway, I think that's about it for this week. We are going away for 5 days tomorrow to Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, a camel safari, and then Pushkar.   I'm glad, as I am getting a bit restless now. My birthday will be spent in the desert on the camel safari, sleeping under the stars.  There better be alcohol. Then we are back for a few days before going to the Taj Mahal.  And then I'm off to Goa and Mumbai for the last 9 days.