Second Installment.

So much to say, so little time. The internet here costs a rupee a minute which is daylight robbery, I tell ya. Anyway.

We left Jaipur this morning - while we thoroughly enjoyed most of our stay there, the end of it wasn't quite so lovely. Let me explain: The hotel we were staying at was run by a family. Their youngest son - he must've been around 28 - was really really nice to us; it seemed like he went out of his way to be helpful. When he followed us to the rooftop restaurant to basically watch us as we sipped tea, I got this feeling that his intentions weren't quite as innocuous as we would've hoped.

Still, I mentally chided myself for not trusting people - especially men - more. Last night, while we were eating dinner, he came over to our table to (ostensibly) chat with us. The conversation took a strange turn to talking about our personal lives - both Rosemary and I told him we had boyfriends which is partially untrue in Rosemary's case and totally untrue in mine. He said there was a time when his brother and him could make the female guests forget about the men in their lives by being their charming selves and that maybe our blatant disinterest was a sign that they ought to hit the gym more. We laughed at the (ostensible) self-deprecation, but as the conversation went on, he became increasingly aggressive. He told Rosemary that she probably wasn't going to get into McGill Med like she hoped (so she can be with Marco)so she should "find someone else." He told me that my (yes yes, non-existent) boyfriend was probably getting drunk in Bombay, picking up women. His exact words to me were, "I'm a man. I'm telling yo. WHen you're away, woh to ghar ki dal nahi khana chahata hai. Abhi woh restaurant mein khana chahata hai." In English, he basically said that my boy was fed up of "eating home food and wanted to eat out" now that I was away. He also cracked some really misogynist jokes and laughed proudly at them. At the end of it all he said, "Don't mind me. I have Rajput blood. We're all shameless flirts." While Rosemary and I laughed hysterically last night, it did leave us fairly unsettled that he was trying so hard to get at least one of us to sleep with him. He said to Rosemary, "When I first saw you, I knew you were missing someone but it doesn't speak well of my hospitality that I haven't made you forget about him." Shudder.

(Raghu: Apparently men and women in Jaipur do a lot more than touch)

Oh did I mention that he was wearing these black pants that were puffy until the knee (think 80's style prom dress sleeves), after which they turned quite miraculously into tights? The look was complemented perfectly by a tucked in t-shirt. Oh baby...

Anyway, the story ends this morning when he basically rushed us out of the hotel (like 4 hours before checkout time), refused to let us pay by credit card saying that his machine had a "virus" (even though we saw others using theirs...) and ripped us off Rs. 500. Fortunately I had the cash. Unfortunately that was all the cash I had save for Rs 400. The entire situation was so unpleasant; I can't believe we had a bad experience in Jaipur because we refused to sleep with some seedy hotel owner with frighteningly hideous pants. Both Rosemary and I were really upset the entire day, and our foul mood was only exacerbated by what I can only describe as the bus ride from hell. It seems like Indian bus conductors make a lot of money on the side by picking up stray hitchhikers even when there aren't any seats left on the damn buses. Also, it was supposed to be air-conditioned except not only was the A/C not on but also it was a 1000 degrees outside. In short: It was cramped, hot, sweaty and we were subjected to Anuradha Freakin' Paudwal's annoying-as-all-shit voice the entire way. They also decided not to drop us off at the bus station but instead to make some more bucks by dropping us off at the Brahma temple and offering to be our guides.

Pushkar doesn't have auto rickshaws so we had to walk 2 kms to find our hotel in the scorching Rajasthan sun. We did have to walk through the town centre though, which was nice. Pushkar is exactly like I'd expected: It is crawling with white people with dreadlocks who look like they accidentally stumbled upon Pushkar while trying to find themselves. What I certainly wasn't expecting is Hebrew everywhere. Like seriously, everywhere. Road signs, signs for restaurants, internet, food, books...all in Hebrew. People on the roads said "Shalom" to us almost as often as they offered us hash (Madam, madam, lovely Manali hash. Come on, Madam!) In most places here, I feel like token brown person which is quite amusing under the circumstances.

Anyway, after we showered (in ridiculously cold water), Rosemary and I went to town; it feels like it's on the border of Varanasi and Haight-Ashbury circa 1967. We looked around all the stores - most selling clothes that look pretty from afar but on closer inspection look like they were made in the 1960s and worn about 657 times since then - and we bought a skirt each. We ate at a cafe called "Moon Dance" that was quite delightful despite the mediocre food. And now we're back in the hotel where the electricity seems to go out every 45 mins or so.

That's all for now. Next stop, Udaipur.

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Until then!