For all those interested in seeing the crazy video of the guy who almost pops his eye out of his socket then stabs himself through his neck that i posted about earlier, I Uploaded the video onto youtube, check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsgqZjlDFlk
6/4 – Today we got to ride the local train. Even though it had no A.C., the cool thing is that you can hang outside the doors and get the wind blowing in your face. I had a great time with that and we saw monkeys along the way but I ended up losing one of my sandals which made me really sad. So our tour guide Govind was having stomach aches and a person on the train who was selling vegetables suddenly became a doctor and started using some eastern medical practice which actually worked and helped relieve Govind’s stomach pains. After one stop we took our nice A.C bus and headed away towards the small town of Jojawar. We arrived in the very small town which only had 1 hotel called the Castle since it was used as a castle in its previous life. There I was able to go to the small street shops and get some new sandals. I saw a group of kids playing some cricket so I joined in and ended up hitting a home run and their ball went flying to God knows where. They were sad and I ended up paying the kids 4 rupees for a new ball the next day. As we were walking around the small town we come to a group of 20 or so people, dressed a little more fashioned than the rest (everyone dresses in really colors). Then we figure out that the young dressed up boy is actually getting married to the young girl who is being covered by her mother from the white people who approached them. They must have been no more than 7 years of age, and everyone wanted to take pictures but the mother started freaking out because this tradition is illegal in India and they can get into a lot of trouble for this type of arranged marriage. So we left knowing it was rude to stay an bother them even though the boy who was getting married seemed to enjoy our presence. Also, we noticed that the boys father had a red turban which indicated that this is a marriage from the lowest caste system, the Untouchables.
6/5 – We left the little city and went off to Pushkar which is where in the Hindu’s believe the world started. The god Brahma started the world in Pushkar but since he had 2 wives that he tried to hide and they both divorced him, he is not to be prayed to anywhere else so Pushkar houses the only Brahma temple in the world. Oh Brahma, you naughty god you.
As we were stuck in agonizing traffic for hours, our tour guide Govind started telling us about his marriage, which sounded more like a bollywood movie. He went into a lot of detail about how he didn’t even meet her and fell in love… and when he received her picture he started dreaming about her, dancing with her picture, singing to her picture, hhahaha, it was comedy and I couldn’t believe he was telling us these details. They went through the whole process and almost finished but it came down to the dowry (in which the woman’s family must give to the man’s family), and it was toppled there since the woman’s family couldn’t afford what Govind’s family was asking. Govind got mad, calling up his parents saying that they want money more than seeing their child in love. So they finally agreed upon a lower dowry payment and the marriage went through. Now he is happily married with a 2 year old son.
We finally making it to Pushkar and after checking in we went on a nice camel ride. After that we had dinner with a nice local family on their rooftop where they cooked all different types of Indian food for us. We had to eat like the Indians, with our hands. Was a little nasty and gross at first but then you just get used to it and start to appreciate their eating style. As we were on the rooftop, we heard a party going on down the street and the family told us about a wedding that was going on… so what do we do?? We went and crashed the wedding and started dancing and everything, it was super fun but we were super underdressed and soon kicked out lol. Oh, and the most popular song that has been playing everywhere we went is Shiela Ki Javoni – I’m too sexy for you… it’s a funny song so and I ended up downloading it.
6/6 – Today we woke up at 4AM to go for a hike up to Savitri Temple where we got to see the sunrise along with a large group of monkeys. Afterwards we went to go check out the only Brahma Temple in the world. We got a chance to travel around the Bazaar where I got to witness a cow stealing a bag of food from a vendor and eat it right there on the street, nobody did anything lol. That night we celebrate our cool group and had music and fireworks… ending the party by jumping in the pool and chicken fighting, I was teamed up with Govind and we beat any competitors.
6/7 – We next left to Jaipur which is a big city like Delhi. Immediately we were engrossed with the smog and pollution which made the heat even worse. We went to the market area and the people were very pushy even grabbing us to take us into their stores. After dinner we just came back to the hotel and relaxed.
6/8 – Today we went to Amber Palace and rode elephants up the mountain to the Palace. The ride was not bad but at least I can cross off riding an elephant from my list of things I have to do before I die. The Palace was built by the Mugal Emperor Akbar the Great, and the Palace has both Muslim and Hindu architecture b/c one of his 12 wives was a Hindu. Then at night we went to watch a Bollywood hit movie at the oldest theatre in Jaipur known as the Raj Mandir. The movie was called “Ready” and starred Salman Khan. It was suc a funny movie even though I didn’t understand 90% of what they were saying. The fighting scenes were all fake, and my favorite part was when the bad guys were rollin 20 cars deep coming towards Salman’s character, and he is all chilled and relaxed and I guess he gets the urge to pee, so he turns around and starts to pee on a haystack, the whole movie then cuts out and the headlines read “Pee Break.” This was the movie’s intermission haha. People got up and went out and took their bathroom break and got popcorn before returning and the movie continuing. It was like “If Salman Khan pee’s, then we all must pee.” Anyways, that’s all for now. In 2 more days I will be going to Taj Mahal :) can’t wait!!!
Here's a pic of a lil girl in Jaipur selling little balloons to try to make money for her family, please keep all these poor people in your prayers.
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