Jaipur

Here I am in Jaipur in a very nice (cheap) hotel. Things are going great over here except one thing. Travel in India right now is tough. Due to the Bombay bombings airport and all other types of security are on highest alert.

So yesterday I had my haircut at a "gents" salon. So Michael and I are getting a shave and a haircut and there are a bunch of women sitting behind us waiting. After a while a few drunken indian men enter the salon and start haggling with the owner of the shop. They point to 3 of the women and go into a back room. At this point Michael and I realize that we are not in a place dedicated to the styling and cutting of hair. Needless to say the rest of the shave was quite uncomfortable.

Went to Sashi's last night and had some fun times with Shammy her brother. He is back from Cuba to stay for a while. He and I went over to a local Pan shop and had a few of the normal non-sweet pans. This was only the second time I have had normal Pan. It kinda knocked me for a loop. The Beetlenut and whatever else they put in that stuff is strong.

Today we headed out to the Pink City, Jaipur. I finally saw an Elephant here in India. So my checklist is officially done. I saw a snake charmer in Calcutta and an Elephant in Jaipur. That is all I need to see. The snake charmer's snakes were so underfed and malnourished that he had to slap them to get them to wake up.

More to come later as I now have an internet connection that isnt 75 miles away over rough and rocky road.