Ok So i haven't posted in what feels like forever... partly because we've been so busy and I was more concerned with either sleeping or getting in a quick workout. Anyway... I apologize that this post is going to be so long because I kinda hate blogs just because everyone assumes you have nothing better to do with you life than read their blog all day.... but i mean.... we arreeeee pretty entertaining,. ;-) BUT I promise you pictures to accompany the blogs (probably tomorrow) so that'll be fun!
So I'm going to start from more recent events because they are sharp in my mind, but I do really wanna share some about Goa and Jay and Pam's wedding...
Ok so right now we are in Jaipur, which is in Eastern Rajasthan. It's in the north and to the west of Delhi. Today we went to this awesome fort (Fort Amber). We rode an elephant to get to the upper fort. There are two forts and they are both HUGE! and it was 104 degrees today... which is much improved from the 112 it was yesterday! But at least it's not humid up here like it was in Kerala. Thank GOD. Riding the elephant to the upper palace made me feel like a queen... even if like 30 other tourists were doing it too. Of course I had to ask about the animals welfare because, well, it's me. I learned for our VERY knowledgable and awesome guide that in the "winter" they are allowed to make 6 trips up and down and have to finish before 11AM. And in the summer, now, they can only make 3 and have to finish by 10AM. So you may be thinking what I was thinking... yea right, like they actually follow that. But I asked about that too and the guide pointed out officials at the bottom marking the number of trips each elephant had made (by their respective numbers). He said Jaipur is very strict on these things because there are so many tourists. I also read about an animal rights group in lonely planet that I'm pretty sure is responsible for these rules. I still felt bad though because it was SO hot and the elphants are just so damn cute! They are the most gentle creatures and are so bumbly when they walk. I hear 'dum da dum da dump da dump' as what is going on in their heads (not sure if that will translate in writing).
Jaipur is famous for their gems, especially emeralds. I MAYYY have bought an emerald necklace :-O... I'm definitely done shopping on this trip! We went to a store and tried on all this super expensive jewelry. it was awesome! the owners take all this time with you and give you tea or coffee or whatever you want. they act like they are giving "special deal for you" but i'm sure we are still getting ripped off. I bought a saree today (for you Allison!) and I got it for about 50% of the price he asked... but I still think I paid too much. Damn this white skin!
Speaking of white skin... let me just tell you how fucking annoying it is to be white here. Cathy mentioned it quite well (and actually quite literally) in her blog. But it's CRAZY. One of Jay's friends at the wedding asked what it felt like to be a celebrity here and this was before we had toured delhi... but when we went to the red fort there, i realized what he meant. Men will seriously come up to us (2 feet away) and STARE. It's like they are looking at animals in a zoo. They act like it's not weird at all. And then they either ask to take a picture with you (big mistake saying 'yes' once because then EVERYONE wanted one and we had to speed walk away with men yelling "please PLEASE!" OR they pretend to take a picture of their friend who is either 5 feet away from you and it's really obvious where they are pointing the camera or who trys to get close enough to you to be in the same frame. And mind you, we are NOT dressed like sluts or anything... we've been pretty careful about that. It's seriously gross. It disgusts me. The men here are not held accountable for their behaviour or something. It's like the society here doesn't dictate that they in ANY way suppress their animal insticts to want to hump at the first sight of flesh. It's SO annoying. We haven't been groped yet (except a minor incident with Cathy at the silent disco where our Irish friend almost laid the smack down)... but I have this fantasy of being groped (gross guys, not that fantasy part!)... and kicking a guy in the balls SO hard that he can't have kids. Every man that comes within 2 feet of me, I'm very conscious of and already have a plan of how I would inflict serious pain on him (see Dad, I told you you taught me well!). I kinda want it to happen... is that bad??? Our friends we've met that live here (white women) say that if you stand up for yourself, people will defeinitely step in and come to your assistance... which i guess is somewhat comforting.
Ahhh I'm losing time... we are about to go for a camel ride and dinner....
So I'm gonna share one of my favorite things about Goa (even though it was over a week ago)...
So Goa,... Cathy put it quite well... it was a BLAST! We went from watching this big group of people hang out outside our lunch spot and being jealous of their rowdy nature, to moving into the huts there and befriending that same group and being rowdy right along with them. It was instantly easy to be with this group... except the accents... British, Irish, French, South African, Dutch... ALL DRUNK - makes for some interesting interactions. And seriously... the Irish and their leprechaun greetings are enough to give you a heart attack if it interrups the scerene sound of the ocran waves during breakfast... even if they are saying something as delightful as "top of the mornin' to ya!".... and even if that "top of the mornin to ya" was a mandated condition to being our friend...
SO on to my favorite thing... Getting to Goa (Palolem), we noticed about 30 dogs per 100 yards on the beach. Cute little scruffy things romping around - rolling in the sand, beggin (and getting) food from tourists, chasing birds, chasing each other, and most commonly, lounging under every lounge chair occupied by a person (or a towel) to give it shade. It was SO cute! It was as if each tourist had brought their own pup from home and they were just sitting at their feet as usual... except the dogs were not owned or even known... they were just enjoying the company of a new friend.
After the first day of observation (and explanations from our French friends whop'd been there quite a while) we learned that there were kind of dog 'gangs' that each group of 15 or so dogs had their own area of the beach and if dogs from other territories came into their area, the local dogs would beat their asses. They'd all get up and run barking at the tresspasser and scare him or her off. It was ridiculous- especially since they were such mild mannered dogs when it came to humans.
We learned from our IBP (international beach possee) that there were two dogs that were everyone's favorites. They named them scarface and the Governor (because he was the head honcho of our group). These were the dogs under OUR chairs and tables. Scarface was my fav and he probably gained 5 lbs in the 3 days I was there because of how many scraps I gave him.
I think the ebst example of the pups charm was on our last night when we went to the silent disco. Scarface and the governor led (not followed) us there. Looking back every few minutes to see what was taking their two legged friends so long! We walked about 20 minutes to get there with them along the way (and with us having to scar away the dogs of the local territories so our dogs didn't get beat up). When we got to the disco, the human bouncers wouldn't let our dogs in and tried to shoo them away. But we watched as the governor distracted the guard and scarface went by. then minutes later the governor was in too. We danced the night away with our dogs right by our sides (pictures to come). There were probably 200 people at the disco (an outside large venue on the beach) and our dogs stayed right next to us. Every 30 minutes or so I wouldn't see them, but then a few minutes later they'd be right back there with us... maybe they were gone getting a few drinks... It was crazy how loyal they were! They were definitely living the life too... I don't think they'd go two minutes without being pet or scratched by on of their humans. :-)
I'm going to have to write about the wedding later because I gotta go, but one more thing about the dogs (sorry if you aren't an animal person... this probably isn't itneresting to youif you aren't).., But there was one night when I was woken by what sounded like someone trying to get in to our hut from the bathroom (which was pretty much outside... these huts weren't to secure- sorry dad!)... I kinda got freaked out but I heard one of our dogs run around back (again the huts are not very thick walled so you can pretty much hear everything). the dog that ran behind immediately started ferociously barking and about 5 other dogs ran back there and joined him barking. I didn't hear a person run away or anythign so for all I know it could have been a monkey but still... the dogs were totally protecting us and i actually felt completely safe to fall back asleep knowing the dogs would let me know if anything was wrong. Well maybe not completely safe...i still slept with my knife...
in summary, dogs are man's best friend and probably the best thing every created. off to a camel ride...
xoxo,
laura
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