Too much, too much

SO much has happened since last post! First: Jaisalmer... So I decided to couchsurf there and found someone to host me fairly easily. However, when I arrived at their place, and noticed it was a guesthouse, I was a bit suspicious. The whole turned out to be a scam to sell me a camel safari with the hotel's company, worth much more than the room they were offering me for free. Anyway, I booked with a different company and left early the next morning with a group of 8 foreigners and our guides into the desert on camelback. The first day, we rode for 4 hours in total, the camels trotting along at their lazy pace, causually pooing and farting as they went. It was fun, but ooooow I can still feel the pain! We watched the sun set on sand dunes, started a fire, cooked up a meal, and sang some songs into the night. There was no moon that night so we could see so many stars, it was pretty magical, until the VERY PAINFUL camel ride back next morning.

It was also really nice for me to talk to foreigners and exchange travel stories. After Gujarat, which had very few tourists, I was losing it a bit and really needed that!

I ended up travelling with three of the guys to Jodhpur, visited the fort, chilled out in the blue city.

I next headed to Bundi, a really small town in southern Rajasthan. There's mountains around the city but a strong breeze flows through, and all the little kids rush to the rooftops to fly their kites and battle it out in the air. The more daring ones will write messages to their rivals, or love letters to girls and maneuver their kites to their terraces.

I also took some art classes, here is my first attempt at Rajasthani Miniature painting on an old Indian postcard:

At this point in my trip, having visited so much of Rajasthan, one of the most touristy states, I was a bit tired of the endless calls to visit people's shops, the insane prices for westerners, and people who you thought were being friendly, but really were just after your money. When I arrived in Jaipur, I was pissed off and tired, and the touts and rickshaw drivers didn't help. Then I met Amir and his friends Jeff and Faris, who saw I was a bit lost and invited me to stay at Jeff's place. They bought me food, drove me round town (through tiny backstreets and alleys) on motorbike, and were just genereally amazing. We played cards and smoked beedies into the night, and there was a rule of no saying "thank you" or "sorry", which I've heard before amongst dost (friends) here.

Next day Jeff and I headed to a mall to get some coffee, and this "cool" guy started chattin to me. He was dressed in very western styles, mid 30s, and speaking loudly in English. Once he had studied me a little he called his friend Ricky, who came over, sporting expensive rings and clothes, and then suggested we go to somewhere quieter to chat. Me and Jeff tought "free drink, why not" and we headed up. Next, Ricky outlined a business opportunity for me: to purchase (on paper, not for real) his collection of gems and jewels (they own a business in this field) and fly them over to Australia. Once in Sydney, my job would be to deliver the goods to his contacts there. They were willing to pay for my flights, hotels, a minimum 4000 USD pay, and change my Visa status so that I could come back to India. They assured me they found a loophole in the law, but it sounds like smuggling to me, some mafia shiz.

Anyway I've booked my flights to Sydney for next Monday. JOKING I'm planning on going to Agra tonight, have a quick peek at the Taj Mahal tomorrow, then head into Maddya Pradesh, and hopefully I will be writing about Music next time, as I'll be visiting the Tansen Music Festival in Gwalior.

Soundtrack to my trip at the moment: Patti Smith - Horses.