Exhausted but still blogging late into the night

May 3 5:35pm Delhi time
So today we were left on our own to go do what we wanted. We split into a few different groups last night. I went with 8 other girls and we decided we all needed to sleep in so we called for tuk tuks at 11am.
We went to breakfast at the hotel around 10am. I ordered corn flakes and fruit. Elisabeth also ordered corn flakes and a lassi. Her corn flakes came out but it took about 15 minutes after that for my corn flakes to come out. It is just funny that they can only bring 1 bowl of corn flakes at a time. I think maybe they just forget about things because Marianna had ordered toast and tea and it took her forever to get hers too. My fruit was 2 slices of papaya and 2 bananas.
The tuk tuks picked us up at 11am to drive us to the amber fort. It was a pretty long drive. Maybe 30 minutes. It was outside of the city so we weren't driving through city streets. It was less crazy with the amount of cars but it was still like playing a game of dodge ball or something. We were weaving in and out of people and pigs and cows and huge holes in the road and other vehicles.
Another thing I have noticed is there is so much trash on the streets. There are no waste bins anywhere on the street either. But piles of garbage everywhere. To the point where one road we drove down had piles of black garbage surprise mixture or something ha. No idea how to describe it.
Our tuk tuk driver was actually very nice. He asked us questions and told us about what we were seeing. He also took us to photo sites along the way so we could stop and take pictures.
When we got to the amber fort we had to go up a winding entrance way through a garden. It was really pretty and you could see such beautiful views of the surrounding area. I had my student ID card with me so I got a discounted price on the entry ticket. Only 100 rupees.
On our way up we were being stopped constantly to buy this and look at that and it was all stuff we did not want like hats, umbrellas, these weird wooden doll puppets. it was actually exhausting. more exhausting than climbing all the stairs and walking up the hills.
There were a lot of really steep stairs and passageways and rooms (not covered) to wander through. Some of the walls were decorated very beautifully with mirrors and shiny things. Even the walls of the fort were pretty with multiple colors. There was black and red and brown.
The amber fort was inhabited by the Rajput maharajas and their families. It was built in the 1500s, if I am remembering correctly, and it took 25 years to build! It is known for its artistic style. We saw one of the other groups of our people when we were entering and they had spent about 2 hours wandering around. We only spent about an hour but it seemed like we saw a lot still.

12:01am Delhi time
While we were waiting by the tuk tuks for a few of the other girls we watched 2 different elephants go by. I have a picture of it and there's buses and cars around it and its funny to me. It also made me realize just how big they are and got me excited and also somewhat nervous for the elephant volunteer program. It's gonna be so cool though.
Once we were all back together, the tuk tuk drivers took us to take pictures of the water palace. It wasn't super exciting, but it was nice to look at. It's pretty self explanatory.
At that point they wanted to take us to go see some printing thing... We weren't sure what they were saying. We wanted to go to the tiger palace but they were charging a bunch of money to get there so instead we had them drop us off in the market so we could find a different one. The tiger palace is famous for the sunset activities. It is also a place Zahid told us had a very good restaurant and great view of Jaipur.
We started shopping. Also a very exhausting experience. Every shop owner and their brother and maybe distant friend twice removed was constantly in your face talking to you. "Ma'am, look at this please" "you come look at my store, just look, to make me happy, you no have to buy" "I give you good price" and a million other things. They are all very hospitable. We were always offered a seat (long benches in the shop or pull up chairs of some sort). One guy took the 5 of us in his shop and started showing us blanket after pants after skirts after scarves. None of us even wanted anything. One girl said she already had pants and he said, "yes but not from me! Why you don't want me to be happy?" He also said, "i make beautiful woman happy so I don't die of hunger." Very nice tactic ha.
At the end of the shopping trip I ended up buying 1 pair of these pants... They're crazy looking and they're all over the place. Obviously they match my color scheme. They are nice because they are light weight and allow you to wear them long or short. I only paid about $2.50 for them.
In between shopping we went to LMB for lunch. It was a restaurant Zahid recommended we eat at. They are famous for their sweets but I didn't get any. They also have really good Indian food which I did get. It was so good. I had garlic naan and some Indian dish. I can't remember the same of it now. It was basically slices of cottage cheese in a spicy butter tomato sauce.
We went back to shopping after that and both Elisabeth and I were tired of always having to stop and wait for the other girls so we left and went on our own. We then decided we were so tired from constantly being spoken to and followed and asked to buy this or that that we found a tuk tuk to take us back to the hotel. They always say they know where they are going but they never do. I think it took us about 30 minutes to get back when we were probably about 5 minutes away. It was pretty humorous to me. The guy was constantly pulling to the side of the road and asking people for directions. Finally we made it back though. At that point we only had 40 minutes until we had to meet Zahid for the Bollywood film.
We were so tired but we knew we couldn't sleep because we would never wake up. Unfortunately that meant I drifted off a few times during the movie.
The theater is one of the oldest buildings in Jaipur and it is one of the only theaters left that still allow viewings like this. The inside lobby area was beautiful with nice lights and chandeliers and nice carpet and a lit staircase. They sell pop and popcorn. I was still full from lunch and didn't get any.
The movie was interesting. It was a 3 hour ordeal. There is a maybe 10 minute intermission between the 2 halves. There were no subtitles so it was kind of hard to tell what was happening as a whole. People scream and cheer during it though and at random parts there are dances with an attractive sexy woman. It has nothing to do with the story but Zahid says it is to sell the movie. It happened like 3 times I think. It's pretty strange but also entertaining.
The movie was about this bad guy who wanted to go straighten his life out and become a good guy. So he went to college and tried to do well. But then he got frame or a crime he didn't do and was taken to jail so he was like well being good got me no where. So then he became bad and strong again in jail and learned all these bad things and escaped from jail. Then he wanted to take over the bad guy job in the city of Bombay (where the movie takes place) and there are a number of fight scenes that take place. Then in the end, he ends up getting shot and dying and his girlfriend actually double crosses him and turns him in.
It's a true story. It was called "shootout in wadala". It was a lot of fighting and blood and killing and sex. There were a few rape scenes and people actually cheered during that which was disturbing. There were also sex scenes. And there were 2 young children sitting in front of us so that seemed strange. It was extremely long as well. We started at 630 and got out at 930 or something like that.
Then Zahid took us to a pub. I normally enjoy that but I have been so tired I wasn't really up for it. I also was still full from lunch. But everyone seemed to want to go so I figure I could at least socialize. Cricket games were playing, and Zahid said cricket is the biggest sport in India.
About half of us ended up heading back around 11. Zahid called tuk tuks for us. We ha 6 people and took 2 tuk tuks. The second we got around the corner, they tried to get all 6 of us to fit in one tuk tuk. I don't know why. Maybe so one person could make more money. But we told them no.
We got back and showered... Normal shower, sorry to disappoint with no good bucket shower stories. And I'm staying up late again to write this blog ha. I know I'll appreciate it once I'm home though web though its a huge pain.
Tomorrow morning we get up super early... 5:30am to go catch a train to Agra. It's a 4 hour train ride. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is so that will be cool. Hopefully well have Internet there too. I don't know! My iMessage works on and off so you can try but no guarantees!