Sensory Overload... Again

May 1 9:51am Delhi time
We're on a bus driving from Pushkar to Jaipur. The wildlife on the side of the road still gets me. Like oh, there's 15 monkeys... I don't think I will ever get used to that.
Zahid hired a private bus for us. We're supposed to take a public bus but he thinks everyone is more comfortable this way. There are actually 2 cabins. We are in the back cabin... It's like a normal private bus at home but without air conditioning. Then, there is a front cabin that allows the driver to pick up locals along the way to make a little bit of extra money.
At the hotel they tried to charge Elisabeth and I for 3 waters. They were ones we had already bought elsewhere and left in the garbage. We told them we had already paid and they didn't argue. That seems to be a normal scam because it happened at the last hotel to other girls as well. It is strange though because there is no mini bar or anything so I'm not sure how we could get water without paying for it.
A lot of men have bright orange hair. They use henna to dye their hair and there are only 3 color options. I actually saw an older woman today with the bright orange hair as well. It's rather funny although I didn't notice it really until someone pointe it out so it must not be too noticeable?
We have a 4.5 hour bus ride to Jaipur. I think we may try to get tickets to a Bollywood show tonight. (Zahid said we will try for tomorrow evening because right now the only thing playing is a horror movie which he said would be too hard to understand. There are no subtitles and the experience will be about 3 hours long. He said Friday is when a new movie comes out so if he gets tickets then it will be interesting. He said people scream and shout and clap and it is fun and crazy. The theater is also the oldest in Jaipur.)
The girls from Norway all watch New Girl and Game of Thrones. Ha. Great shows.
I just saw a dead animal in the road and it reminded me of this. In Delhi, on our way to the train station, there were puppies playing in the street and our driver ran over one of them. It was a terrible high pitch, sad, whimpering noise. Clearly the life of a cow is a better choice, at least in India. There weren't as many dogs in Pushkar, or really even any. (There haven't been a ton in Jaipur either so far. At least no where near as many as there were in Delhi. But we saw a dog on a leash today for the first time).

10:41am Delhi time
Ok. We drove past houses and apartments. It seemed like a more wealthy area but I don't know where we were exactly. There were also what looked to be huge gated private estates as well. They're like in Israel kind of. Made out of cement- very flat facades. Boxy.

11:34am Delhi time
We stopped at a place on the side of the road. I bought water and a bag of chips and it was 130 rupees. My lunch yesterday, vegetable korma, was 130 rupees. I also am not sure if I will drink the water. It's sealed but you can lift the cap and seal off pretty easily. I only noticed because when I opened the bottle both parts came off before I broke the seal. It was expensive for water but i would rather be safe than sorry haha. We also waited for a while for the driver to eat lunch. Ha. Never in America.
Also on the train the other day they passed out English newspapers. Apparently there are 1.2 million people in India and both the literacy rate and the female birth rate are increasing. That's a lot of people ha.

11:46pm Delhi time
When we got to Jaipur we went straight to the hotel. We ordered lunch and I had mushroom curry which was very good. The hotel is super nice. It looks like a palace or museum on the walls inside he lobby. Pictures and paintings and history and colorful rugs and furniture. The room is nice as well. There are archways above the beds and there is even a bath tub! Most of them have little spickets with a drain and buckets in the same room with the toilet and sink. No walls or barriers or anything. I actually took a shower this morning in Pushkar but there was a shower head so I didn't have to use the buckets.
After lunch we had about an hour and a half before our orientation walk with Zahid. I was so tired I went back to the room and took a nap. Most people went to the pool.
We met Zahid and began to wander IMO the city. Holy shit. I thought Delhi was overwhelming but wow! Jaipur is crazy too! There are people all over the place and a lot of vehicles. All you hear every second is horns honking. Zahid actually got hit on his hand by a car driving by today. You just have to walk into the middle of the road when you want to cross because if you wait, no one will ever let you in. If you go they stop. It's still scary though.
We are staying in the new city but we walked to the old city. It is called the pink city because when the price arrived it was all pink, which in Hindu is a welcoming color. It made him happy so he called it the pink city. Now it is more of a red color. There is a large entrance way with arches at the entrance of the old city. Everything there is the way it was 100 years ago. Well, it's supposed to be. The shops all have to have the same written script style and colors (white background, black writing) for their signs. They are technically only allowed to have the ground floor and 1 level above it but people with money have built other levels illegally. The government has the right to tear it down at any point in time. Z also said there are about 6 million people living in and around Jaipur. 4.5 million in he city I think and the rest on the outskirts. Many of the people with market stands set up everyday because they live in surrounding villages. This market is different from in pushkar. There were a lot of flowers being sold as necklaces and perfumes made from opium. It smelled very good. Jaipur is also famous for their jewelry so there are a lot of people selling bangles, the colorful jeweled bracelets. Many people had fruit or vegetable stands as well. When I say stand I don't necessarily mean that. Some people just had a blanket laid out with their fruit on it on the side of the road.
We walked along the side of the road in between people selling things on their blankets and the cars. That was weird. There was one guy who was on a bike and literally was driving very slow next to one of the girls just starring at her. It was creepy. But you also are getting honked at a million times and trying to navigate around the people and not step on products being sold and not get hit by vehicles. I told Z it was busy and he said that this wasn't busy. Ha. Oh boy.
He took us up on top of a roof so we could get some nice pictures of the small square and the street. There was a man below who kept gesturing at us to take pictures of him and then asking for money. We all took pictures but didn't give him any money.
We then were taken to a spice shop. I really wanted to get a mixed bag of spices for Shirley, but I don't have enough space in my bag yet to buy things. Plus, I know there will probably be a lot of good spices other places. The man in the store did tell us about the spices and let us smell them. He also told us how to cook the chai tea we had on the camel safari that was so good. It's basically malaki tea with milk, a little bit of water, a spoon full of malaki and sugar to taste. I didn't buy any of that either. It was tempting though.
On our way to a jewelry store, we stopped for some lassi. It's basically like a smoothie. They use curd to make it. I had a small one that had mango flavoring. It was really good and only 25 rupees which I think is like 50 cents or so. They serve them in pottery mud cups to help with the flavor. It was cold and refreshing.
We went to a jewelry shop that is the oldest in Jaipur. I think he said it is 300 years old. They have their own factory in the basement and we got to have a tour of that which was really cool to see. All of their designs are hand drawn, nothing is computer generated. It takes between 60 and 90 days to make one of the pieces of jewelry they showed us which was a jeweled necklace. They do everything by hand including cutting, polishing, design, set and check the jewelry before it is sold. It was pretty cool to see. When we were looking around the shop we had someone from the store with each of us showing us the jewelry. I think my guy was a little disappointed when he asked me what I do and I told him I am a student. The designs are very unique and very beautiful. They are known for that though so yeah. Most f the jewelry in Jaipur is made at this store and then other stores buy it and display it in their shops.
After that we went to dinner. I had butter chicken and naan. It was so good. It was a dish Z recommended.
I hit up the ATM for the first time. Wasn't too exciting. But earlier today, Z told us not to accept any ripped or torn money because the bank will not accept it and once you get it you're stuck with it. So at lunch it was pretty humorous when they kept giving us change and trying to get rid of a ripped 100 rupee bill. It was a huge group of us and we were all like uh, can I have a different one? He was running out of change so he seemed frustrated but I don't want money I can't use! At dinner I was nervous as well because I had 2 500 rupee bills that were taped in the middle. They accepted them though!
On the way back from dinner we paid 30 rupee each to get a tuk tuk back. This was an insane experience! I've already talke about the driving. But wow. Everyone just zooms past each other! We actually went directly into oncoming traffic for at least a few blocks. The tuk tuk has a little bench in the back. The whole thing, including where the driver sits is covered by a roof. The sides are open. The tuk tuk is like a moped kind of. That's what the steering handles look like, with brakes on the handle bars. It makes that noise as well when you're driving it. Always constant honking. I'm coming through whether you move or not! Pretty much is what the honking means in my head.
Some of the girls rode in a tuk tuk that had rope lights around the inside and was blasting music. It was funny.
The rest of the evening we just hung out at the hotel and talked for a while. All in all a good day.
I don't think I've talked about smells though. But it also doesn't really occur to me. It's a lot like Budapest where someone's there are just areas that smell like piss and feces. But it is also crazy because there are a million different smells. I don't think I can even describe the ones I want to talk about. I'll try to think about how to do that. There are smells apart from the food and flowers and stuff. Like the people have distinct smells as well. That's weird but I don't know how else to describe it.
I think that's it for tonight. My iMessage isn't working right now so if you tried to message me and didn't hear back, it's not because I'm ignoring you.