Jaipur

(Friday night)
Well, India and I aren't making great strides in our friendship. I got called an idiot by a guy strolling past me on the street and laughed at by a groups of kids when one grabbed my arm and I shoved him away. On the other hand I found a great local place to eat where I didn't get harassed once, the owner was polite to me, and my driver guy is very sweet. Striking the right balance between self assured and meek is hard. Especially while trying to remember how to get home and not make eye contact with anyone.

Tomorrow India and I will get to know each other better and go from there.

The drive down was fantastic, despite my guy asking me every half an hour if I was okay. He must be used to chatty tourists who want to know about whatever and have no clue what they're doing. I asked him about dinner around 5:30 and he said why dont I just eat at the hotel and we could go 'out' tomorrow night. Alrighty I said to myself. That was until I saw the prices on the hotel menu. Are you kidding me? That's at least three times what I paid for dinner last night at a hole-in-the-wall place i found and that doesn't include my obligatory chai. Yeah right guys.

So I set out in search of food/adventure. However, after walking blocks and blocks without running into anything except other hotel restaurants I turned and walked on the other side of the street back. Over a block away, however, I finally saw it. A local restaurant! Paneer tikka masala, naan, and three chai l later my stomach and wallet are happy. ($1.50 if anyone is interested.) As an added bonus I ate my meal in peace with only some stares and no pointing.

Tomorrow my guy is taking me everywhere there is to see in Jaipur. I must admit, having someone else tell me what I might like to see and not argue with me (at least very much) is a welcome change, despite the twinge of guilt I feel over being a bad independent traveler. But not trying to find a hotel and guess at the value, safety, or number of bugs, plus not worrying about getting stranded anywhere without a ride or missing something vital I needed to see is invaluable.