Reflections thus far...

So things are going much better over here...morale is high;) I think the golden triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur should really be the devil's triangle; the rest of India is so much more pleasant. They are just noisy, polluted cities full of people trying to get as much money from you as possible and they are very good at lying....make you feel like they are genuinely good people trying to help you, until you realize that their uniform is crap, their map false, their cards fake, their government position fake, and every word they uttered completely false. One even went so far as to say there are no buses in Rajastan! Anyhoo, we have come to the realization (along with every other backpacker that we have met...the old folks going on secluded tours dont count as they are in a perfect bliss since they never really interact with an Indians) that every Indian that approaches you is to be assumed to be lying and untrustworthy...and sadly, this has worked wonders to protect us. It is rather unfortunate that it has to be this way, but we've let our guard down many times, and every time we are trampled and used again. I've found the best way to deal is to have a smile on my face and joke around the whole time...things are much more enjoyable for everyone that way.

So some interesting things I've noticed:
sunday/monday is used by shopkeepers to refer to a reversible clothes item
"no hurry no worry, no chicken no curry" is a common saying, along with "anything is possible in India" which is totally true, I might add
men pee constantly on the side of the streets, which contributes to the ever present smell of urine...they even have little "urinals" on the sides of streets which are just protected by a little wall, but you can see everything inside...most don't bother to use them though and simply go wherever they feel the urge...which is intrigueing to me, as it seems that in some regards they have a very conservative culture...but maybe these are just people from the lower classes?

Anyhoo, we've met some wonderful people...a spanish/dutch couple and argentinian couple, whom we've been seeing over the past week and having a blast with. Tonight we have a cooking course together, so it should be fun. The "sputch" couple are medical students and lots of fun to be around...very calm and level headed. the argentinians however, are a hoot...the guy is very calm and laid back, whereas the girl is "just crazy" as the spanish guy says. they were all on the night train with us, except they were in a more expensive cabin...the argentinian girl saw a rat, and got mad when the spanish guy told her it was a just a small mouse...then she went up to her top bunk and saw her pillow and wall infested with cock roaches...apparently at this point she flipped out, and screaming, ran out of the train. her bf rand after her and they ended up hiring a car to the next town;) haha, we had some good laughs about that. apparently the dutch girl simply took out her contacts and went to bed pretending she couldn't see anything...very brave if you aske me;) we had some crackers and bananas for breakfast in a plastic bag which I had placed on the bunk by my head on the train...in the morning we discovered the crackers partly eaten (and plastic wrapper too) as well as parts of the bannanas;) the animals in this country are very well off;) this morning we saw cows on the street with chapatis, and the bus driver through out bread for monkeys on the side of the road as we went. not a bad place to be if you're an animal.

anyhoo, it has taking much longer than usual to adjust, but I think we have finally managed. It's nice to talk to other experienced travellers and realize that we are all in the same boat. At least it seems that now we are finally outsmarting the others and taking better care to protect ourselves, and our money:) anyways...off to cooking some yummy Indian food now!