Headed for Agra; Landed in Jaipur

Friday, Aug. 8, 2008--Delhi (Continued)

It was raining again when I came out of the EXPENSIVE cyber cafe with the SLOW connection. I didn't get to do half of what I wanted to do there. Since it was just a mess outside, I returned to Anil's apartment.

Anil arrived around 18:00. We watched the Opening Ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics. I've never been impressed with opening ceremonies. This one seemed better than most, but it still was a bit of a drag, I thought. And the marching in of the all the competitors just took way too long. We heated the leftovers from lunch and ate them during part of that.

Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008--Delhi to Agra (but really Jaipur)

When I awoke this morning, the skies were clear. I knew that Anil had some things to do, so I started thinking about heading to Agra. I've been thinking off and on that I would go there. For some reason, I didn't pack the part of my guidebook for there, so I have no maps, no hotel info, etc. But the nice weather made me decide to take my chances knowing that I could search for hotels, find my way around town, etc., without worrying about rainfall. Therefore, I helped rewire Anil's stereo system which he had gotten repaired, drank coffee with him, and then headed out for the bus station.

Just as the bus dropped me off at the Rajastan Transport Station, there was a bus exiting. The driver leaned out his window and asked where I was going. When I replied, "Agra," he motioned for me to get on. As we exited town, however, I kept seeing signs for Jaipur and not for Agra. I asked a fellow tourist on the bus if he had a guidebook with information and a map of Agra, and that's when I found out for sure that we were going to Jaipur. That's okay, however. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Agra in the first place. And I had planned to come to Jaipur for sure. I can still go to Agra as a part of this trip if I want. Therefore, I am fine with being in Jaipur now instead of Agra.

I met two nice young men on the bus and visited with them the whole way here. One works for a textile manufacturing company as a textile engineer. He was coming here to check a pattern and do some repairs today. He will return to Delhi tonight on another bus that won't get him home until 6:00 tomorrow morning. He had lots of questions about American retailers such as Wal-Mart and the quality of the textiles they sell. The other is the son of a man in the military who lives in Delhi and is returning here for a weekend with his family before starting training for a new job with a telephone center next week. He will have 45 days of training before working for the company that provides contract services with companies offering mobile services. Both men were so young and enthusiastic about life. They were both very pro-USA, too. They are happy about the new nucear treaty between the U.S. and India. They are concerned about China's growing power and worry about its intentions, so they like having the U.S. as an ally to block any problems with China in the future.

I went to a guest house recommended by my guidebook which is now 8-9 years old. The place looked fine, however. I got a nice room with a balcony for $10 per night--about 12% more than what I would have paid last year for the same room, but India has been running a 12-13% inflation rate for the past year. I'm going to have to pay a bit more because of that and because the dollar has also fallen in value against the rupee in the past year (from about 44 to a dollar to about 40 to a dollar).

I've had a dry crusty area just above my lip on the right side for almost a week now. It peels off as a part of bathing/shaving each morning. But that leaves a raw area that is covered again with crust within an hour. It cracks when I smile. So I am very tired of it. I don't know if it is a fever blister or what; I've really never had a fever blister before, but I had a spot like this once before. I went to a pharmacy here and showed him the spot and described it. He sold me Boroline Antiseptic Perfumed Cream. I don't know if it is what I need or not, but I will try it.

The young men on the bus recommended several restaurants here in town. Since I haven't eaten today, I will now find one and have a good Indian meal. It's only 16:00, but I am hungry.