Amber

Okay, sorry for the delay in updates. These are also pretty rushed, so they may suck more than usual. I'm trying to get caught up...

Today I went to the Palace of (the?) Winds. It was the second site i've been too in India that charges a camera fee but has nothing worth photographing. The best part is the outside, but I didn't bother to shoot that because I'm sure i can just find a picture online. I hopped on a bus to Amber, an old city 11km away. The bus was a lot less crowded than my previous bus ride in India (which was hellish). I sat next to a student of applied chemistry. He asked me for some advice on how to get a girlfriend on Valentine's day. He invited me over, but I declined. He told me Clinton has visited Amber.

Amber was on The Amazing Race I think. You can pay to ride an elephant up to the entrance. So Amber is the site of both a palace and a fort. The palace was a little overpriced, hopefully the admission fee subsidized the free museum gallery outside. Photography is prohibited in all the museums here. The guy who told me this had a lazy eye, and since he was turning his head to talk to me, it was freaky.

A little boy visiting with his family ran up to me and said hello. When I bent down to say hello, he gave me a kiss. His family whispered reminders to him of what to say 'What is your name?'. We took some pictures together.

Then i climbed up to the amber fort, higher up the same hill. I'm not sure why they made the palace easy to reach. I accidentally walked into a 'no entry' area. The 'sign' was just some graffiti that I didn't notice because every historical monument in India is covered with idiotic tagging (Bheem + Alta in a heart, for example). At the fort i received my first student discount in india: Rs 5! Yeah baby, money in the bank. Just a few hundred more of those and this student ID will have paid for itself.

SO haggling in India is different than in Thailand, and more what I expected. First, you cannoy ask the price. If you do, a wildly inflated number is introduced that distorts everything. Instead, you state a price. They invariably want more, because foreigners must pay more. So it's best to underbid. And, getting an autorickshaw driver to understand your destination is sometimes an ordeal, so it's best to talk to groups at the same time, to avoid having to repeat the process again and again.

My brain did not make the change immediately. For the ride back to my hotel from the Palace of the Winds, I thought rs 25. So I offer rs 20. They refused, but eventually offered 25. I was still in Thai mode, so I refused. Actually i ended up getting the ride for 20, but I had to ask three different places. Also, some albino dude rode shotguy which freaked me out. He had to stop and ask directions. I refused to get out of the rickshaw and leave whitey in there alone.Okay, sorry for the delay in updates. These are also pretty rushed, so they may suck more than usual. I'm trying to get caught up...

Today I went to the Palace of (the?) Winds. It was the second site i've been too in India that charges a camera fee but has nothing worth photographing. The best part is the outside, but I didn't bother to shoot that because I'm sure i can just find a picture online. I hopped on a bus to Amber, an old city 11km away. The bus was a lot less crowded than my previous bus ride in India (which was hellish). I sat next to a student of applied chemistry. He asked me for some advice on how to get a girlfriend on Valentine's day. He invited me over, but I declined. He told me Clinton has visited Amber.

Amber was on The Amazing Race I think. You can pay to ride an elephant up to the entrance. So Amber is the site of both a palace and a fort. The palace was a little overpriced, hopefully the admission fee subsidized the free museum gallery outside. Photography is prohibited in all the museums here. The guy who told me this had a lazy eye, and since he was turning his head to talk to me, it was freaky.

A little boy visiting with his family ran up to me and said hello. When I bent down to say hello, he gave me a kiss. His family whispered reminders to him of what to say 'What is your name?'. We took some pictures together.

Then i climbed up to the amber fort, higher up the same hill. I'm not sure why they made the palace easy to reach. I accidentally walked into a 'no entry' area. The 'sign' was just some graffiti that I didn't notice because every historical monument in India is covered with idiotic tagging (Bheem + Alta in a heart, for example). At the fort i received my first student discount in india: Rs 5! Yeah baby, money in the bank. Just a few hundred more of those and this student ID will have paid for itself.

SO haggling in India is different than in Thailand, and more what I expected. First, you cannoy ask the price. If you do, a wildly inflated number is introduced that distorts everything. Instead, you state a price. They invariably want more, because foreigners must pay more. So it's best to underbid. And, getting an autorickshaw driver to understand your destination is sometimes an ordeal, so it's best to talk to groups at the same time, to avoid having to repeat the process again and again.

My brain did not make the change immediately. For the ride back to my hotel from the Palace of the Winds, I thought rs 25. So I offer rs 20. They refused, but eventually offered 25. I was still in Thai mode, so I refused. Actually i ended up getting the ride for 20, but I had to ask three different places. Also, some albino dude rode shotguy which freaked me out. He had to stop and ask directions. I refused to get out of the rickshaw and leave whitey in there alone.Okay, sorry for the delay in updates. These are also pretty rushed, so they may suck more than usual. I'm trying to get caught up...

Today I went to the Palace of (the?) Winds. It was the second site i've been too in India that charges a camera fee but has nothing worth photographing. The best part is the outside, but I didn't bother to shoot that because I'm sure i can just find a picture online. I hopped on a bus to Amber, an old city 11km away. The bus was a lot less crowded than my previous bus ride in India (which was hellish). I sat next to a student of applied chemistry. He asked me for some advice on how to get a girlfriend on Valentine's day. He invited me over, but I declined. He told me Clinton has visited Amber.

Amber was on The Amazing Race I think. You can pay to ride an elephant up to the entrance. So Amber is the site of both a palace and a fort. The palace was a little overpriced, hopefully the admission fee subsidized the free museum gallery outside. Photography is prohibited in all the museums here. The guy who told me this had a lazy eye, and since he was turning his head to talk to me, it was freaky.

A little boy visiting with his family ran up to me and said hello. When I bent down to say hello, he gave me a kiss. His family whispered reminders to him of what to say 'What is your name?'. We took some pictures together.

Then i climbed up to the amber fort, higher up the same hill. I'm not sure why they made the palace easy to reach. I accidentally walked into a 'no entry' area. The 'sign' was just some graffiti that I didn't notice because every historical monument in India is covered with idiotic tagging (Bheem + Alta in a heart, for example). At the fort i received my first student discount in india: Rs 5! Yeah baby, money in the bank. Just a few hundred more of those and this student ID will have paid for itself.

SO haggling in India is different than in Thailand, and more what I expected. First, you cannoy ask the price. If you do, a wildly inflated number is introduced that distorts everything. Instead, you state a price. They invariably want more, because foreigners must pay more. So it's best to underbid. And, getting an autorickshaw driver to understand your destination is sometimes an ordeal, so it's best to talk to groups at the same time, to avoid having to repeat the process again and again.

My brain did not make the change immediately. For the ride back to my hotel from the Palace of the Winds, I thought rs 25. So I offer rs 20. They refused, but eventually offered 25. I was still in Thai mode, so I refused. Actually i ended up getting the ride for 20, but I had to ask three different places. Also, some albino dude rode shotguy which freaked me out. He had to stop and ask directions. I refused to get out of the rickshaw and leave whitey in there alone.Okay, sorry for the delay in updates. These are also pretty rushed, so they may suck more than usual. I'm trying to get caught up...

Today I went to the Palace of (the?) Winds. It was the second site i've been too in India that charges a camera fee but has nothing worth photographing. The best part is the outside, but I didn't bother to shoot that because I'm sure i can just find a picture online. I hopped on a bus to Amber, an old city 11km away. The bus was a lot less crowded than my previous bus ride in India (which was hellish). I sat next to a student of applied chemistry. He asked me for some advice on how to get a girlfriend on Valentine's day. He invited me over, but I declined. He told me Clinton has visited Amber.

Amber was on The Amazing Race I think. You can pay to ride an elephant up to the entrance. So Amber is the site of both a palace and a fort. The palace was a little overpriced, hopefully the admission fee subsidized the free museum gallery outside. Photography is prohibited in all the museums here. The guy who told me this had a lazy eye, and since he was turning his head to talk to me, it was freaky.

A little boy visiting with his family ran up to me and said hello. When I bent down to say hello, he gave me a kiss. His family whispered reminders to him of what to say 'What is your name?'. We took some pictures together.

Then i climbed up to the amber fort, higher up the same hill. I'm not sure why they made the palace easy to reach. I accidentally walked into a 'no entry' area. The 'sign' was just some graffiti that I didn't notice because every historical monument in India is covered with idiotic tagging (Bheem + Alta in a heart, for example). At the fort i received my first student discount in india: Rs 5! Yeah baby, money in the bank. Just a few hundred more of those and this student ID will have paid for itself.

SO haggling in India is different than in Thailand, and more what I expected. First, you cannoy ask the price. If you do, a wildly inflated number is introduced that distorts everything. Instead, you state a price. They invariably want more, because foreigners must pay more. So it's best to underbid. And, getting an autorickshaw driver to understand your destination is sometimes an ordeal, so it's best to talk to groups at the same time, to avoid having to repeat the process again and again.

My brain did not make the change immediately. For the ride back to my hotel from the Palace of the Winds, I thought rs 25. So I offer rs 20. They refused, but eventually offered 25. I was still in Thai mode, so I refused. Actually i ended up getting the ride for 20, but I had to ask three different places. Also, some albino dude rode shotguy which freaked me out. He had to stop and ask directions. I refused to get out of the rickshaw and leave whitey in there alone.