The Original Cano (Busy Bee)

27 July 2011
Last I wrote we were on a bus to Jaipur. Oh man that bus was annoying! There was a dude who kept going into my space. Argh. We reached Jaipur and that was Monday. We briefly ate at a restaurant and that was last time we saw Vittoria. She wanted to do her own thing and she wanted to see Jaipur. Meanwhile Suzana, Michael and myself went to the train station. There were no trains to anywhere until for a few days so Michael went to the airport and we went to the bus station. Then there were two. We went to bus station and got our tickets to Chandigarh which would leave at 830 pm and arrive at 7am. Eleven hours!!!! We took it because we had no other choice. After we book the tickets we went to city palace where we saw some pretty cool things. It was to calculate the alignment of the stars and moon. It could also calculate what time it was based on the suns positioning. After that we tried to go shopping but got distracted by a temple and a park where we came upon an Internet cafe. We stayed there for an hour to plan what to do in Chandigarh before going to the Golden Temple. There I saw it would take way too much time to get to Khajuraho so I gave up on that idea but at least I would be able to see the Golden Temple. I told Suzana after we see it we can do an adventure sport wherever you want to go except up north because as a US citizen the CIA has restrictions on traveling around the world and the north of India is one of those restricted areas. Any who we finished the Internet cafe and walked again to city palace where I saw a beautiful table cloth for 90 rs. I was looking for one and finally saw what I wanted. I got one with good material for 12 for 325 rs. I like it and hope to see that who I’m thinking about giving it to will like it as well. We got a cycle rickshaw and finally saw the markets of Jaipur. It was so pretty. It was twenty minutes and we had our luggage so we paid the guy 100 rs. We got to the bus station and just waited. In the bus we switched seats with this son and his mother and obviously they knew the people behind us because they kept talking to them. It was a long 11 hours. Thankfully I slept most of the way but the lady in the back of me kept pulling my hair and kicking and pulling and pushing he chair. Then the woman in front of me went all the way back and I had no leg room. Oh also the woman behind me didn’t allow me close the window so I heard everything as well as had the breeze in my face and back the entire time. When they got off all four of them I finally slept comfortably. When we got to Chandigarh we had to go to this hotel where there would be a tour bus for only 50 rs. It was one fancy hotel where we got to brush our teeth and use their restroom to the fullest to our advantage. We waited an hour and half and the tour finally started at 10am. We went to several gardens as well as a museum. My favorite was the rock garden. It had several waterfalls and the sculptures were awesome as well. We got off at the shopping center where we found another internet cafe to find a deluxe bus. We would paid the price because we just wanted to be comfortable! We took a bus from sector 17 to another bus in sector 43. We waited an hour, ate something briefly and got on a deluxe bus to Amritsar. We got to the gate where we were stopped by police. We were in a rush so we kept standing up but they just kept telling us information. It was helpful information because we stayed at an accommodation for free. We slept on the floor but still for free. The Golden Temple, from what I understand, is the most sacred place for those in the Sikh religion. Most people make pilgrimages to here so they accommodate foreigners as well. Suzana and I stayed at the complex and then went around. This temple is absolutely beautiful at night. It’s small but the people are so friendly and devote that it’s such a sight to see. After seeing the Golden Temple, we went to an Internet cafe to plan our next steps. We slept at 12 and woke up at 9. I couldn’t sleep well but it didn’t matter as much to me because I slept on the bus from Chandigarh to Amritsar, hours before. Suzana did not and was passed out and had a good sleep thankfully. We ate at cafe where we planned to go to Diu or at least attempt to. We got to the free shuttle when it started to rain then pour. It was sunny one minute and pouring the next. We are at the train station waiting to buy a ticket to go to Delhi at this point. From Delhi we hope to reach Ahmedabad and go to Diu. Hope everything turns out well! We need to wait two hours to buy our tickets and then wait another hour for the train to arrive. This is one adventure I won’t forget.
3:00 pm. Ahh we are on the train! Something I forgot to write down is that I saw transvestites in Agra! I guess everyone would like to express themselves no matter which country they are in.
Haha so Chandīgarh is by far the most eco-friendly city, I have seen in India.

1:00 am: We got to the train station and they were inconstant so we are at the airport and bought our tickets. The reason we decided to go the easy way and go by plane because the railway kept telling us different information. There were way too many people and kept touching Suzana. The airport is safe convenient and yet it is costly but we have the money for it and we just want to go home. It may seem like we are giving up but we aren’t.
We arrived in Ahmedabad and we got ripped off by a rickshaw. What else is new? We are so happy to be back. We finally showered and it is just nice to be back.