I am finally starting to get settled in. I will start living with my homestay family today, but otherwise I have been staying in hotels (first in Delhi and then in Jaipur). It took approximately 6 hours via bus to go from Delhi to Jaipur. Driving in India is very different from in the States. Honking is used for signaling and warning people that you are driving up behind them, and signaling…well I am not sure what it is used for. In Delhi I was staying in a lovely hotel (Vivanta by Taj), but other participants that have been to India before that this area was atypical of India (little traffic and smell). Now that I am in Jaipur I know that this is true. There are good smells and bad smells and there are always cars, rickshaws, bicyclists, and motorcyclists everywhere. Sometimes there are no lines on the road, but when there are lines no one seems to drive them anyway (it makes for a lot of adventure). I have seen camels, monkeys, cows, stray dogs, and lots of mosquitoes.
Jaipur has some amazing bazaars, which I will hopefully be able to explore soon. To say the streets and bazaars are crowded would be understatements…there are literally people everywhere. I do not think that any picture, story, or film that I have seen or heard about India has captured the complexity of the culture and the country.
Okay so from the time I wrote “culture and the country,” I have experienced much more of Jaipur! Aaj (today) I went to the bazaar and was overwhelmed by the people, smells, and sights…more on this to come
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