Namaste Vadodara

wow. i dont think im going to bother stopping at small towns on the way to my destination. it just ends up being the hugest hassle. i took a 1st class sleeper train ride to Vadodara from Mumbai. I arrived at 6:30am and it took 30 minutes to get to a hotel. that's because the autorickshaw driver thought it would be good to take me to a hotel that was paying him a commission and not the one i'd asked for. supposedly mine had no water. i was so irritated from my lack of decent sleep that i grabbed my stuff and attempted to hail another driver without paying him. this really pissed him off. so we argued for about 10 minutes on the side of a busy road with cars, rickshaws, bicycles, mopeds, and random cows going by. he finally agreed to take me somewhere that was in my bible aka my Lonely planet India guide book which i treat like a bible. turns out i was within walking distance of my hotel! not 3 km as he had said. so i paid him way more then he deserved but was thankful that i had found a decent place.
i know i said before that the monsoon rains are no big deal. this part is still true...its the massive puddles and mini lakes that are a big deal. ive been walking through some of the grossest water imaginable. brown water with garbage floating in it. so recap, the rain isnt so bad, its the puddles when there isnt proper drainage. hopefully Udaipur, where i'm headed tonight is better. According to the map, Udaipur is only 300 km north of here but its going to take about 8+ hours to get there. this is because i have to take a bus. not that the train is all that much faster. currently, trains to the North are on hold because of the water. i had a hard time finding a decent bus. i resorted to asking some people that looked about my age if they could help me. they were all medical students from Mangalore and one was kind enough to find me a travel agent that could book a coach bus for me.
none of the tourist attractions are open in this city..because of the floods. ive spent a lot of time in my hotel room. internet has been down until now. ive walked by this place so many times to inquire.
i also had a really hard time finding an ATM that would accept my TD bank card. i tried about 6 ATM and was starting to get a little panicked. its not the end of the world. I could always get mommy or daddy to wire me some money...just kidding! i can use my visa at thomas cook for a commission.
so after i got some money. i decided to treat myself. at 8pm tonight i will be the proud owner of a sari! he he. i cant wait to see how it fits. of course i got ripped off but its still half the price of what it would have been if id bought it in Mumbai. guess how much 2 samosas costs here? like 10 cents!
i cant wait to get to Udaipur. it sounds really nice. the old town is surrounded by an old fort wall. i'll also be looking into taking Hindi lessons. i'm sick of not knowing what's going on and not being able to communicate. people also look insulted when i say i don't know hindi. the best i can do is "Namaste" which means hello or goodbye and i learned that in yoga class.
speaking of which, i'll be looking into yoga classes in Udaipur. can't wait.

hello

not sure why that didnt work...i had typed out a whole long message for the previous blog.
ok. start again. india is overwhelming. there are so many people. just finding my hotel is hard. im in the touristy district called Coloba. so far i havent seen many other tourists. id really like to make a travelling partner. i'll be heading up north in a few days. i want to do a camel trek and hopefully make some friends while on it. today i managed to find the train station but they decided to close for the day at 1:30pm! ill be going there again tomorrow.

last night after my crazy day of travelling yesterday i slept for 13 hours!!! despite loud honking outside and the heat! Emirate airlines is the nicest airline ive ever used. the airport in Dubai is amazing. Rolex clocks on the walls and everything. Indias airport in Mumbai looked like it was built in 1950 and never renovated. it even smelled of mold.
the monsoon is really not so bad. it rained for about 2 hours on my first day. today it rained for 5 minutes. i have a plastic rain poncho and ill be wearing that a lot. the rain is actually nice. its so bloody hot and humid.

today i took a boat ride to Elephanta island and saw some cool temples carved into teh rocks. i was the only white person on a boat of 60 + people. everywhere i go i have indian boys throwing themselves at me, or pretending to bump into me so that they can touch me. its pretty hilarious. being a white female tourist makes me a huge hot commodity here.