I found out today (our last day in the hostel) that we can use our own ethernet/computer for free internet. Apparently people have been keeping it secret because they didn't want others to know, but now I have some free internet. Of course there is a line to use it now. But fortuneately for you, this means you get to see pictures of the hostel! While we were taking pictures the lens kept fogging up because of the humidity. In between every picture we would have to hold the camera in front of the fan so that it would be clearer. That's why the pictures are so fuzzy... Yesterday was hectic while looking for apartments. Today Andrew and I are going to go shopping to buy some cotton outfits (we've waited a bit to see what others bought) and some post cards. Going to take it easy today, tommorrow we have a 9 hour bus ride to Mussorie. At least it will be airconditioned. *EDIT* Now it's later in the afternoon, and there is no line to use the internet so I don't feel guilty about writing more. Andrew and I went out with some others to go shopping. I got a cotton sari that is dark blue. I'll wear it later and take a picture, it's very pretty. The guy wanted 2600 Rs, but then I got him down to 350 Rs, so I bought it. That's about $8. For a whole outfit! A shirt, pants, and scarf were all included. I like it a lot. Andrew bought some really cheap cotton shirts (western style and plain of course) for 30 Rs each, about $0.69. So it's kind of fun to buy stuff, but it's hard work haggeling and such. Right now the Euro Cup for soccer is going on, last night it was Spain vs. Russia so Andrew and I and about 20 other people went to the sports bar across the street from the hostel. It was full of mostly other foreigners (a lot of Europeans). We met people from all over Australia, France, etc. It was a lot of fun. FYI drinks cost the same here as they do in the United States, about 250 Rs. Andrew seems to have fun talking to the people on the street, even if he doesn't want anything. Sometimes it turns out to be amusing. A man approached him and told him to read a little notebook he had. It was full of testimonials that this guy had about his ear cleaning business. Aparently, this is a big business around here. Guys go around with wooden sticks and offer to "clean your ears" for a small fee. It was funny because this guy had the book (written in English--and this guy obviously didn't know English) full of people saying how amazing it was. Of course, Andrew didn't let him anywhere near his ears, but it was a good story.
For the weekend Andrew and I with nine other friends headed out on a Friday to Pushkar, and the largest mammal fair in the world. That's right, the annual Pushkar camel festival. They have a website here. They estimate that 25,000 camels are traded each year. Pushkar is a small town in the state of Rajasthan, a short bus ride from Ajmer. We headed out on the relatively expensive Shatabdi Express Train, which is a fancy seated car train in which they feed you and serve you chai. It's quite comfortable. It also completes the journey a couple hours faster than all of the other trains, which means we left at about 8 am and arrived in Ajmer by one in the afternoon. From the train station we took rickshaws to the bus stand, 2 km away. Then we got into a bus (of course, first we had to switch buses about 3 times because people kept telling us conflicting information), and took the hour drive up over a mountain range to Pushkar. We got into Pushkar and immediately went to our hotel, t...
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