More From Yesterday

The guy from the train, Arun, asked if I had a girlfriend.
"No."
"Really?"
"No."
"Really?"
One more "Really?" and I would've had to take him with me as my wingman.

The Muslim driver, who took me from the train station to the hotel, also tried to sell me his services as a tour guide. The hotel manager, who was so nice to confirm the scam, charged me a ridiculous fee for using the internet last night. Of course, he didn't tell me that until this morning. Muhammad, the rickshaw driver who first alerted me to the scam, was also trying to scam me himself.

I'm still upset at myself that I let the scam go as far as it did. It would've never made it past the first night, but I still set up an appointment with one of the guys to go to the Monkey temple (of course, I didn't show up once I learned it was all a scam). At one point last night, while I was sitting in the private room with the 5 guys, one of them said, "You look like you're uncomfortable." I was. I need to tap into to my instincts a little better. Never trust a man with a pony tail.

These guys are pros. There's even a warning about them in the travel guide, but it only mentions a "gem scam." Of course, I was far from that point, so I didn't immediately recognize it from the guide book. There was a lot that was off about the interactions, but I didn't put it all together right away. I wanted to believe they were nice guys. But I was going to ask the hotel manager if it was on the up and up regardless.

Today I walked around a bit. I saw some of the old city, which is the big thing in Jaipur. It's not nearly as crazy as Old Delhi. So far in Jaipur there have been a number of beggars. The rickshaw drivers are a little agressive, not unsual though (worse than Delhi, however). Since the attempted scam, I either totally ignore them or stare right through them. I'm sure both are very rude. I've been battling a little diarrhea that carried over from yesterday. My sore groin persists. I think I'll take it easy tonight. Maybe take a bath. Hey, we all need a little pampering!