internet difficulties

hey everyone! had a huge blgo written about my time looknig for tigers in Ranthambore park at 4.30 in the am but then Indian internet decided to go on the blink and it was all lost :( basically we set off 2 hours late from Agra to Sawai Madhpur and made it to the tiger reserve hotel, we somehow made it through the 4 hour train ride in second class with all the indian men staring at us and some street kids trying to kiss my feet at the station. then ofcourse there was the usual delay when some cows found their way onto the tracks and since that beast is sacred here they had to shoo him off gently, and this was time comsuming! but we made it to our hotel and the manger told us that the only way to get a jeep safari seat this late (there also are buses but they are crowded and nosier) was to head for the forestry office at 4.30am still dark and queue for the place to open at 5.30.... so we did and bumped into some other english speakers who had been queueing from about 3am! after some pointy elbowed indians trying to shove us out of the way our hotel manager came to the rescue and got us to the top of the queue and after some shouting we got our seats on the jeep! one of the only ones going apparently. so we had about half and hour to shovel in some food and away we went with stef and steve and another couple kelly and adam. we didnt see any tigers though :( but alot of deer and some owls and cute monkeys (anyone who has monkeys prob saw the photos already) so after the safari we were well knackerd, didnt get back until 10.30! and we had until 1pm to wait for the next train. so we headed to the station and tried to avoid the touts and made it (again late train) this time we headed for Kota.. and then from there on a Bus to Bundi... the bus toko only 45 minutes but after the uncomfortable train ride it felt like hours.. and even in the bus station they tried to get us on the wrong bus! what is it with indians and their lying?! we even had to pay for an extra seat on the bus becuse of our rucksacks that were taking up loads of room... this i didnt mind because the alternative option was to sling the bags on the roof and smoehow secure them!! for an extra 20cents it wasnt worth the hassle! so we made it to Bundi this idilyic little mountain town with a castle in the side of the mountain and plenty of havelis and friendly kids who just want you to take their pic and dont want any money for it! got all my laundary done for about a euro adn walked the town enjoying counting the amount of times we were greeted.. think hello is the most over used word in teh town! we spent out 2 days in Bundi quite restfully, we werent interested in partying (thankfully as Bundi is a dry town) and even though there was a festival on wally and i found ourselves passed out by 9pm! clearly we needed the rest!

after Bundi we had intended to head to Pushkar for a camel fair but to our annoyance it had ended already so we passed by pushkar and headed straight to the capital of rajasthan.. Jaipur! this is where this blog is coming from. wally and i got a place at the pearl palace hotel and the room was so so so small that i can almost touch both walls! but we didnt care! we headed across all the sights yesterday and even let our driver take us into some high priced shops so he makes commission! wally bought somethings but i wasnt in teh mood. the sales guys pretend to be your best mate and they are awfully good at putting out the bait but when it comes to the reeling in they fail and loose me everytime!they get defensive when you want to bargain and make the situation really awkward.. to offset this feeling we headed into the bazaar.. this is where everthing is negoitable! i prefer the upfront swindling!picked up a few things.. including a pair of ali ba ba pants that ended up dying me blue from the hips to the ankles.. sigh . TII (this is india!)
the only down point so far was that down points seem to come in waves.. like waking up last night at 3am needed to vomit, think delhi belly is trying to take me over, but i resisted, with wally's help (thank you dear for your cool towling adn calm words as i shivered against the outdoor step and babbled nonsense!) the rest of the down points was tryng to send some packages home (that took 2 hours!!!how is that possible) and then trying to steer our new rickshaw-wallah away from anyother commission laden shops, add that to the constant battle not to throw up and it hasnt been the best day...
oh and tonight?? well we head for Jaisalemer.. on a 12 hour train
may god have mercy