Shop Till You Drop

V and I took a late train back to Delhi last night. We were sorry to go, as we both felt the stress and strain of travelling shed from our shoulders over the past two days and we wish we could make it last. However, we were scheduled to travel back to the city to hang out some more with Jitu and finish some of our site-seeing here. Our train ride was uneventful, we sat next to the door that was 'toilet side', meaning that the toilet for our car was on our end and let me tell you, every time someone walked through our car, or returned from the bathroom we got a breeze of STANK that caused involuntary dry heaving. It was the worst smelling thing since we were forced to sit above the sewer ditch during EUROKIDS day. I mean, come on people, we can't be the ONLY ones to notice the stench. What the fuck?! Anyway, we documented some of our journey (as we were mightily bored) Even V got in to it, though she normally refuses to be on camera.

This morning we went shopping around where our hotel is at some of the government state shops. These are shops owned by the different states of India and where they sell the products exclusive to their state. It's great to shop at these places because the wares they sell are all by artisan villagers (mostly poor women) who are practicing their traditional art and therefore sustaining their craft for future generations. Plus, all of the items are exclusive and individual, not mass produced, so it's really a great thing.

Anyway, without giving too much away, let me just say I dropped a lot of money today, mostly for gifts. The fabric alone is amazing, hand woven silks of every kind and color, art, jewelry, etc., really great stuff. I'm not going to say what I got specifically, because you're just going to have to wait till you see me to get yours.

Vidhu and I have decided that we're just too damn fat and if we continue to eat this much they're going to have to roll us onto the plane and probably they'll demand we purchase another ticket to fit our big fat asses. Therefore starting today Vidhu and I are limiting our India food to one meal a day and the other two we're eating only toast. It's a sad state of affairs, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Tomorrow we're going to go to a shop that makes perfume and make-up to your exact specifications. So it's one-of-a-kind make up, lotion, perfume, etc., and I'm sooo excited to go there! Also, we're going to try to do a little site-seeing too as we've heard there are one or two interesting old temples. Yeah, whatever. So they've got some buildings that are over a thousand years old. But do the temples sell perfume?!? No. I don't think so.

But actually it should be a lot of fun. Vidhu's folks are arriving in Delhi in two days, and when they do, we'll go traveling with them before heading back to Mumbai. We're also going to try to squeeze in an ayurvedic massage sometime which is based on India folk medicine. Maybe they can massage my fat down a little....hm.

Did I mention before that I got a massage the day I threw up? Well, it was actually part massage, part gynecological examination. Preeya called her massuese to come to the house and give me a massage there and she wanted me totally naked to do it. If I hadn't been feeling so ill I might of refused, but I was too sick to argue. It actually did feel pretty good though...