Travel is Freedom! "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." - Mark Twain

July 6, 2006, 11 p.m. It turns out that the same little shops that sell toilet paper (no TP is provided in Indian hotels) also sell bottled water, so that mission took 5 minutes! I inquired at the hotel about where I could get an Ayurvedic Massage, as my back is full of knots...and wearing my backpack all the time now isn't helping the situation. So there was a young Indian guy there who said he knew a place and he'd take me there. I was skeptical, a many touts make commission from taking tourists to shops...so I emphasized that I didn't want a beauty parlor or some such place, I wanted a REAL massage. "You don't worry, I take you there. If you don't like, you can leave. OK?" Ok. I followed him down narrow streets and alleys until we came to a "clinic." The doc there showed me the various types of treatments I could have, and then I asked which one he recommended, and took his advice. I went to get some tandoori chicken while I waited for them to cook the rice which they would place in muslin bags and rub all over my body. They gave me some tight short-like underwear to wear, and two people worked on me, one man and one woman. They massaged me up and down my legs and arms, back and even stomach...the whole deal. Then they brought the muslin bags of cooked rice, dipped them in herbal oils, and rubbed them from my hands and feet all over my body, leaving them on certain points around my body. This was extremely relaxing, as after they rubbed the packs on me, they would leave them on a certain point of my body for a couple of minutes. I wanted to sleep on the table. When it was done they wiped my body clean of oils and rice juice with rags. I paid about $20, I was there for about an hour and a half, and left feeling much better!