Got up at 6, Rahul, the 20 year-old recepcionst, had re-confirmed my safari reservation and my truck came to pick me up at 7 or so, only a half hour late. On the truck I met an American , Galen, and a pretty funny British guy, Jonathan, with whom I had a few laughs. We didn't see any tigers, bad luck, we did see deer and that's when Jonathan and I started laughing.
The truck stopped and the guide pointed to the right, we stood up all excited and there they were, the freaking deer...By the 10th time we stopped to look at them Jon and I could not stop laughing "I have seen deer...they are kind of cool but I came to see tigers!". After a while we realized that if you stood up (the trucks were roofless) and pointed to one side or the other and pretty much said anything, everybody would turn and look and even the truck would stop, so we had our little fun with everybody. Everybody was in a good mood, so they didn't linch us. We had with us some guys from Mumbai talking to us about the man-eater tiger, and I told them that I'd hear the tigers only eat people from Mumbai, that they didn't like Europeans, they laugh a little bit...
After the safari when back to the hotel at around 11 am and kicked it with my friend Rahul. My train wasn't leaving until 3 pm so they let me check out at 2 and gave me a 20% discount. I finished packing and Rahul took me out for a walk, after his 19 hours shift. He is from Shimla, up norht, in Himanchal, has a degree in hotel management and speacks Hindi, Himanchali and English. He was showing off the fact that he comes from a good family up there and makes about 5000 rps a month (75 bucks), bought me a pack of cigarrettes and we set off for the market. We had a pineappple shake at a place he knew and some chai later on, where he paid 6rps instead of the usual 20 that they charge u at the hotels. He has invited me to go hunting with his family in Shimla, and his three horses, whenever I make back.
Next year he has managed to find a job in Dublin, at a hotel, 5 year contract. He is saving for his sister's wedding who is sixteen and should e getting married pretty soon. Arranged marriage, of course.
Back to the hotel, said good bye to everybody and went to the train station. Rahul insisted in coming with me and that's when he paid 40rps for the ride...We waited together for the train while drinking a Fanta and when it came we hugged each other good bye. What a wonderful day.
On the train I met a very nice American couple, from Baltimore, we said we would try to hook up in Udaipur for New Year's Eve. Got to Jaipur at around 6 pm and straight to the hotel. They have room service, so I ordered a veggi burguer and watched a movie. Went to bed at around 10.
