Fun With A Tout

after having a good nights sleep which aided in shaking off most of my jet lag i felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead. after grabbing a bite to eat in our hotel we set off on a little adventure. with no particular aim in mind we decided to catch a train into the city center. fortunately for us the train station is only a short walk away from our accommodation and we reached it with little effort. in the short time it took to get there we were confronted with many people trying to sell their wares as well as little beggar girls holding babys (a tactic used to promote sympathy) asking for small amounts of money. inside the station we joined a small queue in front of the ticket booth and waited our turn to be served. as i got closer to the front more and more people began to join the line, but not at the back. they cut directly in front of us, straight to the beginning of the line. at first i figured id just wait my turn and make my move once they'd been served but people just kept on coming in and cutting us off. in the end i decided that the only way to actually get served here was to do as the locals do. so i did exactly that and cut a group of people off as they attempted to gain access t the front of the line. finally reaching the front i asked the lady behind the counter for three one day tourist passes. on hearing what i wanted she shook here head and pointed over to another counter across the other side of the room which had a whole new line of people. i had obviously come to the wrong place - just my luck. after being cut off many many more times in this new line i finally got served and we were on our way! before entering the main part of the station where the trains are boarded we had to pass through a security search where we were patted down on the stomach and back for what i can only guess to be explosives they may be attached there. that to me was very unexpected, i didnt think that india would have measures such as that in place to protect its people, maybe ive been underestimating the country a bit in terms of security and safety. after we'd passed through the security check we waited patiently for a train to come. it wasnt long before we heard one approaching and so we prepared to board. as the train pulled into the station i was supprised by the amount of people in each carriage. it looked as though if a door opened people would explode out of the train due to the build up of pressure of squeezing them all in there! i was seriously doubtful that we'd actually manage to fit in and as the doors opened there was a surge forwards as people attempted to jam on the the train. at the same time there were people wanting to get off and they were pushing forwards into the people getting on creating a very difficult and almost comical situation. joey being in front was the first on the train and as knipler and i began to push our way onto the train the doors began closing! there wast much we could really do about it so i tryed to tell joey through the window that we'd meet him at the next station. the train set off leaving knipler and i behind on the platform. after much laughter we calmed down and prepared to board the next train. not wanting a repeat of last time we stuck close together. the train arrived and i jumped on quickly. looking back i saw the doors begin to close.. with knipler on the other side.. it had happened again :P

after all the drama on the train we found each other at different stations and after having another good laugh we set off the explore the center of delhi. on exiting the train line we were almost instantly approached by seemingly innocent young men just wanting to practice their english on foreigners. we had read about these people in the lonley planet guide book and were only too aware of what their intentions actually were. these men were touts whos sole purpose was to lead you to their shop by any means necessary. there main tools are lies and manipulation which they have become very good at through practice. anyway there was this young man who claimed her was from Australia and as we walked he talked to me about lots of different things. claiming he was a student who went to Australia on a scholarship he followed us a fair distance claiming he was meeting friends for a game of cricket and had to come in the same direction as us. once we reached his shop he very subtlety suggested we go inside and take a look around. trying to seem like he couldnt care less if we did or not he said he had to go or he'd be late to his game. in the end we did have a little look around, there were many beautiful things inside and plenty of other tourists who were fooled into going there. we didnt end up buying anything, we only looked and as we left the shop we saw out tout on the street corner talking to some other men, as soon as the saw us he jumped behind a wall, not wanting us to suspect anything was up. a man from the group approached us and tryed to get us to hire a took took back to the city center. they had a pretty good setup here - lead tourist a far distance, get them to buy things and then pay more money to go back instead of walking the long distance on foot. we were having none of it and so ignored the man trying to setup transport. along the way back there were many more touts each trying to take us to more shopping locations (they get a commission for anyone they bring in). deciding to have a bit of fun with these men we all began to weave elaborate lies to the questions they were asking us. eventually we realised if you told them you'd been in the country for a longer time they tended to leave you alone because they know that you know and have see all their dirty little tricks already :P after all that excitement and walking we were tired and so headed back on the train (no dramas this time) to our hotel where we prepared to meet our group members the next day.

sorry i havnt posted in a while but we ve been pretty busy doing stuff here in jaisalmer, im going on a camel safari in the dessert tonight sooo when i get back ill wirte a massive blog on all the things which have been goingon here for us annnddd the train ride from delhi. just everything ive missed so far :P