Jaipur, Day 1

So I arrive in Jaipur at 9:30 this morning, blindly trusted an auto-rickshaw driverto get me to a hotel and checked in. The desk man was very friendly, gave me a huge room at a low rate, gave me his home number in case I "felt uncomfortable in the city", and told me he'd be back on duty that night. I took off to an internet cafe to get connected after my 36 hour lapse, updated my blog, and attempted to finalize my get-away tickets, etc. I come out to find the driver waiting, like I'd told him not to, but he leads me to a drink place and introduces me to his very good friend, another driver. He aske dme a question that I was very 'bleh' on, and provided the answer 'comme ci, comme ca'. French?! Turns out he'd spent a month in France and knew some. I was without guidebook (grrr Lonely Planet, just grr) so I decide to just hire him. What the hell eh? We'd entered the hot part of the day and I was dirty and tired, so we arranged to meet at 5PM.
Instead of sleeping though (I think largely due to the effect of the first Mountain Dew I've had in about 5 months) I played around. I downloaded and organized pictures, took a shower, read some of Matt's essays and - holy hell - a journal that, had it been mine, probably would never have found it's way into the possession of anyone else.
The journey begins. My guide is all spiffed up now and ready to drive me wherever I desire. All the monuments are closed, so off we go to Tiger Fort to see the whole city from above, and in a bit, the sunset. He takes me through the center of town, introduces me to the "Pink City" - so dubbed because everything was painted a "lovely, ambient, and warm" shade of pink to welcome the visit of the Prince of Wales. Needless to say, they aren't all the same pink nowadays. They range from brown to orange to lilac - we'll say an extended pink family. Tiger Fort takes a while to get to, being at the very top of a large hill, showing the view of a very very large city. My guide serended me to the top with very loud hindi dance music, and at the top starts in with words. Yes, yes, I know, you like my smile, my laugh, my 'good heart', I am nice, yeah.
There were other tourists there so I escaped him to chat it up. There was a cute couple there from South Korea (the woman was as beautiful as their soap-opera stars and I told her so) and they talked to everyone who came within their range. Even more fun was an Indian guy from Chicago with his parents. Both he and his parents were very well spoken and we had a chat about the parts of India to see. He was very personable, another guy I was sad to see leave (I need to stop travelling alone, I have noone to talk to, and when I find someone I enjoy talking to, they always leave :\). We all stayed up there until sunset, when the sun put itself to sleep... into a thick purple layer of smog. eww. ;) Photos to come. There was some hoopla and counting down by some crazy ladies over the way. They were chatty as well later, and I'm glad that someone enjoyed the sunset so much.
After that the tour became aimless fairly quickly. More roaming through pinkness, a floodlit museum, then to his house? He gave me tea and introduced me to some his family - and his wonderful dog! One of the greatest dogs ever. Then we went for food, and one more stop at the internet for me - I'd missed it you know. Somehow in the course of this...he'd managed to fall in love?
Sigh. Again with these Indian guys.
I had a flower and a massage and words of devotion and infatuation. I tried to pay him but he said my company was enough. I wonder at the implications of such a thing. Regardless, I told him I would pay him the next day and said goodnight.
I thought this would be the end to my day, but there was oddness yet to come. The desk man, the same as from the morning, calls my room and practically begs to come to room. I steadfastly refuse (a sound policy I believe) and go downstairs to see what's up. Turns out he's bored and wants to be my friend. I didn't inquire into the details of this 'friendship'- it's only gotten me into trouble before, it was nearing 1 AM and I had the whole of Jaipur to see bright and early the next day, so I wished him goodnight. He had asked if I wanted to make Indian friends and I said yes.. to a point. He told me I looked smart, cute, the smile was good. He offered to book a bus ticket for me, for free if I'd be his friend. Good grief. As I walked away he kept saying he was coming with me. I kept shaking my head.
Bizarre this country, these men. Good Night! (Yes! Alone!)