More rain

Yes. It rained. All day.

Sometimes, there is a downside in being a rich man in a poor country. I'm too lazy to wash my clothes, and given that I can get my laundry done for about 20 cents, it means that I send my clothes out every day. Now, the problem is, it's rained for 3 days now, and so I haven't got any of my clothes back.

I made the stupid stupid mistake yesterday of sending my towel off to be washed (in an attempt to be nice and clean, and have my towel laundered every 4 days), and so it means I don't have a towel now. Thus, no shower today. Ick. Thus, I am punished for trying to be clean, by, er, being made more dirty.

Took an hour and a half to get to the dentist in the evening. The water was even higher than yesterday. Bikes in the street had water above the chain/gears.

Finally got the temporary cap installed in my mouth. Thank goodness. However, the flirting/giggling in the dentist office has gotten to a pretty significant level now. I semi-invited myself over to the home of a single lady dentist for lunch - at which point, every nurse/dentist in the room started giggling. Now, whenever I enter a room or leave, there is much giggling and blushing.

I'm not quite sure what they think of me. When I told them that I was a vegetarian, they were very impressed. They seem to be under the impression that westerners all eat meat, and lack morals.

Got into a nasty situation with a rickshaw driver on the way home. I got himn to agree to 40 rupees (a great price), and then no sooner had I gotten in, then he picked up someone else, who sat next to him, and went a short hop for 10 rupees. I demanded that he give me a 10 rupee reduction, and when he didn't. I got out, and got another rickshaw. The guy then comes over, and starts shouting at me, waving his fist, and shouting at my richshaw driver. I need to learn some Tamil words, because I'm not sure if my limited Hindu (i know how to say go away, and most foods) worked.

This evening, my heart finally caved in, and I bought a bananna for one of the naked street kids. It's wet, not very hot, and they look really cute. I know it's gotta be rough sleeping on the street every night, and even moreso when you go to sleep wet. I've seen a few of the adults sniffing glue, and so I didn't want to give money. I figured fruit was a safe bet.

So damn cute, and so sad. I need to learn to deal with this soon.