Parisians, Parties and Police (I love the alliterations (sp?) don't I)

Wow... the last couple of days have been a whirlwind. I have to sit down and think about everything I've done in the past couple of days. First of all, I am travelling with another solo girl! In Mahabalipurum, from where I last wrote, I met Camille, a french girl on her own who just arrived last week in the south. She's awesome, speaks english amazingly well, a real talker, tell it like it is parisian and im sure i will visit her in paris in the next couple of years. We were at dinner togetherand ended up hanging out the next day, wandering the beach the whole day and going into forbidden resorts, swinging in their hammocks till getting kicked out, etc, and eating in weird dark resorts that were hit hard from the tsunami and being rebuilt. we had a great day though,and that night we wereat dinner again and then heard these people singing happy birthday at this upstairs restaurant, so we went to check it out and there were like 30 travelers and indians together and a bday cake and it was a little party! after 11, the curfew hour, the cops went by,and the manager shouted to get down! the lights went out and we all ducked underthe table for 10 min! i was amazed that 25 backpackers whod been drinking beer and whisky could be that quiet! after they passed the party was back full force and we all went to the beach, i met an awesome scotsman named daines who was keen on psycological discussions by the sea with us, truly awesome talks till 3 am!  We had a late night, but Camille and I got up the next day to go move on. Her boyfriend is coming in about a week to join her, how nice, but until then she is alone and covering similar territory to me, so we hit it off and joined up and she was with me yesterday when we came here to Pondicherry, which is the remaining french colonial territory, we are in the french quarter right now and its like this weird other world here, the french quarter looks nothing like india, with its palm tree lined cobblestone streets and big white colonial buildings. Its beautiful! It is next to the ocean promenade, not quite the pretty walking beaches of Mamallapuram but scenic enough, with enough people trying to sell you cheap kitchy things to remind you you are still in india. Im sitting in this cool, hip coffee house next to a huge flat screen tv and an imposing dvd collection, theres a little coffee bar and I'm waiting for my iced vietnamese  coffee made with filtered water! We got here last night, after a truly harrowing bus experience. We were to take the bus here, only 2 hours away, but the problem is that today is the first day of Diwali, a major weeklong holiday throughout all of India. This of course means travelling anywhere here this week is like trying to get through an airport the day before thanksgiving. People were hanging off the sides off the bus. (mmmm just got my coffee. just like vietnam. strong, sweetened condensed milk. absolute heaven. this is my second cup of coffee today! And we're meeting 4 of our other friends in an hour at another cafe for some more! hahaha4 other friends when did this happen) anyway, the busses were so full that every time one would come by, we'd pick up our bags and run, but then weould get pushed out of theway by frantic indians, pushing and shoving and packing in like sardines. An autorickshaw all the way was too much money, so we ended up talking to a tourist car who i bargained down to 500 r for the two of us, although there seemed to be a lot more indians getting in the carand i dind't think they were possibly paying that much. The guys were quite rude to us, and demanding the money. Then a minibus came, special one for diwali, and the guys were like, everyone get on that bus. and i said "this cant be the same price its a bus not a car" and he just wagged his head and stared at me and demanded the money. we were kind of furious, because its not the money as it is the feeling of being manipulated in front of like 20 people who knew full well we were being cheated. so we got our stuff in this minibus, and then i stand up and say "ok, how much are you paying for this bus?" no answer. "how much?" i demanded again. i was frustrated. they all looked at me like they didn't understand, one guy sort of gave us a look like "what do you think" but i was clearly putting them in an awkward position, if they told me, they'd be betraying their fellow indian guy, and why do that for a foreigner. so they banded together. we sat down and told eachother to let it go, nothing we can do. leaves a bad taste in your mouth though. a man who said he was a christian man and showed me his cross told us that he and his wife were paying 500 r... i did'nt get the feeling he was telling the truth. and then he kept throwing his daughter at us, and pointing to my necklaces and gesturing for me to give them to his daughter! who was staring at us the whole time, we were nice to her, and i asked her questions, and all she kept doing was telling me to give her my necklace! and this was a well dressed family that were certainly not begging. it was odd. anyway before she left i gave her one of them anyway and she seemed thrilled. but when we got near pondicherry, this guy who'd given us the look before was about to get off the bus. he stood next to camille, and kind of touched her arm, and hidden away from everyone slipped her a note! She opened it after he left and we saw a phone number. we thought maybe he gave her his number but upon closer look we saw a note that said "the cost for this ride is 100 r. no more. they are cheating you. if they give you trouble here is the number of the tourist hotline!" and he gave that number. and thats all there was to it! he had nothing to gain, but just decided to do the right thing. in the midst of a dishonest busload of people comes a seriously nice guy who redeems the whole situation. a true combination of  polar opposites, just like this entire country. well, thats all we needed, the information. we made up a plan. when it came to our stop, we got our bags, camille went out first and grabbed most of them, ready to make a break for it. i handed over two 100 r notes and said "here you go. I made a phonecall to the national tourist line and they told me that the charge for this ride is 100 r. i know, and you know and this whole bus knows you are trying to scam us. if you dont accept this money and let it be the end of it, i will report you. ive already notated your bus number." and the guy goes "madam, madam, please please madam. no no no" and the other guy is kind of laughing like "guess we didn't fool them" and the bus is clearly entertained by the whole thing, oh gee, guess they do understand english! and im like "why are we still standing here? lets go!" and we took our stuff and walked off, the guy shaking his head and the bus pulled away. Victory! Triumph! The two of us shrieked with delight when we got a block away. And then looked at our hands which were just shaking like leaves. IT was hilarious, but you wouldn't believe how intimidating it is to fight your case in front of a busload of unfriendly people who are cheating you! It felt damn good though, I gotta tell you. Might seem like a very small and pointless victory to those reading this, but however small, it felt really good to win this one. ive been so tired of getting scammed in so many little ways, and we have our angelic indian guy to thank, wherever he is.   Well the adventure yesterday didn't end there! our plan was to stay in this beachside ashram, and though we'd tried to call earlier, the number was wrong in the lonely planet, so we were on our way to the door when we ran into 3 french girls we'd met in mamallapuram! they told us they had a huge room full of 4 beds and room for us. but upon arrival to the place, they wouldnt let us share a room, said we all had to have checked in together, and there was no budging. oh and it was full so we couldn't stay there. great. well, it being the first day of diwali, everything was full. we tried like 6 places, with our heavy bags. i was dying of heat, we ended up at this french restaurant, and this guy had apartments that he rented for nights. so for 1000 r ( a splurge)... 20 bucks for the night! we got a seriously pimped out apartment! Air conditioning, HOT WATER, full kitchen, flat screen cable tv, and a couple that lived in the other bedroom with a laptop computer and internet and two cushiony chairs! our bedroom had this crazy ornate wooden bed and a glass red lantern. it was an old french colonial house with crazy cast iron gate doors and old harry potter type keys which are a serious pain to use. it provided refuge last night fromthe crazy mini-bomb firework weilding maniac hellion children throwing them at each others feet and causing seriously loud explosions, and of course the nightly thunderstorm. it was paradise! and we ate at the french place, and horrror of horrors, i ordered a rocqfurt steak!!! it was amazing! and a glass of french red wine with camille as a celebration for a day well done! of course we met a chinese american girl named anjuna (her new hindi name her guru gave her, she wouldn't reveal her chinese one, and her american one was nicole) and a torontonian named brit, fascinating, smart interesting women, couldn't believe all of a sudden there they were! all these great people! so our new group went to an art cafe where we sipped mojitos ( a little hurridly since we bought them and they promptly closed at 11, like 5 min later and rudely kicked us out, we think they've adapted the parisian rudeness aswell as the food!) and we ran into david and celine (married couple he's german shes french live in germany met in an improv troupe hes getting his phd very cool, he's hilarious) also from mamallapuram and so we're meeting them all for coffee in 20 min!!! craziness. and the first french girls have hooked us up tonight with their indian friend they work with's actual house that's apparently this huge mammoth house they are renting to us for 300 a night for all 6 of us! thats about a dollar a night for me, 5 km out of townbut im ok with it cuz we can take autorickshaws and we are all having dinner out there together tonight. last night i thought to myself... this is the india trip i invisioned! crazy and absurd but so much fun!! im so glad ive had all these different sorts of times and places in one trip, i think about my misery last week with the weird cat in my room, and the excitement of now with new and interesting friends and amazing scenery and good times and i realize it is all part of the general adventure. ok im off for yet another cup of coffee, and i'll let you know how this huge indian house is... write me! oh and a shout out to my pops.... HAPPY 60TH BDAY TOMORROW! LOVE YOU!