as i alluded to previously, we had an bit of a mishap involving our train tickets for a night train from jaisalmer to jaipur; we'd arranged for someone to buy us the "last two tickets" for 25 october however when we arrived at the train, there was someone else in amg's seat!! after much discussion, we realised that our tickets were actually for 24 october, not 25 october as we'd requested. unfortunately, we really wanted to take this train so amg rushed to the ticket counter as i waited with the luggage. we had to forego our 2nd class sleeper tickets (a hard collapsible bunk with a vinyl cover) in exchange for general seating (a free-for-all with no assigned seating, no bunks and hard vinyl chairs!!
the trip itself was an interesting affair with a multitude of people "walking by", curious to see the foreigners in general seating, some openly staring for much longer than polite! in addition, there were the chai tea sellers, chanting "chai, chai, chai" to anyone and everyone and the occasional "rushes" as people at popular stations rushed to get onto the train and secure themselves a seat. it was definitely a cultural experience!!
we had an early breakfast in jaipur (5:30am) and then headed off in search of a hotel that might be nice enough to let us check in so early in the am. we walked to a nearby hotel, much to chagrin of the rickshaw drivers as they desperately wanted the fare and advised it was "impossible" to walk :-) we both checked into two different hotels as there wasn't enough space in either and had a bit of a nap.
i had a quick shower and then headed off to the tourism department to inquire about their half day tours, then onto the post office where i was jostled and pushed while i tried to buy stamps. i had a quick look at their stamp collection and then ran into amg. we had lunch together and then spent the afternoon separately. i wandered the city centre until i'd had enough of the noise and the people and then found a nearby park. i relaxed and wrote in my journal and was left almost completely alone for a change :-)
en route back to the hotel, i got stopped every 500m or so by an indian man who wanted to know about canada or wanted to show me his artwork or wanted to read my horoscope, etc... i'd get rid of one of them and then 100m, another one would start chatting with me. it was ever so annoying as in the end, despite all of their protestations that they don't want to sell you anything, they all eventually would start their sales pitch, about 2-5mins into the conversation. there was only one exception to this rule and i ended up having tea with him later that evening ;-)
i had a quick but fantastic dinner, some tea with this gentleman and then headed off to the hotel for bed. the gent invited me to his place to make sweets with some other foreigners however i just wasn't certain enough about him to embark on the adventure. possibly i missed out, possibly i didn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment