We leave Jaipur tonight to head onwards into Rajasthan to udaipur, and I can't lie; I can't wait. It's not that the golden triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) haven't been fun. It has! We've seen and done so much is these beautiful and bustling cities. But it takes its toll. Hurtling from one destination to another to see the next sight is tiring.
This culminated in this morning not knowing what to do, we wanted to see sights, experience new things, eat and drink to our hearts content but bed was just so comfy... I did what any person of my generation would do, I googled it.
Turns out not only are we not alone on these thoughts, it's also pretty common especially in long trips. There are 2 solutions to the 'backpacker blues' as I like to call it.
1. Mope. Mope till you can mope no more. Wallow to your heart's content, and then move on tomorrow.
As this wasn't an option to us, we had to be out the hotel by 12 we plumbed for:
2. Get off your arse, suck it up and fake it till you make it!
Turns out this works pretty well. There's a small walking tour of Jaipur in the guide book we had so with no better options we did it. And it was great. It takes you through all the main bazaars, sights, smells (oh god the smells!), sounds were overwhelming but as welcoming as going home. We window shopped till we dropped.
Crossing a particularly busy road I had a bit of an argument with a motorbike. As I got to the other side a young guy came over to me and started explaining the etiquette of crossing the road. He then asked us the now infamous line "why don't foreigners talk to the locals? You want to learn our culture but not from us" Well... We tend to like our money in our own pocket until we give it to someone rather than them take it, that's why!
He wasn't connected to a shop and he didn't have any produce he just wanted to chat over chai. We figured why not? And it was just as lovely as we'd hoped. We had chai, we chatted and we parted ways pleasantly with no spending at all :)
2 minutes down the road another guy stopped us with exactly the same line. Ah shit. There's a scam somewhere but even now we can't see where it was! Funnily enough we didn't have chai with him and carried on!
We took an auto rickshaw to a fort high in the mountains that gave spectacular views, even if the ride up and down was a bit bone shaker-esque. My poor girls didn't know what hit them!
Now to the bus station to overnight to udaipur. Who knows what we'll find...?
(written 8/8/13)
Looks like a veritably assault on all of the senses! Fascinated to know what the bright blue spice is? Great scam by the locals! If you hadn't lost anything (distraction scam by more than one person), then it sounds like when someone wants a cup of chai but can't afford it they get the visitors to pay while chatting about local life! Brilliant! What are backpackers or other tourists called in India? In the South West here they are called grockles, but this is also slightly derogatory. Are you continuing to travel or are you planning an encampment somewhere? Stay safe, look after each other and love life! PJ x
ReplyDeleteThat would make sense but he payed for the tea!
ReplyDeleteWhite people are called Gora, and we can't tell if it's derogatory or not....
We've just finished Rajasthan (blogs to come) and onto Uttar Pradesh!