Kale and I have now been in India for a little more than a month. It’s been an adventure thus far, and we have only barely gotten started. We left beautiful and quiet Palolem, Goa on Monday, Oct. 3 and flew to Jaipur, Rhajasthan. Palolem is where many backpackers go to relax after traveling throughout the utter insanity of this subcontinent. So Kale and I are actually doing things a little backwards thus leaving our peaceful little paradise on October 3 and heading north toward the insanity. We were sad to say goodbye to our friends, Krishna and Susana, but we know we will be back to visit at some point. When we arrived at the airport in Goa we were informed that our flight had been delayed, and instead of leaving around 3 pm, we left around 5 pm. Bye-bye Palolem:(
We arrived in Jaipur around 8:30 pm, and took a cab to the Evergreen Guest House. We decided to look at the evening train schedule before booking a room for the night, and found four trains running to Ajmer, which is only 11 km away from our final destination, Pushkar. From Ajmer, we could catch a 5 am bus to Pushkar for 24 rupees. We decided to take a rickshaw to the train station to buy a ticket to Ajmer. After almost hitting a few pedestrians, our driver dropped us at our crowded destination. The train station was packed with people lying all over the floor. No one at the train station is too good to sprawl out on the ground and take a rest. There are babies no more than six months old as well as elderly people possibly in their 80s all sleeping on the ground. There are families that bring food and blankets and basically “camp out” while they wait for the train that will carry them to their next destination. Now, I can’t say for sure whether or not everyone there is waiting for a train, or if it is just a place for them to sleep and not be hassled, but either way, the floor of the train station was covered with sleeping bodies. The ticket counter was another story. It was basically a mosh pit of people shoving their way to the front of the line. Queuing up is not the Indian peoples’ specialty As I waited in what looked like an attempt of a line, a guy came up to me, and told me that this was the men’s line and that ladies never wait in the men’s line. He was almost laughing at my ignorance about this rule. He pointed me toward the “ladies line” which was a smaller mosh pit at the front and center of the large mosh pit. I braced myself, and went for it. After some shoving, ass-grabbing and a bit of shouting, I successfully procured two tickets to Ajmer for only 100 rupees. Kale and I would be able to take the next train, which was schedule to leave at 10:35 pm. We found the departing platform, and decided to have a seat in the middle of the crowded terminal. There were two small children sound asleep right in front of me who looked no more than 8-years-old, and there was also a very old lady with bare feet sleeping to my left. There were families with luggage sharing food and conversation everywhere. It was very loud, and I was graced, every so often, with the potent smell of poop that came from the open latrines in the trains. Our train was about 45 minutes late, and when it finally arrived, we were told our train cars were located at the front of the train. When we stepped onto one of the train cars, the space was so crowded that some of the passengers were using the luggage located above the seats as beds. There was one man nice enough to let us share his seat, and we were off. The two-hour trip went quickly, and when we arrived in Ajmer it was almost a quarter past 1 am. We stepped off the train into complete madness. Some traveling ascetics were playing drums and satyrs and signing/yelling into microphones while a fairly large audience clapped along.
The train station was basically “hopping” at this ungodly hour. There were vendors left a right yelling, “chai, chai, chai, chaiiiiii. Chai, chai, chai, chaiiiii,” and there were several small street vendors selling food. Kale and I decided to try a samosa for 5 rupees before deciding on our next move. As we enjoyed our snack, we walked past a sea of sleeping and awake bodies to the entrance. Walking among the sleeping bodies inside the main entrance of the train station was a cow, of course. Cows rule here by the way. Drivers will break for cows before they will break for people.
After walking around and trying a couple of the street vendor snacks we decided to “camp out” among the sleeping bodies while waiting for the bus station to open at 5 am. We threw down our yoga mats and tried to catch a nap. It wasn’t easy to rest with the beating drums, vendors yelling, and the occasional breeze blowing thru a fresh or rotten batch of pee and poo. After 3 or so hours we hailed a rickshaw to the bus station. As we walked in we were immediately directed toward the bus to Pushkar. The bus was on its way after a 5-minute wait. The trip to Pushkar was about 20 minutes through the mountain pass and switchback roads.
It was 5:30 am when we arrived, awakened for some reason, in Pushkar. After stepping off the bus we looked around and then at each other and wondered what to do next. The scene was out of an old western movie, dusty dirt street in almost total blackness. There were a few loners walking by here and there, and a man on the curb setting up for morning chai with a couple early customers awaiting their fix. The best part was that it was dead silent (a rarity in India), and the temperature was perfect. We started walking down the street toward what we hoped was the center of town. We asked a man if he knew of the guest house we were looking for and he pointed us in the proper direction. Almost everyone was saying good morning or Namaste to us when we passed. It was very peaceful and calming, thus adding to our excitement of finally having arrived after a grueling 18-hours straight of travel. Eventually, after asking a few more people about our guest house, we found it. One of the men we asked also gave us a business card for another hotel, which would soon prove to be a blessing. Around 0630 we finally got checked in and went to sleep. Unfortunately about 2 hours later construction began on the very building we were in. There was a cement mixer parked right outside our window, which was run by a pretty loud gas engine.
The workers began mixing concrete, using pulleys and buckets to get it up to the top floor while yelling back and forth. By around noon, we had had enough. We left the room for a while to walk around. We pulled out the business card the man gave us earlier that morning and found the hotel. We agreed on a price of 150 rupee per night ($3.00) for a one-week stay. Immediately we rushed back to the other place, packed our crap and paid the man half the fee (200 rupees) for the room since were only checked in for about 8hrs.
Finally we could relax in our new hotel – Mama Luna. With our 700-rupee-per-day budget well within reach now, this meant that we could spend 550 rupee on food alone. That is a LOT of food!
So far we’ve spent our time here exploring, walking around, looking at the shops, trying different juices and foods, doing yoga on the roof top in the mornings with friends. The highlight on our first day was feeding monkeys on the rooftop of one nice local’s home.
Later today (Thursday) we are taking a camel safari out to the desert. We met a nice man, Caloo, who started this business when he was 13. He and his brothers have run it since then; he is now in his late twenties. The camels seem to be treated very well so we decided to do it. We will start at 3pm and ride for 2 hours out into the desert, and then we’ll stop at his farm where his mother will teach us how to cook (and eat) a traditional Rajasthani meal. After dinner we’ll ride the camels back to town. We will be sure to post many pics and videos later of our camel safari:)
Namaste!
We arrived in Jaipur around 8:30 pm, and took a cab to the Evergreen Guest House. We decided to look at the evening train schedule before booking a room for the night, and found four trains running to Ajmer, which is only 11 km away from our final destination, Pushkar. From Ajmer, we could catch a 5 am bus to Pushkar for 24 rupees. We decided to take a rickshaw to the train station to buy a ticket to Ajmer. After almost hitting a few pedestrians, our driver dropped us at our crowded destination. The train station was packed with people lying all over the floor. No one at the train station is too good to sprawl out on the ground and take a rest. There are babies no more than six months old as well as elderly people possibly in their 80s all sleeping on the ground. There are families that bring food and blankets and basically “camp out” while they wait for the train that will carry them to their next destination. Now, I can’t say for sure whether or not everyone there is waiting for a train, or if it is just a place for them to sleep and not be hassled, but either way, the floor of the train station was covered with sleeping bodies. The ticket counter was another story. It was basically a mosh pit of people shoving their way to the front of the line. Queuing up is not the Indian peoples’ specialty As I waited in what looked like an attempt of a line, a guy came up to me, and told me that this was the men’s line and that ladies never wait in the men’s line. He was almost laughing at my ignorance about this rule. He pointed me toward the “ladies line” which was a smaller mosh pit at the front and center of the large mosh pit. I braced myself, and went for it. After some shoving, ass-grabbing and a bit of shouting, I successfully procured two tickets to Ajmer for only 100 rupees. Kale and I would be able to take the next train, which was schedule to leave at 10:35 pm. We found the departing platform, and decided to have a seat in the middle of the crowded terminal. There were two small children sound asleep right in front of me who looked no more than 8-years-old, and there was also a very old lady with bare feet sleeping to my left. There were families with luggage sharing food and conversation everywhere. It was very loud, and I was graced, every so often, with the potent smell of poop that came from the open latrines in the trains. Our train was about 45 minutes late, and when it finally arrived, we were told our train cars were located at the front of the train. When we stepped onto one of the train cars, the space was so crowded that some of the passengers were using the luggage located above the seats as beds. There was one man nice enough to let us share his seat, and we were off. The two-hour trip went quickly, and when we arrived in Ajmer it was almost a quarter past 1 am. We stepped off the train into complete madness. Some traveling ascetics were playing drums and satyrs and signing/yelling into microphones while a fairly large audience clapped along.
The train station was basically “hopping” at this ungodly hour. There were vendors left a right yelling, “chai, chai, chai, chaiiiiii. Chai, chai, chai, chaiiiii,” and there were several small street vendors selling food. Kale and I decided to try a samosa for 5 rupees before deciding on our next move. As we enjoyed our snack, we walked past a sea of sleeping and awake bodies to the entrance. Walking among the sleeping bodies inside the main entrance of the train station was a cow, of course. Cows rule here by the way. Drivers will break for cows before they will break for people.
After walking around and trying a couple of the street vendor snacks we decided to “camp out” among the sleeping bodies while waiting for the bus station to open at 5 am. We threw down our yoga mats and tried to catch a nap. It wasn’t easy to rest with the beating drums, vendors yelling, and the occasional breeze blowing thru a fresh or rotten batch of pee and poo. After 3 or so hours we hailed a rickshaw to the bus station. As we walked in we were immediately directed toward the bus to Pushkar. The bus was on its way after a 5-minute wait. The trip to Pushkar was about 20 minutes through the mountain pass and switchback roads.
It was 5:30 am when we arrived, awakened for some reason, in Pushkar. After stepping off the bus we looked around and then at each other and wondered what to do next. The scene was out of an old western movie, dusty dirt street in almost total blackness. There were a few loners walking by here and there, and a man on the curb setting up for morning chai with a couple early customers awaiting their fix. The best part was that it was dead silent (a rarity in India), and the temperature was perfect. We started walking down the street toward what we hoped was the center of town. We asked a man if he knew of the guest house we were looking for and he pointed us in the proper direction. Almost everyone was saying good morning or Namaste to us when we passed. It was very peaceful and calming, thus adding to our excitement of finally having arrived after a grueling 18-hours straight of travel. Eventually, after asking a few more people about our guest house, we found it. One of the men we asked also gave us a business card for another hotel, which would soon prove to be a blessing. Around 0630 we finally got checked in and went to sleep. Unfortunately about 2 hours later construction began on the very building we were in. There was a cement mixer parked right outside our window, which was run by a pretty loud gas engine.
The workers began mixing concrete, using pulleys and buckets to get it up to the top floor while yelling back and forth. By around noon, we had had enough. We left the room for a while to walk around. We pulled out the business card the man gave us earlier that morning and found the hotel. We agreed on a price of 150 rupee per night ($3.00) for a one-week stay. Immediately we rushed back to the other place, packed our crap and paid the man half the fee (200 rupees) for the room since were only checked in for about 8hrs.
Finally we could relax in our new hotel – Mama Luna. With our 700-rupee-per-day budget well within reach now, this meant that we could spend 550 rupee on food alone. That is a LOT of food!
So far we’ve spent our time here exploring, walking around, looking at the shops, trying different juices and foods, doing yoga on the roof top in the mornings with friends. The highlight on our first day was feeding monkeys on the rooftop of one nice local’s home.
Later today (Thursday) we are taking a camel safari out to the desert. We met a nice man, Caloo, who started this business when he was 13. He and his brothers have run it since then; he is now in his late twenties. The camels seem to be treated very well so we decided to do it. We will start at 3pm and ride for 2 hours out into the desert, and then we’ll stop at his farm where his mother will teach us how to cook (and eat) a traditional Rajasthani meal. After dinner we’ll ride the camels back to town. We will be sure to post many pics and videos later of our camel safari:)
Namaste!
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