Hello.
After my adventure with the old man in Mumbai I just monged around waiting for the train. The train ride was fine and I got to Ahmedabad early in the morning, 6:30 ish I think. There was the usual annoyances at the train station and, being early, I wasn't in the mood to entertain people. The last person to bug me was a rickshaw driver. I knew the score, they take you to various hotels that you don't want to go to because they get commision, and they use excuses such as "Your hotel has changed its name, its now called this" or even "Your hotel is rubbish, this one is better". I told this rickshaw driver where I wanted to go, asked him how much it would be, he said 10 rupees, and then I said, in exactly these words "If you take me anywhere I don't want to go to, I will get out and not pay anything". He seemed to accept this and we set off. Five minutes later we arrived at a hotel I didn't want to go to. He told me to have a look, I told him to go to the hotel that I wanted to go to. He asked me to show him in the guide book, I did, and he took the guide book into the hotel, presumably wanting me to follow. I turned the key in his rickshaw and pressed his horn untill he came back outside. He was understandably annoyed, people were sleeping. After his outburst I asked if we could go to the hotel I wanted to go to. He said it had changed its name and was now called something else. I told him that when we got there I'd check on the map to see if we were in the right place, before going into the hotel. He looked at me stupidly, trying to think of his next move, and seeing that this was going no where I got out of the rickshaw. He then proceeded to shout at me, saying that it was 50 rupees. I reminded him that he had said 10 at the trainstation, presumably because he thought i'd go in and out of hotels getting him commission, which I have done good naturedly in the past, but wasn't going to do this time as I had told him specifically that I didnt want to. I also reminded him that he hadn't taken me to where I'd asked anyway. If you booked a taxi from Harwood to town, and the driver took you to Moss Bank Park, you'd be pretty annoyed and against paying for the trip. Blah blah blah 50 rupees, blah blah. He was growing incomprehensible, in the end I gave him 10 rupees and we parted ways. I walked to the hotel I wanted to go to, it hadn't changed its name. The reason I wanted to go there was because it had dorm beds for 80 rupees a night, and I was only there for one night so I didn't mind how crappy it was. I asked for a dorm bed and he showed me a single room, for 150, I said it was very nice and asked about the dorm beds, which I could see through a window to my left. He said no. This was confusing. They weren't full, I could see empty beds. I asked why, but he failed to give any response. I told him that either I stayed in a dorm bed or I went to another hotel, possibly more expensive, but I didn't care. He let me go and I found a hotel with rooms for 250 a night, I took it, it had a tv in the room. I was annoyed for the rest of the day, the last few indian people I had met were awful, annoying people. I wandered around ahmedabad in a huff, and watched tv. Ahmedabad sucked.
Next I went to Mt. Abu, I walked to the train station to avoid anymore irritating rickshaw drivers. I got the train in general class, it was packed, I stood up for 5 hours. To move around the carriage, some people managed to walk above everyones heads, holding onto the walls and luggage racks, which also had people sitting in them.
Mt. Abu was kind of boring, I went to a temple, which was pretty good, the people that carved everything were paid according to how much they shaved off, so they'd put in a lot of detail in order to gain more rupees. I wasn't allowed to take pictures though. It also has a lake, which was uninspiring to say the least.
Next I went to Jodhpur. On the morning of the bus ride I met two guys and a girl, all english, who were getting the same bus as me. Hugo used to be a naked butler and was travelling after quitting his job, not the naked butler job, another job. Joe and Katie were 22 and much in the same position as me. Out of the 4 of us, only Hugo had an idea of somewhere to stay, so Joe katie and I followed. It was a little pricier than where I usually stay, but it was only for one night so I didn't mind. That night we went out to a bar/club which we later found out was male only, but not gay, they let Katie in because she was foreign. After a few drinks we danced with indian guys on the dance floor, which gave it a far greater boy to girl ratio than 5th Ave has in Manchester, along with a far worse soundtrack. But it did close at 11:30, so if we were in Manchester we probably could have got the last train home. We went back to the hotel and had more beer on the roof, before going to bed.
The next day we went to Jodhpur fort, it was impressive and I took some pictures, then I got my bus to Jaisalmer.
I was only in Jaisalmer to do a camel safari. It has a good fort aswell, but I was kind of bored of sight seeing, and I never got round to taking pictures. I went round a coulpe of camel safari companies before finding one that said they had a group of 7 for a 2 night safari leaving tomorrow, so I did that one. After booking it I walked past a shop that I had been in previously and told him the details of the safari i had booked. He guarenteed me that I would not have a good time and that there wouldn't be 7 people for 2 nights. He was funny and we chatted for a while and I told him that I'd come back after the safari to tell how how bad of a time I had had.
The safari was really good fun. Ishra was right of course, there weren't 7 people for 2 nights. The first night there were 5 of us, me, and australian couple called Ben and Gail, and two english brothers called Ben and Mark, then on the second day Ben and Mark left and there were 3 of us for the second night. It was really fun though, besides the pain of sitting on a camel, which I was prepared for after riding one for 4 hours in Kenya. I named my camel Henry, after the camel in Kenya. It's real name was Papaya, not suitable for a male camel. He had tendancies to walk away from the group a little bit, the camel drivers said this was because he didn't like other camels. Most of the desert was scrubland, but there were a few sections of sand dunes, and we stopped at these to sleep. It's pretty good sleeping on a sand dune all night under the sky, although the stars were often obscured by dust.
After my third day I went back to Ishra's camel company shop and told him that it was really good, but that he was right, there weren't 7 people. I'm probably not spelling his name right, but he can't read or write in any language, so I don't think it matters. He was pleased that he was right, and after a while he took me to the local restaurant that he eats in twice a day everyday. All the other indians were talking about me, I asked Ishra at one point what one of the others was saying about me, he translated it as "its good that you are here". I don't know if this is the truth, I remember in Kenya, at the start when me, doug and Njeroge went to buy the cow people were shouting mzungu, I asked Njeroge what it meant and he said they were saying hello. It just means white man, if I haven't mentioned that before. Anyway, after dinner we went round a market that was closing, then Ishra left me in an internet cafe. I met him again the day after for lunch. I was waiting for my train to Delhi, which I was pleased to book with him after denying him my camel safari custom. Stuck for anything better to do I sat with him in front of his shop and watched him harass tourists, "Hello Sir, what have you planned for the desert" was what he shouted at passers by, he knew it in loads of languages and seemed good at judging where someone was from. I joined in whenever I could, vouching for his safari and saying I had a great time on it, even though I hadn't been on it. After a couple of hours I had to get my train to Delhi, so I said bye, and didn't offer my email address as it would have been rather pointless.
The train to Delhi was loooong. While in Delhi I was still kind of bored of sight seeing. I was there for two days, I went to see the red fort, but was more interested by the chipmonks than anything else. On my last night there I talked to a german guy who lived up in the mountains in Kashmir. He could speak hindi, much to the delight of the bar staff. I also went to connought place, which has lots of shops and stuff, but I don't really shop, so it was boring.
Today I got the train to Agra, it's horrendously touristy, I managed to buy an ice cream earlier, managing to say hi just before he asked if I wanted an ice cream, something that I imagine is a rare ocurance here. I'm getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the Taj Mahal before it's flooded with tourists. Oh, when I got the rickshaw from the train station I went around a few hotels with the rickshaw driver, I wasn't tired or in a hurry though, so I beared it and eventually we got to one that I accepted. I didn't tip the guy, and he asked if I wanted a tour after resting for a while, I said no.
That's it, next is Varanasi, and then Calcutta, then I fly to Hong Kong for Christmas.
Bye
Mt. Abu was kind of boring, I went to a temple, which was pretty good, the people that carved everything were paid according to how much they shaved off, so they'd put in a lot of detail in order to gain more rupees. I wasn't allowed to take pictures though. It also has a lake, which was uninspiring to say the least.
Next I went to Jodhpur. On the morning of the bus ride I met two guys and a girl, all english, who were getting the same bus as me. Hugo used to be a naked butler and was travelling after quitting his job, not the naked butler job, another job. Joe and Katie were 22 and much in the same position as me. Out of the 4 of us, only Hugo had an idea of somewhere to stay, so Joe katie and I followed. It was a little pricier than where I usually stay, but it was only for one night so I didn't mind. That night we went out to a bar/club which we later found out was male only, but not gay, they let Katie in because she was foreign. After a few drinks we danced with indian guys on the dance floor, which gave it a far greater boy to girl ratio than 5th Ave has in Manchester, along with a far worse soundtrack. But it did close at 11:30, so if we were in Manchester we probably could have got the last train home. We went back to the hotel and had more beer on the roof, before going to bed.
The next day we went to Jodhpur fort, it was impressive and I took some pictures, then I got my bus to Jaisalmer.
I was only in Jaisalmer to do a camel safari. It has a good fort aswell, but I was kind of bored of sight seeing, and I never got round to taking pictures. I went round a coulpe of camel safari companies before finding one that said they had a group of 7 for a 2 night safari leaving tomorrow, so I did that one. After booking it I walked past a shop that I had been in previously and told him the details of the safari i had booked. He guarenteed me that I would not have a good time and that there wouldn't be 7 people for 2 nights. He was funny and we chatted for a while and I told him that I'd come back after the safari to tell how how bad of a time I had had.
The safari was really good fun. Ishra was right of course, there weren't 7 people for 2 nights. The first night there were 5 of us, me, and australian couple called Ben and Gail, and two english brothers called Ben and Mark, then on the second day Ben and Mark left and there were 3 of us for the second night. It was really fun though, besides the pain of sitting on a camel, which I was prepared for after riding one for 4 hours in Kenya. I named my camel Henry, after the camel in Kenya. It's real name was Papaya, not suitable for a male camel. He had tendancies to walk away from the group a little bit, the camel drivers said this was because he didn't like other camels. Most of the desert was scrubland, but there were a few sections of sand dunes, and we stopped at these to sleep. It's pretty good sleeping on a sand dune all night under the sky, although the stars were often obscured by dust.
After my third day I went back to Ishra's camel company shop and told him that it was really good, but that he was right, there weren't 7 people. I'm probably not spelling his name right, but he can't read or write in any language, so I don't think it matters. He was pleased that he was right, and after a while he took me to the local restaurant that he eats in twice a day everyday. All the other indians were talking about me, I asked Ishra at one point what one of the others was saying about me, he translated it as "its good that you are here". I don't know if this is the truth, I remember in Kenya, at the start when me, doug and Njeroge went to buy the cow people were shouting mzungu, I asked Njeroge what it meant and he said they were saying hello. It just means white man, if I haven't mentioned that before. Anyway, after dinner we went round a market that was closing, then Ishra left me in an internet cafe. I met him again the day after for lunch. I was waiting for my train to Delhi, which I was pleased to book with him after denying him my camel safari custom. Stuck for anything better to do I sat with him in front of his shop and watched him harass tourists, "Hello Sir, what have you planned for the desert" was what he shouted at passers by, he knew it in loads of languages and seemed good at judging where someone was from. I joined in whenever I could, vouching for his safari and saying I had a great time on it, even though I hadn't been on it. After a couple of hours I had to get my train to Delhi, so I said bye, and didn't offer my email address as it would have been rather pointless.
The train to Delhi was loooong. While in Delhi I was still kind of bored of sight seeing. I was there for two days, I went to see the red fort, but was more interested by the chipmonks than anything else. On my last night there I talked to a german guy who lived up in the mountains in Kashmir. He could speak hindi, much to the delight of the bar staff. I also went to connought place, which has lots of shops and stuff, but I don't really shop, so it was boring.
Today I got the train to Agra, it's horrendously touristy, I managed to buy an ice cream earlier, managing to say hi just before he asked if I wanted an ice cream, something that I imagine is a rare ocurance here. I'm getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the Taj Mahal before it's flooded with tourists. Oh, when I got the rickshaw from the train station I went around a few hotels with the rickshaw driver, I wasn't tired or in a hurry though, so I beared it and eventually we got to one that I accepted. I didn't tip the guy, and he asked if I wanted a tour after resting for a while, I said no.
That's it, next is Varanasi, and then Calcutta, then I fly to Hong Kong for Christmas.
Bye
