Time to finally complete my travel musings, before I forget all the adventures!
Friday, we slept in a little and then set out to explore Jaipur. We took a cab to the fort on top of the hill, and hiked up the staircases carved into the hillside. The fort itself is massive and beautiful. It’s built into the side of a mountain, and overlooks the whole valley. It was originally a home and stronghold for Mughal emperors, and now is simply a truly lovely tribute to Mughal workmanship and culture. The fort itself houses several palaces. One of them is the palace of mirrors, and it actually still has all of the mirrors in place. The sun and everything in the courtyard is reflected a thousand times off of the mirrors, and it’s just beautiful. We also walked around the outer walls to view the surrounding mountains, and explored a tunnel down into the bowels of the fort that was filled with dust and bats and smelled, frankly, of urine. On our way out of the fort, we heard music playing and stopped to see what the deal was. Snake charmers! I forgot that snake charming is a thing out in the western and northern states of India. We watched (Nolan was HORRIFIED) as cobras rose out of baskets, swaying, and occasionally snapping around other directions. I thought it was fascinating.
Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to try and find a good lunch spot. We were originally going to have our driver take us around for the day, but listen: something we learned in India is that everyone has an angle. If someone offers to show you to a good restaurant when you ask them for suggestions, it’s because the restaurant they choose happens to give them 20% commission if they bring us there. If someone helps you in any way, they ask you for a tip. If you happen to give someone a tip, they tell you it’s not enough and demand more. If you don’t give them what they ask for, they turn nasty. We discovered, sadly, that you have to be pretty independent and firm to save yourself from getting scammed at every turn and emptying your wallet needlessly.
Anyway: we started wandering around to find lunch, and ended up taking a rickshaw to a restaurant somewhere in Jaipur. We were more or less lost, as we had no map. So we ate, then went with Nolan’s gut on how to find the main road, and…he led us straight there. Guys, I have to tell you one other thing I learned in India: Nolan’s sense of direction is impeccable. We were constantly ending up in confusing places without maps or directions, and he always led me by the hand straight back to where we needed to be, without asking directions. SO impressive! Not to mention all the other things he handled swiftly – the bartering, the arranging of getting around, and figuring out how to use the train system in India…the list goes on. I often don’t even look up when we cross streets anymore because I implicitly trust his guidance in just about everything.
After lunch, we walked along the main road for awhile, looking for a money changer to exchange our Nepali bills, and then finding a ride back to our neighbourhood. We stayed in our room for a few hours, enjoying the A/C and getting work done, and then sat on our rooftop at the hotel restaurant and ate our last meal in Jaipur and sipped masala tea. Confession: I ordered some fries and a veg “burger” because my last few curries had literally burned through me, and I needed something safe
Next morning, we got a SUPER early ride to the train station, and boarded our train to Delhi. Once we got there, we took a rickshaw to our hotel, which was in the busy tourist area and easily accessible to the metro station and airport. As in most hotels abroad, they asked us for our passports, to make copies of those and our visas. What I was about to discover, was that my passport was nowhere to be found. The compartment I usually keep it in was open, and there was nothing anywhere. I tore through my bags in our room, but still couldn’t find it. I had copies of the documents in my suitcase, so I gave those to the hotel, but was panicking, as our flight home was the next day. The hotel manager was trying to reassure me by saying, “At least you’re not here as long as one of our customers from America, Mr. Alan! He has been here 3 months. But he is different, it is because he had drugs in his suitcases.” Hah.
So Nolan started researching and calling the embassy, the police station, and figuring out how we needed to go about getting me an emergency passport and exit visa. I realized then, that I had no memory of my passport being handed back to me at our hotel in Jaipur. So the hotel manager kept trying to reach the hotel, and finally got someone who told him, “I’m at the temple, I’ll call you when I go back to the hotel.” Great. An hour later, still no response on the phones. We managed to get an appointment at the embassy, so as we were about to head out the door to file a police report (you have to file one and bring the receipt to the embassy in order to get an emergency passport, but the tricky thing is that once you file that report, your Indian visa immediately becomes void…so there’s no going back), our hotel manager said, “let me try one more time on the phone.” On the last ring, they picked up, and said that they had my passport at the hotel. PHEW. What you have to understand is that getting the emergency visa would take a day or two or three, so I might have to get a new flight…but getting an Indian exit visa could take weeks or longer, depending on when they felt like processing it. So to hear that somewhere, someone had my passport? LIFESAVING. I was willing to even get back on the train for 6 hours out to Jaipur and come back in the same day just to make my flight. But what we were lucky enough to get was a taxi driver in Jaipur who was willing to drive it to us. Our awesome hotel manager arranged everything, and we ended up paying only $50 in the end, which is pretty incredible. The best part was, he had a sense of humour about the whole thing. When we got back that night and asked if the driver had arrived with the passport yet, he said, “Oh, actually he lied. They now say that they cannot find the passport. I am sorry.” He said this so sincerely, and since we had experienced very similar issues in India, we totally believed it to be true. Nolan started freaking out, I was dying a little bit inside…and then the manager said, “no, it’s only a joke. It’s here.” And pulled it out. Best trick ever. Nolan didn’t think it was very funny.
So we thanked both the manager and of course the driver, PROFUSELY, and then put our minds at ease with an ice cream and settled down for the night.
I should probably mention that while we were anxiously awaiting news about my passport, we took the metro and checked out a couple Delhi markets. The metro in Delhi is super impressive. I can't believe I'm saying that about any kind of train or transportation in general in India...but it's true. It's way better than Muni or BART, and that means it's cleaner (gasp!), faster, goes more places, and is so easy to use. We definitely noticed the British influence in the metro system they've put in place :)
For the most part, the markets we found were retail shops and expensive goods, though eventually we found the Delhi Haat, which was the handicrafts market. Once there, we continued Nolan's hunt for an elaborately carved Kashmiri wooden box. One of the vendors took us on a long rickshaw ride to a shop that actually ended up having exactly what we were looking for. BEAUTIFUL stuff. But, very expensive. So after a couple hours of negotiation, we left empty-handed.
The next day, we woke up for breakfast, then hopped on the metro again and went to about a million shops, emporiums, etc. on a few different rickshaws and MANY peoples' advice on where to get the box we were looking for. Nobody was right, and they all got commission from where they sent us. So we were a little ticked by the time we decided to take a break and head over to a giant temple for some sight-seeing. The temple was beautiful, but due to a recent terrorist threat, we weren't allowed to bring the camera or anything else inside. It was recently built, so not a historical monument, but definitely built in the old Indian style architecture, and very ornate and gorgeous to look at. We hopped back on the metro again to Connaught square, and sat down for some Indian fast food (had to try it!). A random guy found us, and ended up putting us in a rickshaw to what we decided would be our last attempt at finding a shop to buy this box. When the rickshaw pulled up, it turned out to be the perfect (but expensive) shop we were at the day before. Nolan decided to give the negotiating one more try with the bullish shop-keeper, and after almost 4 hours, some ice cream and diet cokes that the shop-keeper bought us (loyalty measures, haha!)...we finally had our prize! Nolan did an amazing job of negotiating down to a price we felt good about, and he's now the proud owner of an amazing, one of a kind (the sculptor is no longer living) Kashmiri piece of art. You'll have to come admire it sometime.
After our long day, we headed back to the market for a last sweep of looking around, then back to our hotel. I feel like we got to be pros at the metro system.
Our awesome hotel manager scored a huge win again when not only did he give us our room for free until we left for the airport, so that we could shower and nap and pack (so great!), but also when we asked him for the best restaurant around, and he sent us to a place that served what I think was my favourite meal in India. We ate slow, as we had a few hours to burn before our taxi to the airport, and it was THE BEST meal ever. We ordered chicken tikka, and the chef humoured our request to make it spicy and served it in a "mutton gravy" which was pretty similar to a rogan josh sauce. SO delicious. The mushroom palak was also super tasty.
We walked around a bit more, bought one last pistachio kulfi, and then sat in our hotel lobby chatting with the manager (who ordered us free chai from the street's chai walla!), and waiting for our flight. The notorious "Mr. Alan" walked in, and we finally got to meet him and hear his story, which was crazy and involved 90 days in Indian prison, drug smuggling, and numerous tales of medication woes. The man's an older gentleman from South Carolina, and if he really ever does write a book like he's threatened to do, I'll be the first to buy it just to hear the end of the story.
When we finally were on our way and waiting at the airport, we finished watching 12 Years a Slave, and said our temporary goodbyes, since we had different flights home. We watched the clock turn to midnight and Nolan's birthday, and got on our respective planes. He had a layover in Beijing, and I had one in Seoul. Though it sounds like his layover was spent in massive security lines for hours on end due to the Malaysian plane disappearance, mine was rather pleasant, and spent watching a South Korean cultural show at the airport cultural center, and walking literally every inch of the International Terminal.
When we finally both got home, we kissed the ground (almost literally), and smelled the fresh California air. I picked up Milo, did some laundry, went for a run, and then we went out to dinner at Pluto's (fresh, cold greens! Heaven!) for Nolan's birthday, and finished off the night with a stop at Cream for ice cream sandwiches :) Hey, when you're technically still on vacation, you gotta enjoy the treats on your last day! Especially when it's the birthday of your favourite person in the whole world.
I guess you could say we had an exciting trip. It was definitely an adventure, very stressful, but very fun at the same time. It was such an interesting place to go, and though I'll do things a little differently next time we go back there, it was a great way to spend the last 2 weeks.
Onward, ho!
Next morning, we got a SUPER early ride to the train station, and boarded our train to Delhi. Once we got there, we took a rickshaw to our hotel, which was in the busy tourist area and easily accessible to the metro station and airport. As in most hotels abroad, they asked us for our passports, to make copies of those and our visas. What I was about to discover, was that my passport was nowhere to be found. The compartment I usually keep it in was open, and there was nothing anywhere. I tore through my bags in our room, but still couldn’t find it. I had copies of the documents in my suitcase, so I gave those to the hotel, but was panicking, as our flight home was the next day. The hotel manager was trying to reassure me by saying, “At least you’re not here as long as one of our customers from America, Mr. Alan! He has been here 3 months. But he is different, it is because he had drugs in his suitcases.” Hah.
So we thanked both the manager and of course the driver, PROFUSELY, and then put our minds at ease with an ice cream and settled down for the night.
I should probably mention that while we were anxiously awaiting news about my passport, we took the metro and checked out a couple Delhi markets. The metro in Delhi is super impressive. I can't believe I'm saying that about any kind of train or transportation in general in India...but it's true. It's way better than Muni or BART, and that means it's cleaner (gasp!), faster, goes more places, and is so easy to use. We definitely noticed the British influence in the metro system they've put in place :)
For the most part, the markets we found were retail shops and expensive goods, though eventually we found the Delhi Haat, which was the handicrafts market. Once there, we continued Nolan's hunt for an elaborately carved Kashmiri wooden box. One of the vendors took us on a long rickshaw ride to a shop that actually ended up having exactly what we were looking for. BEAUTIFUL stuff. But, very expensive. So after a couple hours of negotiation, we left empty-handed.
The next day, we woke up for breakfast, then hopped on the metro again and went to about a million shops, emporiums, etc. on a few different rickshaws and MANY peoples' advice on where to get the box we were looking for. Nobody was right, and they all got commission from where they sent us. So we were a little ticked by the time we decided to take a break and head over to a giant temple for some sight-seeing. The temple was beautiful, but due to a recent terrorist threat, we weren't allowed to bring the camera or anything else inside. It was recently built, so not a historical monument, but definitely built in the old Indian style architecture, and very ornate and gorgeous to look at. We hopped back on the metro again to Connaught square, and sat down for some Indian fast food (had to try it!). A random guy found us, and ended up putting us in a rickshaw to what we decided would be our last attempt at finding a shop to buy this box. When the rickshaw pulled up, it turned out to be the perfect (but expensive) shop we were at the day before. Nolan decided to give the negotiating one more try with the bullish shop-keeper, and after almost 4 hours, some ice cream and diet cokes that the shop-keeper bought us (loyalty measures, haha!)...we finally had our prize! Nolan did an amazing job of negotiating down to a price we felt good about, and he's now the proud owner of an amazing, one of a kind (the sculptor is no longer living) Kashmiri piece of art. You'll have to come admire it sometime.
After our long day, we headed back to the market for a last sweep of looking around, then back to our hotel. I feel like we got to be pros at the metro system.
Our awesome hotel manager scored a huge win again when not only did he give us our room for free until we left for the airport, so that we could shower and nap and pack (so great!), but also when we asked him for the best restaurant around, and he sent us to a place that served what I think was my favourite meal in India. We ate slow, as we had a few hours to burn before our taxi to the airport, and it was THE BEST meal ever. We ordered chicken tikka, and the chef humoured our request to make it spicy and served it in a "mutton gravy" which was pretty similar to a rogan josh sauce. SO delicious. The mushroom palak was also super tasty.
We walked around a bit more, bought one last pistachio kulfi, and then sat in our hotel lobby chatting with the manager (who ordered us free chai from the street's chai walla!), and waiting for our flight. The notorious "Mr. Alan" walked in, and we finally got to meet him and hear his story, which was crazy and involved 90 days in Indian prison, drug smuggling, and numerous tales of medication woes. The man's an older gentleman from South Carolina, and if he really ever does write a book like he's threatened to do, I'll be the first to buy it just to hear the end of the story.
When we finally were on our way and waiting at the airport, we finished watching 12 Years a Slave, and said our temporary goodbyes, since we had different flights home. We watched the clock turn to midnight and Nolan's birthday, and got on our respective planes. He had a layover in Beijing, and I had one in Seoul. Though it sounds like his layover was spent in massive security lines for hours on end due to the Malaysian plane disappearance, mine was rather pleasant, and spent watching a South Korean cultural show at the airport cultural center, and walking literally every inch of the International Terminal.
When we finally both got home, we kissed the ground (almost literally), and smelled the fresh California air. I picked up Milo, did some laundry, went for a run, and then we went out to dinner at Pluto's (fresh, cold greens! Heaven!) for Nolan's birthday, and finished off the night with a stop at Cream for ice cream sandwiches :) Hey, when you're technically still on vacation, you gotta enjoy the treats on your last day! Especially when it's the birthday of your favourite person in the whole world.
I guess you could say we had an exciting trip. It was definitely an adventure, very stressful, but very fun at the same time. It was such an interesting place to go, and though I'll do things a little differently next time we go back there, it was a great way to spend the last 2 weeks.
Onward, ho!
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