Same same, but different
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2005
1
21
48
Trip End
Nov 01, 2006
Pushkar, India
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
After a good hour of bumps and dust, the rickshaw driver stopped and said we had to walk the rest of the way as he's not allowed to drive in Pushkar. We argued that he said he would take us to our hostel. He had no intention of not keeping his promise, he just planned on walking the remaining 2km.
We opted to walk the rest of the way on our own and after about 10 minutes we got to town. Pushkar is not very big, and the majority of what goes on in Pushkar happens on the main drag next to the lake. We wandered along this road until we found our hostel. Our room again had a lake view, but was not nearly as nice as the place in Udaipur.
We kicked off our bags and grabbed some food which was delicious. While we ate, we observed a girl who was trying to send her food back and not pay for as there was a hair in it. Please don't get us wrong, but if a hair in your food is the worst problem with your food in India, then consider yourself lucky. There is a huge list of things that you just can't complain about in India, and food would be one of them. When a plate of food costs less than your shoelaces, it's hard to justify sending it back. Some people don't quite get it.
Anyway, after food, it was time to head out to the street stalls. The entire main street was lined with stalls selling anything from clothes to pillow covers to blankets. Rajasthan, the state we were in, is known for its textiles. It's quite fun to get out there and look at all the beautiful patterns and see the thousands of tourists doing exactly what you're doing. "Yes sir! Just look!!"
When Dave's mom and dad left Africa, they took half of our stuff with them. We had winter gear for Antarctica and the climb up Kili which we no longer needed. Something just didn't feel right with our bags half full, so in the 10 hours we were in Pushkar before bedtime, we bought enough to fill our bags up again. Shopping was fun because Indian people make it much more of an experience than just shopping. While looking at a few things in one shop, the owner had us sit down, brought us a chai and showed us all sorts of beautiful things. We laughed and joked, told stories about our families, and only well selecting the items we wanted did we begin negotiations. This was an experience in itself. The price begins high on purpose, but you can't simply cut the price in half and hope he drops the price. You must tell him how it's too much money so that he can tell you a 5 minute story about how the quality is so much better and that it's worth the price. Eventually he'll come around and drop the price a little because we're friends now. This goes on for another 15 minutes until we all agree on a fair price.
The overall experience in that shop probably took 30 or 40 minutes. It's fun if you can sit through the whole process; these guys will literally cover you with hundreds of samples of whatever you were looking for. It's great fun.
Dave spent the next morning shopping for a Tibetan singing bowl. He's always wanted one, and if you've ever had a glass of wine with Dave, chances are he's annoyed you by running his finger around the glass to make it sing. Think of a much bigger bowl, made with 9 or more metals that vibrates when you run a stick around the rim of the bowl. It's bigger, louder, and "WAY cooler".
Although these bowls can be found in certain shops in Canada, they're quite expensive. Dave narrowed his choices down to a machine-made bowl with very beautiful etchings on the side, as well as a hand-hammered bowl. After negotiations he got them down to half of the asking price and ended up taking both. Still less than a quarter of the price in Canada, but nowhere near as cheap as the bowls in Darjeeling as Dave would find out a few weeks later.
Lisa on the other hand had a hay-day with all sorts of blankets, pillow covers, tea-cozies, door-knob cozies... you get the idea. There were so many beautiful items, it's a shame we couldn't get more.
After about 24 hours of shopping in Pushkar, we boarded a bus for Jaipur. Near the bus stand in Pushkar, we saw another sugar cane juicing stand. These things are all over Zanzibar and India. Quite often the ones in India are constantly turning and have little bells hanging off them that are constantly jingling. The Indian guys shove a giant piece of sugar cane through and collect the juice in a glass. It's delicious.
This particular guy outside the bus station had his entire left hand bandaged up. We didn't ask him how it happened.
On to Jaipur!
