Jaipur, India
In this episode of Be There Dreckly... I have my first cutthroat shave by a barber, break into a fort, get stoned by a teenager and celebrate New Years Eve on a rooftop...
After a fantastic Christmas in Agra, I moved a hundred odd miles west to the city of Jaipur, known as the as the Pink City due to the colour of the buildings in it's historic walled centre. Leaving Agra Fort station at daybreak, and only forty minutes late this time, the train passed through mostly wasteland alongside some very poor neighbourhoods. The lack of toilet facilities was very apparent, with hundreds of people squatting and deficating amongst the rubbish by the tracks with no apparent shame.
Once in the countryside though things were a lot more pleasant, mostly flat with the odd isolated hill, with large green fields of crops including rapeseed - a very common crop in India. After only seeing small scale farming until now, it was interesting to see agriculture that appeared to be more mechanised, and with 1.3 billion mouths to feed I guess it needs to be. Once again I took advantage of the lack of health and safety rules in India, and spent an hour or so hanging out the train door, carefully holding the rails both sides and taking in the nice scenery, something I must say I absolutely love doing. I am of course very careful before anyone worries!
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At Jaipur, I walked to the hotel, brushing off heaps of extremely irritating and persistent rickshaw drivers vying for business. They seemed to be worse here than anywhere else so far. I managed to find a room at Pearl Palace, known as one of the best guesthouses in the state of Rajasthan, certainly the best place I've stayed on the whole trip so far, and a bargain at £5 a night for a very swish double. I headed off towards the centre on foot, getting completely lost and taking a cycle rickshaw a couple of miles to get back on track. Some people feel these are degrading for the rider, other say it gives valuable income to some of the poorest people. I agree with the latter, if I was in their position I'd feel no shame in carting people round on a bike to earn a living, and don't tend to haggle the fare as they definitely earn it. It was hilarious to pass two men on bikes, one on each end of a long ladder as they rode with it up a fairly busy road. When they came to turn off across traffic it was nearly a real Laurel and Hardy moment!
I wandered around the centre for a while, passing by the touristy places like the palace and observatory. I've seen enough already on this trip, and only tend to pick and choose only those that really interest me now. What I won't get bored of, is wandering about the real bits of the city where people are going about their daily lives. I've mentioned before cows are free to wander the streets in India, and in Jaipur at times it seemed like the streets were a giant farmyard. I saw cows, oxen, goats, pigs, chickens and even a couple of sheep wandering about, mostly picking scraps out from the rubbish, and occasionally being given a bit of fresh veg or grain. Apparently most of them have owners, but they just don't have land on which to keep them, and cows being sacred and protected by law, are thus allowed to go wherever they want.
The small shops of Jaipur were neatly grouped together, so you walk along passing hardware shops, then fabric shops, then paint shops, spice shops, loose tea shops, cabinet shops, ingredients, bangles, cooking oil, and barbers. I looked briefly through the window of a barbers as I passed and ten metres later just stopped. On a whim I decided to go back and have a quick trim. Now, in Sweden the cheapest haircut I saw was £14, in Germany I paid £10, but here, it's the grand sum of £0.50! However, I got what I paid for - the guy spoke good English and seemed to understand when I asked him to cut off a very small amount, only to immediately chop nearly two inches straight off before I could stop him! Once he'd finished, he offered me a cutthroat shave.
I looked at the Indian guy next to me who was having one, and having never had it before thought it would be a good experience. It's a pretty never racking having a stranger using a razor blade so close to your throat, a real test of faith! He was very particular in applying a base cream, then lathering on shaving foam for minute or two, carefully shaving all over, washing it all off and finally applying aftershave. I was ready to pay up, but he then offered a facial massage. He was a good salesman, and intrigued again I said yes. He took a machine out of the cupboard that looked a like a drill but with a vibrating disc on the end, and slowly worked it all over my face. It felt very unnatural, and when he put right on my ears, quite painful! Finally, he offered a head massage. I'd gone this far, so why not. Once again very pleasant, and with a grand total of £2 (200 rupees) shelled out for this hour-long experience, I left the place feeling like a new man.
I looked at the Indian guy next to me who was having one, and having never had it before thought it would be a good experience. It's a pretty never racking having a stranger using a razor blade so close to your throat, a real test of faith! He was very particular in applying a base cream, then lathering on shaving foam for minute or two, carefully shaving all over, washing it all off and finally applying aftershave. I was ready to pay up, but he then offered a facial massage. He was a good salesman, and intrigued again I said yes. He took a machine out of the cupboard that looked a like a drill but with a vibrating disc on the end, and slowly worked it all over my face. It felt very unnatural, and when he put right on my ears, quite painful! Finally, he offered a head massage. I'd gone this far, so why not. Once again very pleasant, and with a grand total of £2 (200 rupees) shelled out for this hour-long experience, I left the place feeling like a new man.
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Nahargarh Fort is set up in the hills and looms over Jaipur itself. The next morning I intended to hike up there rather than take the very long windy route up in a taxi like everyone else. After walking most of the way from the hotel, I took a rickshaw the remaining short distance to the base of the hill, so I could get the driver could show me where the path started, as it was supposedly a bit tricky to find. But like many of these cockroaches, the driver made it his duty to keep stopping and starting at hotels along the way where he'd get commission if I stayed, then persistently try to make me hire his driving services for the whole day.
He wouldn't take no for an answer and eventually my patience ran out at one such stop, so in a rare bout of rudeness I dropped part of the fare on the ground for him to gather up, and walked off. Hopefully he got the message. However, this meant finding the path was very difficult, and after a lot of searching amongst the jumble of houses, I found what I thought was the route on the map. A local showed me the way up an alley and through someone's backyard, and I scrambled up a steep rocky hill, disappointingly finding that gate into the fort was locked after half an hours hiking. 'I guide you, fifty rupees' said a couple of kids of around ten, who were hanging round the path. I declined again and again for five minutes, whilst they followed me and grabbed my arm.
Eventually all I could do to loose them was raise my voice and firmly tell them to leave. As I walked along the wall of the fort trying to find another entrance, next thing I know a few stones seemed to be landing around me. I turned to find one of their teenage mates lobbing golf ball-sized rocks from a fifty metres or so away. I covered my head and moved on rapidly out of his range, but to find no other entrance to the fort. Not wanting to go all the way back down the hill through all the rabble, against my better judgement I reluctantly paid the kids the fifty rupees to show me how to get in. To my surprise one of them clambered up a twelve foot high section of wall into the fort, the only way it transpired. Great. I felt safe doing it, and it was an easy enough climb with lots of hand and footholds, so I was soon in. A few minutes later, looking back down on where I'd first encountered these delinquents, they were back flying kites together, back to being normal kids. The first time in over five months that I've encountered any form of aggression from other people.
He wouldn't take no for an answer and eventually my patience ran out at one such stop, so in a rare bout of rudeness I dropped part of the fare on the ground for him to gather up, and walked off. Hopefully he got the message. However, this meant finding the path was very difficult, and after a lot of searching amongst the jumble of houses, I found what I thought was the route on the map. A local showed me the way up an alley and through someone's backyard, and I scrambled up a steep rocky hill, disappointingly finding that gate into the fort was locked after half an hours hiking. 'I guide you, fifty rupees' said a couple of kids of around ten, who were hanging round the path. I declined again and again for five minutes, whilst they followed me and grabbed my arm.
Eventually all I could do to loose them was raise my voice and firmly tell them to leave. As I walked along the wall of the fort trying to find another entrance, next thing I know a few stones seemed to be landing around me. I turned to find one of their teenage mates lobbing golf ball-sized rocks from a fifty metres or so away. I covered my head and moved on rapidly out of his range, but to find no other entrance to the fort. Not wanting to go all the way back down the hill through all the rabble, against my better judgement I reluctantly paid the kids the fifty rupees to show me how to get in. To my surprise one of them clambered up a twelve foot high section of wall into the fort, the only way it transpired. Great. I felt safe doing it, and it was an easy enough climb with lots of hand and footholds, so I was soon in. A few minutes later, looking back down on where I'd first encountered these delinquents, they were back flying kites together, back to being normal kids. The first time in over five months that I've encountered any form of aggression from other people.
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The fort was largely overgrown inside, though the old palace at one end of the complex was interesting enough to look around, a place where an old leader used to keep his many mistresses. It was quite modest as far as palaces go, and not too gaudy and over the top. After leaving it was then apparent that I'd gone up completely the wrong path earlier that day, as I found the actual nicely paved route back to the town! I couldn't get over how many friendly people said hello as I walked past the houses and shops outside of the centre. Nor how many kites were being flown - the sky was full of them!
Back at the hotel, I was unlocking the bedroom door when someone came out of the next room. Well blow me down, it was Wayne who I'd spent Christmas with! He'd just turned up on his bike from Agra. Wayne is a fascinating guy, extremely knowledgable and full of stories. A 43 year old construction project manager from Manchester, he's spent the past four years cycling around Europe, Africa, the Middle East and now Asia, covering over 50,000 miles so far, and now visiting his 91st country! See his blog if you're interested - wmhafrica.blogspot.com . As you might expect we had a lot in common so got on well and hung out together for a couple of days. He had many incredible stories, and to be honest I've not met anyone before with such a good general knowledge of the world and it's history. I learnt more about the establishment of Israel and it's problems, how borders between countries is a fairly modern phenomenon, life in Africa and central Asia, the problems Britain has caused over the years in many problems in the world, and much much more. In return I told him a bit about cows and engineering!
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| Monkey temple |
After a relaxing breakfast the next morning, we walked, bussed and rickshawed our way to the nearby village of Galta which houses the 'monkey temple' - a complex of buildings in a narrow valley, amongst which thousands of mostly rhesus monkeys hang out. At first it wasn't apparent how many there were, but over time you start to spot them everywhere in the buildings, on the path, in the trees and up in the hills. All pretty passive, and quite a sight. On the way back down, in a grimy little backstreet we found an interesting local cafe by chance, and tried some interesting new Indian dishes. We had first a giant but very thin omelette which was fried until crispy, and rolled up with curried veg inside, then afterwards a kind of Indian pizza. Both excellent, and I've not seen them anywhere before or since.
The next day was New Years Eve, and I woke up feeling under the weather with a cold, the first of any sort of illness so far on this trip. Probably something to do with sitting in the hotel's rooftop restaurant 'til too late the night before - it's been warmish by day but fairly cold by night. I felt pretty shoddy that day so just took it easy for the day and caught up with some blog and photo stuff mostly.
I was feeling marginally better by tea time, and ended up spending the evening with people solely from my home country for the first time on this trip - with again Wayne, and an English couple I'd met in the day. The four of us were talking away and having a few beers in the hotel, until suddenly we realised it was 11.30pm and we needed to find a party for midnight. We ended up on the rooftop of the hotel next door, where they had a traditional Indian band playing and about thirty other tourists. At midnight people shouted out the countdown, and the staff set off fireworks from a terrace above. It was the dodgiest fireworks display I've ever witnessed, with the tubes being balanced on the edge of a wall and people running around everywhere, but was very good and certainly memorable, even if it wasn't the biggest, best or wildest New Years event I've been to.
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| Midnight fireworks |
A big thanks to everyone who has followed the blog through the journey so far. I'm now getting between 8 and 25 visitors a day from a number of counties, which makes it well worth doing, even if it's a bit of a tie sometimes. Stay in touch, your feedback is always appreciated. Happy New Year everybody, and all the best for 2014!
1 comment:
Blwyddyn Newydd Da i ti Steve xx
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