Thursday, November 24, 2005
Well, life as a backpacker has found some semblance of a routine. Street activity in India, surprisingly, doesn't get underway until 9:30 or 10:00 or so. So it makes sense to sleep late, have a leasurely cup of tea and read the paper or something before starting out. I avoid group tours and do a lot of walking. It is inefficient, but of what use is efficiency anyway when on vacation? Hurry up to see one more nameless monument? I do miss many of the recommended Tourist Locations, but find interesting shops and food, and feel that by hiking even the boring sections of streets I have a little more of a sense of the territory.
Late morning and the afternoon then are for visits to Things / museums, mansions, palaces, buildings, gardens, whatever. Try to find a relatively quiet corner or garden somewhere to take a break with a book or magazine. Through the day there have always been some sidewalk stands or shops with snacks that are too fascinating to pass by. Indian sweets are incredible! And the coffee is excellent, as isthe tea marsala, or chai.
After all that, it is great to get back to the hotel and take a shower and short nap before going out for the evening meal. I'm still not making much progress in learning how to read an Indian menu, but I sure am enjoying the food none the less.
Thinking about it, it is true that India is crowded. But not to the point of the Mass Of Humanity that I had sort of anticipated. There are large public gardens, streets without wall-to-wall shops, and relatively quiet side streets. The shops are full of wonderful fabrics, jewelry, handmade crafts... It is hard to avoid just buying things because they are so desireable and inexpensive. But my interest is in photography and traveling light, so that helps.
Today, 6 hours by train to Jodhpur, where I broke tradition by actually calling to make a room reservation in advance. But the guidebook suggested that the cheap hotels are in a particularly confusing warren of curved, narrow and intersecting streets. It gets dark early here, about 5:30, so I didn't want to be wandering around after dark, lost.
Onward.
Late morning and the afternoon then are for visits to Things / museums, mansions, palaces, buildings, gardens, whatever. Try to find a relatively quiet corner or garden somewhere to take a break with a book or magazine. Through the day there have always been some sidewalk stands or shops with snacks that are too fascinating to pass by. Indian sweets are incredible! And the coffee is excellent, as isthe tea marsala, or chai.
After all that, it is great to get back to the hotel and take a shower and short nap before going out for the evening meal. I'm still not making much progress in learning how to read an Indian menu, but I sure am enjoying the food none the less.
Thinking about it, it is true that India is crowded. But not to the point of the Mass Of Humanity that I had sort of anticipated. There are large public gardens, streets without wall-to-wall shops, and relatively quiet side streets. The shops are full of wonderful fabrics, jewelry, handmade crafts... It is hard to avoid just buying things because they are so desireable and inexpensive. But my interest is in photography and traveling light, so that helps.
Today, 6 hours by train to Jodhpur, where I broke tradition by actually calling to make a room reservation in advance. But the guidebook suggested that the cheap hotels are in a particularly confusing warren of curved, narrow and intersecting streets. It gets dark early here, about 5:30, so I didn't want to be wandering around after dark, lost.
Onward.
