As if coming to India wasn’t intrepid enough, as we had free time this morning Sherry choose a cafe in Jaipur and we obtained directions from Google Maps and set off.
It was only 2.7kms away but took us passed Sindhi Camp Metro, through what in our terms would be back streets, across intersections with and without traffic lights (those can be stories in themselves), through a residential area, stopped at a cafe for a refresh and arrived outside the chosen cafe around 1.5 hours after setting out.
The cafe en route was interesting in that I ordered a masala chai and after around 15 minutes it still had not arrived so wondered if my order had been misunderstood but as the server had taken some rupees I assumed it was still to be made.
We could see the young man working over a pot on a stove, stirring occasionally and assumed that the masala chai was being lovingly handcrafted. After around 20 minutes after ordering we noticed that he was straining that which he was preparing into a glass and then he brought it over – a nice masala chai but we couldn’t help wondering how long you would need to wait for a cuppa should the cafe be full and others had also ordered a MC.
There were some nice hedging that we passed on route which got the trusty camera out.
We were pressed for time today as we had prearranged a call back home to speak to our grandson who is having his birthday tomorrow (as we are travelling between cities all day tomorrow the call had to be made today) and with the time difference we had to be back at the hotel by no later than 12.15 and as a walk back wouldn’t achieve that we took a tuk tuk asking to be returned to Sindhi Camp Metro as we were familiar with that area (or so we thought).
Duly arrived and alighted from the tuk tuk, paid the 100 rupee agreed fare ($2), though the café from where we left said it would cost 50 rupees and while haggling can be fun did not pursue that as we needed to get back, and looked around and had no clue whether we on the left or the right side of the road, or where the street we needed to walk down was.
Stood looking around and was quickly surrounded by at least 3 guys who all tried to assist but if they were able to they didn’t get through to us.
Our solution was to go into the metro station, get on the concourse and find a familiar sign or exit given that we had been on it yesterday, but to do so we needed to buy a couple of metro tickets (they issue tokens, not tickets) to go though security and onto the concourse.
Having done that we were now in familiar territory and from there it was a piece of cake to get ourselves back to the hotel.
After the call we were picked up by our driver and he took us to recover our laundry, which should have been with us yesterday morning, and then on to a Hindu Temple that he obviously wanted us to see a little way out of town – we arrived there an hour after being picked up.
He referenced it as The Monkey Temple and I assumed that was a reference to the God Hanuyman who is known as monkey face but if was it could also have been because of the number of monkeys on the site.
We decided that rather than drive around the city in a hottish car, which is very slow given the traffic, we asked to be dropped off outside Hawa Mahal so we could look for some further souvenir/gift opportunities – we were able to tell Ashok that he could have the rest of the afternoon off and we would get the metro back to the hotel and we would meet him at 6.45 as he has agreed to come for a meal with us. We have let him choose the restaurant so it will be interesting to see how that plays out – a type of blind date!
There was an item in particular that was on the shopping list but the problem is that there are 3 or 4 shops side by side each selling the same type of goods and when you have been in the first you think the second or third might have a better quality item or same quality at a lesser price, so you choose an item in the first barter it down to an acceptable price so that now you have a figure to work to and move onto the second and then the third seeing what they have to offer and then invariablyhave to return to the first as it had the best deal – well that was how our shopping panned out.
The lads running the shops are pleasant to deal with and even after you have knocked 100s of rupees off their asking price – our case 1800 rupees – they still shake your hand with a smile, so you know that they still are on the winning inside of the game!
Having successfully completed what we started out to do we returned back to the hotel via the metro which has given time to complete this post.
A photo of the hotel door lock – get in here if you can!!
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