Happy Wanderers: rickshaw

During our time in India we have come to understand the classic behaviours of a Rickshaw driver. Whilst they are the cheapest, most efficient way of getting around so are pretty much a necessity, the men who drive them can sometime be a god damned pain in the ass! Excuse the stereotype, but it seems that no matter what city you find yourself, they all follow the same pattern.

1. They seek you out from the other end of the street, swerve their way through a line of traffic, then drive directly at you so you fear for your life.

Could you not..

2. They never take no for an answer - they'll proceed to follow you down the road, no matter how many times you tell them you do not need a rickshaw!

Could you not..

3. Despite not needing a rickshaw, or even on the occasions that you do, they will ask multiple times 'where are you going?'. You will answer with your destination, they will then repeat it back to you like you've just spoken in Alien and then ask again 'where are you going?'

Could you not..

4. They will pretend they know where you're going despite being unable to even pronounce the name of your hostel/hotel and try to usher you into the rickshaw saying 'OK, OK, let's go.'

Could you not..

5. When trying to arrange a journey with one driver, another 10-15 drivers will crowd around with counter offers/stares and chase you down the street when you try to leave the crazy crowd.

Could you not..

6. When you finally agree to take the ride with them, they will quote you a ridiculously inflated price telling you that it's the 'Indian price maam' even though you know its probably at least 3/4 times more than that.

Could you not..

7. They will argue with you that they cannot do the price any lower because its the 'government rules'. You will argue with them for around two minutes before losing patience and walking away. They will then chase you down the street saying 'OK, OK' and agree to your original price anyway, making the whole exchange around 13876287932 times longer than it needed to be.

Could you not..

8. They also cannot reduce the price because the distance is 10/20km - a complete exaggeration on the actual distance which is often just 2/3km.

Could you not..

9. They will allow around 12 Indian people in a rickshaw but tell you that in the night it's OK for 4 people to get in but in the day only 3 are allowed; again 'government rules' come into play. 'Rules are no different for Indian people maam.'

Could you not..

10. Along the route there will be multiple instances of the driver trying to guess where you're from. Despite definitely looking western so being accepting of guesses such as America or anywhere in Europe, you become questionable of guesses such as Korea and Japan.

Could you not..

11. They always tell you they don't have change when you try to pay. After repeatedly enforcing that you have nothing less, suddenly a handful of change appears. Magical.

Could you not..

12. They will insist on holding you ransom to multiple photos on their VGA cameras to show to their family before allowing you to leave the rickshaw and stage a photo shoot of different poses whilst doing so.

Could you not..

13. On numerous occasions, they will stop alongside you whilst you are walking down the road and try to get you into the rickshaw despite it already containing around 5 Indian people and absolutely no more space.

Could you not..

14. They often try to allow a local/ a friend of theirs to travel in the rickshaw with you, giving them a free ride whilst you pay your stupidly inflated price.

Could you not..

15. They suddenly morph into formula one drivers, driving like crazy, incredibly close to the driver in front despite the ridiculous traffic jams. You have three wheels!!

Could you not..

Disclaimer: not all rickshaw drivers are annoying/ rude/ impatient/ unhelpful. We have met a few very lovely ones along the way who we would share journeys with time and time again. We do not have any hostility towards rickshaw drivers in general but the above do cause us large scale stress on occasion hence the venting.

Rant over.

Happy Wanderers

♥

Less than a week in India and we'd tried almost every class of sleeper the trains had to offer. We started out living the high life in second class, quickly followed by third and now at the bottom in what is referred to simply as 'sleeper class'. We figured the quicker we got used to the crowded, loud and sometimes smelly compartments the better as our budget doesn't allow for luxuries. We arrived into Jaipur feeling well rested after a surprisingly pleasant journey. We'd read so many horrible things about the railway system in India with many warnings about 'sleeper class'. However we found it no different to third class as the cabins are set up in exactly the same way - we'll definitely be using this class for every travel in the future!

This time we were staying in another Zostel! As we mentioned in a previous post; hostels are a rarity in India and with Zostel being the first ever chain company, there are numerous ones dotted here there and everywhere. We try to choose a hostel with a dorm room over a private hotel as we enjoy the environment they provide. We get to meet people who are travelling like us, share stories and plan our next stop according to their recommendations. Hostels also tend to provide a kitchen area for use by guests which makes a big different for us. It means we can buy ingredients and make our own breakfast to try and cut down on our spending - Nannies porridge recipe has been a massive hit!

Once we were all ready to begin exploring it was that time again - time to flag down a rickshaw and barter like hell for a reasonable price (our favourite game.. NOT!). It seems the rickshaws of Jaipur are a lot smaller than anywhere else as this time we couldn't fit four of us along the back seat. Bethan drew the short straw and was told to sit in what would be the 'boot', or in this case a sheet of metal welded over the engine. Don't panic, this was standard practice for the Indian locals who could impressively fit up to twelve people in one rickshaw!

The first stop of Jaipur was Amber Fort a nd Palace, built in 1592 and lived in by royals, atop a massive hill overlooking Maota Lake. There are two options for reaching the fort, on foot or by elephant who will pick you up from somewhere near the bottom. We were all so excited to catch a first glimpse of an Indian elephant. They all seemed to be cared for very well and were only worked for a few hours each morning. Once they had finished their shift they were taken to Jal Mahal (Water Palace) for a splash about in the lake before being taken home for a well earned rest.

The Fort has multiple palaces set up over a four level layout, each with a substantial courtyard. The one that stood out the most for us was the Sheesh Mahal, which is also known as the mirror palace. This was very heavily decorated with, yeah you guessed it, mirrors, arranged in a mosaic format to create flowers and pretty patterns. We mostly enjoyed visiting the Fort because we felt we were free to roam pretty much anywhere, which made it different to the others in the respect as nowhere was off limits. Although this did prove difficult when trying to navigate our way out of the twisty corridors - all part of the fun! Bethan and Jack were the first to find their way out of the labyrinth and happily awaited the others in the most amazing coffee shop - Cafe Coffee Day, India's largest coffee chain. This was a little slice of home for us serving the most amazing chocolate cake, frappes, iced tea and sandwiches. We'll definitely be looking out for these in all the other cities!

Amber Fort is connected with Jaigarh Fort by a subterranean passage which was used as an escape route in times of war. We walked for around 20 minutes through this passage and up the steep hill before reaching the summit and entering Jaigarh Fort. Here we were met with amazing views across the landscape of Jaipur. We were also treated to pretty gardens, a puppet show and a photo shoot with almost every Indian family that passed by - forcefully handing over their babies for pictures haha!

We knew we had a busy evening ahead of us with Diwali celebrations in full swing, so we headed to a restaurant for some chill time. This turned out to be such a let down; Jack ordered a chicken korma, which was definitely a sagwala as it was covered in spinach and Sam ordered a veggie burger which turned out to be a very small bun filled with one slice of tomato, cucumber and onion - yummy! Diwali celebrations later that night were... uhh... interesting. It was sooo busy, we spent the evening wading through the massive crowds, avoiding fireworks being thrown in the streets and witnessing police officers beat boys with sticks when they become too boisterous. Safe to say, we were exhausted so took refuge on a rooftop bar where we could enjoy the fireworks in peace. Anyone visiting India during Diwali, we suggest you visit somewhere out of the city to avoid the crowds.

The next day marked the final day for our Spicy Mermaids, it'd come around far too quickly! We decided to visit the City Palace which was built in 1729 and 1732 by Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber. The palace also includes the Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal. We'd heard and read good things about the palace but all felt a bit let down by it as there weren't many interesting things there to see and learn about. The most entertaining part for us was 'the worlds biggest jugs' as we childishly found this name hilarious! There was nothing particularly funny about them (except the name), as they were just two large, silver jugs which held a world record for being just that.

Later that day, we visited Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds, as if the worlds biggest jugs wasn't enough of an innuendo!). Built in 1799, it gained it's named due to essentially being a high screen wall which was built so the women of the royal household could observe street festivities while unseen from the outside. We decided to skip this palace as it was due to close by the time we arrived, but the Spicy Mermaids went inside anyway for a quick look around. Foolishly, Bethan gave Jack her camera so he could take some photos for the blog.. the results were interesting! The photos we have posted below are the only ones that weren't of Sinead's bum, strangers posing or security cameras (thanks for that Jack-o!).

There was only one thing left to do, say goodbye to our beloved mermaid friends! Things got a little emotional as we said our farewells over a sweet lassi - it was like leaving home all over again. It's going to take some getting used to, just being the three of us again - we miss you mermaids!

Here are some of our favourite pictures from our time in Jaipur: