Continued from Jaipur Day 2 Part 2.
I woke up this morning and felt like I had been pummeled over night. I felt sore all over. I’ve been poisoned, literally. Food poisoning, fucking not cool. l should count my lucky stars though. I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom at all.
I laid in bed for a while and debated what I should do today. I felt bad, but I didn’t feel completely incapacitated. I knew there was only one thing for me to do, and that was to eventually get out of bed and go on with my day. I rolled out of bed, and my internet wasn’t working. Nice…I got ready, and went to the business center to inquire about the problem.
While I was getting ready, the power goes out in the entire hotel. Typical India with the power going out once in a while.
The hotel staff trying to fix my internet problem.The problem turned out to the be the router closest to my room. The other routers around the hotel works, but this one was bad. It couldn’t be fixed, I had to take my laptop to the business center for connectivity. Not a great way to start the day.
Eventually, I bit the bullet and decided to head on out. I knew I couldn’t just sit in my room all day. I went out in the street in search for a rickshaw. There’s always a whole row of rickshaws parked right outside of my hotel. I went out and wanted to get a rickshaw that would take me to 3 different places in maybe about 4 hours. I wanted to pay 200 because another guy had quoted me 400 yesterday for 8 hours. All the rickshaw drivers sneered at me. None of them would do it for less than 300. It was then that I realized that I was in a very foul mood. I found myself saying “Fuck that shit!”, or “Fuck no!”, or “Bull fucking shit!” as I tried to negotiate for a rickshaw. Eventually, I said fuck it and decided to just walk away and head in the general direction of my first destination. I was still weak and sick, I hadn’t planned on walking there, but I got really fed up with dealing with these insolent rickshaw drivers here in Jaipur.
Right outside the area of rickshaw drivers, usually you’d get swarmed by pedicabs. One guy rode up to me and asked where I was going. I told him, and he quoted me 300INR. That one really set me off. Do I really look that fucking stupid? In my shitty health and mood, I’ve decided to take everything personally.
One guy finally agrees to take me for 20INR. That’s more like it. I want to go to Cafe Coffee Day(sort of like Starbucks) for some breakfast. I was afraid of the hotel dining hall and it’s too early to get sick again.
The problem was, he had no fucking clue where I wanted to go. We kept on riding around, in the wrong direction, asked someone for directions, and then we’d be in a wrong place again. What the fuck! I feel like shit, all I want to do is go to Cafe Coffee Day and get something to eat.
It must have been like 20 minutes that we were just riding around asking around for bad and wrong directions. Eventually, the driver just decided to ride down MI Road, one of the main roads here in Jaipur. He’d point at a KFC, and asked me if that was it, I’d say no. Then McDonald’s, and I’d say no. Eventually, he pointed at an Adidas store, and I just told him to let me off. I got out of the pedicab, gave him 40INR because I felt bad for him for trying to get me somewhere but was unable to find it. Yup, I am promoting incompetence, but this was pure charity.
I’ll just have to rely on my own two feet to take me where I need to go then.
Well, I didn’t have to walk far because soon a rickshaw picked me up. We agreed on 275 to go to the two forts outside of town and back. They heart hearts here. As for breakfast, I don’t think it’s meant to be today.
Oh wait! I just remembered that I had bought a Kit Kat in Varanasi as a snack. This is safe and good. Breakfast!
Trash. It doesn’t go into a trashcan, it just goes out to the side of the road. There are no trashcans.
We drove and drove, and eventually got out of town.
Climbing up some hills now.
This was cool to see.
Here are the two forts in Amer, right outside of Jaipur. The red one to the left is Jaigarh, and the one to the right is Amber Fort(Palace). It was at this moment that my driver stopped at the side of the road and told me that he’ll take me to Amber, but not Jaigarh. For me to go to Jaigarh, I would need to pay him 375 instead of 275. Sigh, fucking bait and switch. I told him to just take me to Amber Fort first and we’ll talk about it afterwards. Fucking Asshole!!
My combine ticket that got me into Jantar Mantar will also get me into the Amber Fort for free.
Covered in shit, and smells like shit. It’s the elephants.
As I took this photo of the goats, I realized that I wasn’t feeling so hot. I feel the onset of fever again. What am I doing out here? I am starting to feel more and more terrible.
Found the other tourists. I think most of them came here on a tour bus.
The elephant driver(is that how you call him?) shouts funny commands at the elephant. It sounded like “Tuk Tuk!” Except the tone is high and it sounds like he’s screaming because he’s scared. I found it amusing.
More stairs. I feel like crap.
Here’s yours truly, feeling like crap.
Had one of those water cooling fountain/bath here too.
I guess this is the toilet.
Only about half of the palace was nicely restored. The other half was a giant maze of stairs, halls, doorways and rooms. I am guessing that this was where all the staff lived because everything was small and cramped.
I liked this unusual skylight.
I walked down this staircase and if you’ll look at the top, the first short flight led to an edge that had no guardrail. Some kids could easily just run down the stairs and fall 7 feet to the ground.
Jaigarh Fort from Amber Fort.
As I was about to leave Amber Fort, I saw this. They had a Cafe Coffee Day inside Amber Fort.
Sticker shock! Snapple is old at US prices! All American Muff….heh.
Lunch. Despite what my receipt said, I got grape flavored Snapple.
Snake Charming is Life! I’ve been dying to see a snake charmer, and this made the trek out to Amber Fort while feeling like shit all worth it.
Pigeons look so much more graceful in the air.
Langur monkey with their extremely long tails.
All chilling in the shade.
When I got back in the rickshaw, I told the driver that I didn’t want to pay 100INR more to see Jaigarh Fort. I just wanted to go back to the hotel.
Camels are odd looking animals.
Jal Mahal(water palace). We passed this on the way back into town. I think the photo looks better than real life in this case.
Passed the Hawa Mahal on the way back too. Again, no tourists.
Chilling in a crate.
We were stuck in a lot of traffic going through town. There was incessant honking, and it was twice as irritating since I felt so terrible. When we pulled up to the hotel, the driver turned off the rickshaw and turned around to look at me take money out of my wallet. I pulled out 280 and he said “No no, it’s 375.” Another bait and switch. He said “375, is a good price. 275 local price.” I said “We had agreed on 275, and here’s 280 and you can keep the 5 as change.” He then very matter of fact said that I need to pay him 375…I finally snapped.
I started a scene and I started yelling at him from the back of his rickshaw. I said “No, Fuck this! We agreed on 275, and that’s what I am paying. Don’t fuck with me!! ” As I said that, I took the money in my hand and slammed it down hard at the little ledge right between me and him. Then I proceeded on exiting his rickshaw. Unfortunately, my bag wouldn’t cooperate, and it got tangled a little against the rickshaw, so my exit must have looked clumsy…
It’s not common for me to loose my temper, especially to a stranger, but this was just the perfect storm. Feeling ill and all the frustrations of traveling in India finally culminated into the moment when I yelled “Don’t Fuck With Me!!” and walked out. Asshole!
It was around 2 when I got back to the hotel. I did some blogging and finally laid down and took a nap. Woke up, a little more relaxed, and finally worked up some courage to go down stairs to eat. I could try to go out and search for other places to eat, but the safe chains are pretty far away and I do not want to deal with any more rickshaw drivers today. The local places, well, those are just as risky as the restaurant inside the hotel.
First, hydrate.
Then boring food. Plain two eggs and vegetable chowmein. Indians like eating chowmein. The chowmein sucked, so I barely touched it.
I got a couple of slices of chocolate bread to take back to my room. This was very good!
The plan for the rest of the night is to watch some tv and go to bed early. It’s been months since I’ve turned on a tv…
To be continued at Jaipur Day 4.