Alritey, as promised a post on Jodhpur and the Durag Niwas guest house.
Upon arrival in Jodhpur I wanted to jump back on the train to Delhi. Immediately. Not only did I have no idea where I was going, or where I would be sleeping that night, but I found rickshaw drivers in Jodhpur to be waaaaaaay more aggressive than in Delhi. This meant everyone wanted to give me a ride and had the "perfect" hotel for me to stay in. Being the type of person who really likes to strike out on my own (that stubborn thumb of mine at work) I walked away from the hustle and bustle of the train station, Janet in tow, until I could find a quite place to pull out my guidebook and get a sense of my surroundings.
The problem is that I never have a sense of my surroundings. Ever. I'm the type of person that gets lost crossing the street. In fact, I DID get lost once crossing the street! For 3 HOURS!! In Fairfax, Virginia no less!! Luckily, traveling in Delhi for 2 days did act as a type of fortifier so I decided to try walking in the direction all the rickshaws were headed and try my luck. It seems like my luck ran out....
A constant struggle while traveling in India is cost. The exchange rate between rupees and dollars is around 45 rupees to the dollar. As a westerner you know that you're initially going to be told the "foreigner" rate as opposed to the indian rate. The struggle is that even though 500 rupees for a budget room means you're getting scammed, when you break it down its about $12 dollars which really isn't that bad. Many things may enter your mind when haggling here. Just from a sense of pride you don't want to be "had" but at the same time for a lot of people here the extra 20-100 rupees they get from offering their services to westerners is really how they make their income. That being said after my morning off the train I was not in the mood to be scammed, so haggle I did. I suck. I found a room for 250 rupees, and maybe if I was traveling with someone else would I have felt safe staying in that room, but considering I was on my own I didn't want to push the luck I felt was already running out. I decided to take a room at Shanti Bhawan Hotel, just for the sake of dropping Janet to search for better quarters on my own...
Which led me to Durag Niwas Guest House. Durag Niwas is run by Govind Rathore, who also founded Sambhali Trust. I found the website for the organization about a week before I left for India and was really going on a wish and a prayer that it would work out for me to stay there for 2 months as a volunteer. On top of that I showed up a day earlier than I anticipated which is why I bothered trying to find a room on my own in the first place. Showing up here felt like the first right decision I'd made in awhile, and it was. The guest house is the ideal retreat in this desert city, just far enough outside of the city for you to feel like you're both away from it all, and that it's just around the corner. Once inside you may forget you're in India except for all the conversations taking place around in Hindi. The real charm of the guest house is that you will also just as likely hear German, French, and blessedly English. I never realized how much I love my language! Ah, now I can relax. Despite my randomly popping up on their stoop they were able to find me a room for the night, and two hours later I had met my new BFF, Chili , and had agreed to stay on for the next two months as a volunteer to Sambhali Trust!
With my luck restored I retrieved Janet from the dreaded depths of Shanti Bhawan (shudder) and entered my desert oasis of durag niwas. This post is getting a little long (they all seem to do that : /) so I will save the next for Sambhali Trust and all the amazing things that go along with it!
Upon arrival in Jodhpur I wanted to jump back on the train to Delhi. Immediately. Not only did I have no idea where I was going, or where I would be sleeping that night, but I found rickshaw drivers in Jodhpur to be waaaaaaay more aggressive than in Delhi. This meant everyone wanted to give me a ride and had the "perfect" hotel for me to stay in. Being the type of person who really likes to strike out on my own (that stubborn thumb of mine at work) I walked away from the hustle and bustle of the train station, Janet in tow, until I could find a quite place to pull out my guidebook and get a sense of my surroundings.
The problem is that I never have a sense of my surroundings. Ever. I'm the type of person that gets lost crossing the street. In fact, I DID get lost once crossing the street! For 3 HOURS!! In Fairfax, Virginia no less!! Luckily, traveling in Delhi for 2 days did act as a type of fortifier so I decided to try walking in the direction all the rickshaws were headed and try my luck. It seems like my luck ran out....
A constant struggle while traveling in India is cost. The exchange rate between rupees and dollars is around 45 rupees to the dollar. As a westerner you know that you're initially going to be told the "foreigner" rate as opposed to the indian rate. The struggle is that even though 500 rupees for a budget room means you're getting scammed, when you break it down its about $12 dollars which really isn't that bad. Many things may enter your mind when haggling here. Just from a sense of pride you don't want to be "had" but at the same time for a lot of people here the extra 20-100 rupees they get from offering their services to westerners is really how they make their income. That being said after my morning off the train I was not in the mood to be scammed, so haggle I did. I suck. I found a room for 250 rupees, and maybe if I was traveling with someone else would I have felt safe staying in that room, but considering I was on my own I didn't want to push the luck I felt was already running out. I decided to take a room at Shanti Bhawan Hotel, just for the sake of dropping Janet to search for better quarters on my own...
Which led me to Durag Niwas Guest House. Durag Niwas is run by Govind Rathore, who also founded Sambhali Trust. I found the website for the organization about a week before I left for India and was really going on a wish and a prayer that it would work out for me to stay there for 2 months as a volunteer. On top of that I showed up a day earlier than I anticipated which is why I bothered trying to find a room on my own in the first place. Showing up here felt like the first right decision I'd made in awhile, and it was. The guest house is the ideal retreat in this desert city, just far enough outside of the city for you to feel like you're both away from it all, and that it's just around the corner. Once inside you may forget you're in India except for all the conversations taking place around in Hindi. The real charm of the guest house is that you will also just as likely hear German, French, and blessedly English. I never realized how much I love my language! Ah, now I can relax. Despite my randomly popping up on their stoop they were able to find me a room for the night, and two hours later I had met my new BFF, Chili , and had agreed to stay on for the next two months as a volunteer to Sambhali Trust!
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| Chili |
where the posts at???
ReplyDeleteChili is beautiful, host family's dog? I could not be happier to hear how everything is working out...that Gordon nomadic gene is strong in you baby...love you, Ma
ReplyDelete