This morning we were in the lobby at 6:45 am, ready for our taxi to Sawai Madhopur. There was some mix-up, of course, and our taxi won't arrive until 8 am. So we're sitting here. Yesterday morning when Anita went to the hotel restaurant for the buffet breakfast, there was next to nothing edible available. The scrambled eggs were laced with so much sugar that she couldn't eat them. As she choked down some toast and coffee, a mouse ran across the floor. The waiter trapped it, grabbed it by the tail, and proudly exhibited to all the people eating as he took it into the kitchen. Some diners wondered if it might show up on the menu.
Last night as we were packing up, Anita discovered that a mouse had gotten into her pack in the closet and chewed through a Ziplock to get to a granola bar. She was not amused. This hotel gets an 8.1 rating from Booking.com but it won't get much of a rating from us. The room is nice enough and the front desk people try to be helpful but there are some flaws.
I've been sick so my opinion is somewhat negative anyway but my first impression of India is that it's a land of incredible monuments interspersed by steaming piles of shit (literally). I hope and expect that once we get away from the Delhi and Agra cities, it will get better.
Generally, we still find that the people are friendly and helpful. The tuktuk drivers and hawkers get tiresome but everyone else seems fine. We have to be firm with the taxi drivers too. Yesterday, our driver seemed to be rushing us through everything. We finally figured out it was so he could take us to a restaurant and a bazaar, both of which we refused. We paid 1,800 rupees for the day (about $36), which is quite reasonable, but to us that means he's working for us for the day, not trying to get a kickback on whatever we might buy. At the end of a tour, they always ask, "Are you happy with my service?". That means, "I want a tip". Sometimes we tip but we didn't yesterday. We're hoping we don't get the same driver for the 5 1/2 hour trip today.
The worst thing about complaining this way is that, while I sit here writing this, I can look across the road at a family living under a tarp who can only dream of sleeping in a hotel this wonderful. They live in a dirt yard with a herd of goats. There is absolutely no sanitation. I doubt that the children will ever go to school. The cows we see throughout the city, and there are a lot of them, aren't grazing on grass because there isn't any. Mostly we see them eating garbage. Yet, they survive. I hate to think of what chemicals might be in their milk. People collect some of the cow patties and dry them on tin roofs for fuel. However, they miss quite a few. There are pools of stagnant sewage here and there. It must be much worse in the wet season.
Sawai Madhopur must be better. Be glad your children and grandchildren were lucky enough to be born rich in Canada and not born poor in India.
It's 6:30 pm now and we're in the Ranthambore Vatika Resort in Sawai Madhopur. This morning our driver arrived shortly before 8 am. Same guy as yesterday. From 8 until 2:30 pm we drove the 300 km here. That's 6 1/2 hours of terror. Our driver was polite but at the end of the trip, wasn't going to open the trunk and get our bags until he got a tip. We outwaited him, got our bags and gave him 300 rupees (about $6). That's not much but drivers get paid less than that per day, we think. He started arguing with me about how he'd driven us for 2 days. His English isn't good so it's hard to understand. We weren't happy with him yesterday so we didn't tip. We weren't that thrilled to have him again so we didn't tip as much as we might have. After we checked in, he was still lurking outside the hotel gate. I felt a little guilty but really don't like the guy.
He did work hard to get us here. The roads are bad, the drivers are insane and there are trucks, cars, motorcycles, tuktuks, tractors and wagons, bicycles, pedestrians and cows to avoid. Everyone beeps as they pass and they pass constantly so there is incessant beeping. We had a near death experience at least every minute for 6 1/2 hours. That's not the driver's fault since they all do it.
We've tried to research tipping in India but it's impossible to figure out. Before we left, our friend Pia, who had been in India quite a few years ago, warned us that no matter how much you tip, they'll try to get more out of you. To an Indian driver, a foreign tourist is a walking ATM. However, just because we're rich doesn't mean we like feeling like suckers. From the forums we've read, this is one of the major irritations that foreign tourists experience in India. We've also read that wealthy Indians are not noted as big tippers.
Our new hotel is a very nice quiet little resort on the edge of town. There's actually a lawn. We have our own little cottage and porch outside. We booked the hotel and all meals for the next 3 nights. Although lunch time was over, they made us a nice meal, knowing that we'd be hungry when we arrived.
Last night as we were packing up, Anita discovered that a mouse had gotten into her pack in the closet and chewed through a Ziplock to get to a granola bar. She was not amused. This hotel gets an 8.1 rating from Booking.com but it won't get much of a rating from us. The room is nice enough and the front desk people try to be helpful but there are some flaws.
I've been sick so my opinion is somewhat negative anyway but my first impression of India is that it's a land of incredible monuments interspersed by steaming piles of shit (literally). I hope and expect that once we get away from the Delhi and Agra cities, it will get better.
Generally, we still find that the people are friendly and helpful. The tuktuk drivers and hawkers get tiresome but everyone else seems fine. We have to be firm with the taxi drivers too. Yesterday, our driver seemed to be rushing us through everything. We finally figured out it was so he could take us to a restaurant and a bazaar, both of which we refused. We paid 1,800 rupees for the day (about $36), which is quite reasonable, but to us that means he's working for us for the day, not trying to get a kickback on whatever we might buy. At the end of a tour, they always ask, "Are you happy with my service?". That means, "I want a tip". Sometimes we tip but we didn't yesterday. We're hoping we don't get the same driver for the 5 1/2 hour trip today.
The worst thing about complaining this way is that, while I sit here writing this, I can look across the road at a family living under a tarp who can only dream of sleeping in a hotel this wonderful. They live in a dirt yard with a herd of goats. There is absolutely no sanitation. I doubt that the children will ever go to school. The cows we see throughout the city, and there are a lot of them, aren't grazing on grass because there isn't any. Mostly we see them eating garbage. Yet, they survive. I hate to think of what chemicals might be in their milk. People collect some of the cow patties and dry them on tin roofs for fuel. However, they miss quite a few. There are pools of stagnant sewage here and there. It must be much worse in the wet season.
Sawai Madhopur must be better. Be glad your children and grandchildren were lucky enough to be born rich in Canada and not born poor in India.
It's 6:30 pm now and we're in the Ranthambore Vatika Resort in Sawai Madhopur. This morning our driver arrived shortly before 8 am. Same guy as yesterday. From 8 until 2:30 pm we drove the 300 km here. That's 6 1/2 hours of terror. Our driver was polite but at the end of the trip, wasn't going to open the trunk and get our bags until he got a tip. We outwaited him, got our bags and gave him 300 rupees (about $6). That's not much but drivers get paid less than that per day, we think. He started arguing with me about how he'd driven us for 2 days. His English isn't good so it's hard to understand. We weren't happy with him yesterday so we didn't tip. We weren't that thrilled to have him again so we didn't tip as much as we might have. After we checked in, he was still lurking outside the hotel gate. I felt a little guilty but really don't like the guy.
He did work hard to get us here. The roads are bad, the drivers are insane and there are trucks, cars, motorcycles, tuktuks, tractors and wagons, bicycles, pedestrians and cows to avoid. Everyone beeps as they pass and they pass constantly so there is incessant beeping. We had a near death experience at least every minute for 6 1/2 hours. That's not the driver's fault since they all do it.
We've tried to research tipping in India but it's impossible to figure out. Before we left, our friend Pia, who had been in India quite a few years ago, warned us that no matter how much you tip, they'll try to get more out of you. To an Indian driver, a foreign tourist is a walking ATM. However, just because we're rich doesn't mean we like feeling like suckers. From the forums we've read, this is one of the major irritations that foreign tourists experience in India. We've also read that wealthy Indians are not noted as big tippers.
Our new hotel is a very nice quiet little resort on the edge of town. There's actually a lawn. We have our own little cottage and porch outside. We booked the hotel and all meals for the next 3 nights. Although lunch time was over, they made us a nice meal, knowing that we'd be hungry when we arrived.
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