Exploring beyond Cooke Town - my first full day
So Thursday (12th) began somewhat early because I could not get back to sleep. After Alex woke up he invited me to go up to the roof to eat breakfast. Breakfast was a mango and some delicious mini-bananas that apparently do not exist outside of India. I'm pretty sure that I have eaten more bananas in the 4 days I have been in India than I had the entire first half of the year. After chilling on the roof for a while I eventually came back downstairs and then plans were made to go to Lal Bagh, which was a well known botanical garden in southern India, and allegedly the second biggest botanical gardens in India. In order to get there I had to be introduced to the joys of tuk tuks. I wrote in an earlier post how much the drive from the airport to the guest house had terrified me the day before and so it was not something I was hugely looking forward to... but, strangely enough, sitting in the back of a tuk tuk is less scary than being in a taxi. They are not designed to fit 3 Westerners comfortably but by Friday we had figured out the best way to sit (Saturday night we figured out the best way which is Alex in the front with the driver but Augustine has assured us that sitting in the front of a tuk tuk is illegal - look at that, another road rule - and if caught by the police would have a fine).
I think I find the tuk tuks less scary because they have more manoeuvrability and probably less speed so less potential for a high speed crash. I've been amused the past few days by picturing my mother in Indian traffic (sorry Mum but you would not cope at all). Anyways, we went on the tuk tuk to Lal Bagh where I made a discovery that if you want to break large notes (side note: thanks person who exchanged my money into rupees. I asked for some small notes and 500 rupees is not a small note) do not do so with a smaller note in your hand. They refused to accept the 500 rupee note for admission (which I think may have been 30) and demanded my 50 instead. Foiled in my plan to break my large notes we continued into the gardens which led through an arched walkway which may have been picturesque from the outside but from the inside was just branches. Reached the end of the walkway into what appeared to be a large open spaced carpark where a nice Indian man asked to see our tickets (yet ignored the family of Indians in front of us) and introduced himself to us, asked where we were from and offered to be our guide around the gardens because they were very big. His offer being politely declined we went up what appeared to be a granite hill where there was a shrine at the top. Wandering around the top it became apparent that a group of 3 foreigners were a tourist attraction and we were stopped numerous times and asked if we would take photos with them. There are also a lot of stray dogs in India which we do not pat because of fleas and such things. We had one dog follow us around for a while which was fun. Then, after taking photos with more families we wandered down off the granite mound and were waylaid by yet another friendly Indian man offering us his services because we could not possibly get through the gardens on our own. This one was much more persistent and followed Alex for quite a while (Fun fact: most people will talk to Alex as he is the male and so Debbie and I get hassled a little bit less).
I have to admit my favourite part of Lal Bagh were the squirrels. I did question whether or not they were actually chipmunks because they had stripes but upon arriving home that night I googled the difference between chipmunks and squirrels and discovered that chipmunks have stripes on their faces and squirrels don't... and meanwhile Debbie looked up "Squirrels in India" and we have learned that they are Indian Palm Squirrels. But I digress, I spent a large amount of time wanting to follow the squirrels around (or "squirvels" as I like to call them... bonus points for whoever can tell me where I heard someone call them that). The gardens themselves were not as extensive as I would have expected for the second largest botanical gardens and had aspects of what I am used to but the potential was offset by high fences surrounding ponds, and a lot of dust. They did have some spectacular carvings along one wide pathway, and also some cool topiaries. We've been told we need to go back in August when they have a 10 day flower festival.
Aaaaaand then it was back to finding a tuk tuk to take us to Commercial Street where Alex and Debbie had made friends with a shop owner the day before. Debbie pointed out that the best way to get a tuk tuk is to ignore all the ones offering to take you and go find someone who hasn't offered, ideally stopping a tuk tuk driving past. There was one guy who when we said we wanted to go to Commercial Street (and showed him the address we wanted) offered to take us somewhere else first....
I'm writing another post about our friends in Commercial Street but when we weren't in Baba's shop we had a delicious late lunch, attempted to go clothes shopping, then got shown around by Baba which resulted in Debbie and I ordering tailor made Punjabi style dresses and Alex spending way longer than we did trying on and buying some traditional style men's shirts and vests. Then it was home again in a tuk tuk and a late dinner at the local place around the corner (did I mention in my last post that we have a tab there? If not, we have a tab at the local place) where I had my first dosa (dosa are delicious). And that was my first full day in India!
Oh, I have decided how to do the photos now I have uploaded all photos taken so far onto my computer. I am too lazy to insert them into the blog posts so I will make separate posts with photos and captions.
I think I find the tuk tuks less scary because they have more manoeuvrability and probably less speed so less potential for a high speed crash. I've been amused the past few days by picturing my mother in Indian traffic (sorry Mum but you would not cope at all). Anyways, we went on the tuk tuk to Lal Bagh where I made a discovery that if you want to break large notes (side note: thanks person who exchanged my money into rupees. I asked for some small notes and 500 rupees is not a small note) do not do so with a smaller note in your hand. They refused to accept the 500 rupee note for admission (which I think may have been 30) and demanded my 50 instead. Foiled in my plan to break my large notes we continued into the gardens which led through an arched walkway which may have been picturesque from the outside but from the inside was just branches. Reached the end of the walkway into what appeared to be a large open spaced carpark where a nice Indian man asked to see our tickets (yet ignored the family of Indians in front of us) and introduced himself to us, asked where we were from and offered to be our guide around the gardens because they were very big. His offer being politely declined we went up what appeared to be a granite hill where there was a shrine at the top. Wandering around the top it became apparent that a group of 3 foreigners were a tourist attraction and we were stopped numerous times and asked if we would take photos with them. There are also a lot of stray dogs in India which we do not pat because of fleas and such things. We had one dog follow us around for a while which was fun. Then, after taking photos with more families we wandered down off the granite mound and were waylaid by yet another friendly Indian man offering us his services because we could not possibly get through the gardens on our own. This one was much more persistent and followed Alex for quite a while (Fun fact: most people will talk to Alex as he is the male and so Debbie and I get hassled a little bit less).
I have to admit my favourite part of Lal Bagh were the squirrels. I did question whether or not they were actually chipmunks because they had stripes but upon arriving home that night I googled the difference between chipmunks and squirrels and discovered that chipmunks have stripes on their faces and squirrels don't... and meanwhile Debbie looked up "Squirrels in India" and we have learned that they are Indian Palm Squirrels. But I digress, I spent a large amount of time wanting to follow the squirrels around (or "squirvels" as I like to call them... bonus points for whoever can tell me where I heard someone call them that). The gardens themselves were not as extensive as I would have expected for the second largest botanical gardens and had aspects of what I am used to but the potential was offset by high fences surrounding ponds, and a lot of dust. They did have some spectacular carvings along one wide pathway, and also some cool topiaries. We've been told we need to go back in August when they have a 10 day flower festival.
Aaaaaand then it was back to finding a tuk tuk to take us to Commercial Street where Alex and Debbie had made friends with a shop owner the day before. Debbie pointed out that the best way to get a tuk tuk is to ignore all the ones offering to take you and go find someone who hasn't offered, ideally stopping a tuk tuk driving past. There was one guy who when we said we wanted to go to Commercial Street (and showed him the address we wanted) offered to take us somewhere else first....
I'm writing another post about our friends in Commercial Street but when we weren't in Baba's shop we had a delicious late lunch, attempted to go clothes shopping, then got shown around by Baba which resulted in Debbie and I ordering tailor made Punjabi style dresses and Alex spending way longer than we did trying on and buying some traditional style men's shirts and vests. Then it was home again in a tuk tuk and a late dinner at the local place around the corner (did I mention in my last post that we have a tab there? If not, we have a tab at the local place) where I had my first dosa (dosa are delicious). And that was my first full day in India!
Oh, I have decided how to do the photos now I have uploaded all photos taken so far onto my computer. I am too lazy to insert them into the blog posts so I will make separate posts with photos and captions.
Comments
Post a Comment