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Having left Pushkar, we made our way back to Ajmer to see several temples before our afternoon train back to Delhi. Unfortunately our taxi driver from the bus station to the first temple (actually it was a mosque) on our list decided to take us to a different mosque. Unable to decipher what the taxi driver's head nods in response to our questions meant, we headed off to see the mosque in front of us. We'd forgotten our headscarves and, rather fed up with the hundred people swarming around us trying to sell us new ones, and unimpressed by the mosque's facade (I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but in this instance we did), we decided to cut our losses and head over to a Jain temple we wanted to see instead. It was only hours later, whilst poring over the guidebook, that we realised we hadn't managed to get anywhere near our chosen mosque and had been deposited by our taxi on the wrong side of town.
Our first foray into Jainism proved to be far more successful, although we were unable to reconcile our own thoughts with the belief system behind the religion (the world is a flat circular disc, the sun moves around the earth, etc) the parts of the temple to which we were granted access felt like we were walking around a very beautiful museum (Jason's already written about it, and has pictures on another blog). Leaving the temple we realised that 75 percent of the temple was off limits to us, being outside the faith, but if it was anything like the part we saw, it surely must be stunning.
By now it was the middle of the day, and unable to stand in direct sunlight for more than a couple of minutes at a time, we slunk through the shadows to an airconditioned restaurant where we frittered away a couple of hours before heading back to the train station for our final train journey.
Boarding our train, we booked a hotel in Delhi, and settled down for (what we thought would be) the next five and a half hours. Over the last two weeks, there have been high tensions between the state of Gujarat and the rest of India while the Gujjars (residents of Gujarat) have been trying to break away to make their own republic. In an attempt to raise publicity and reach the attention of the government, the Gujjars have taken to blocking the roads and rails to and from Delhi, in effect bringing the city to a standstill. Despite being warned that we might find ourselves unable to get back to Delhi, we had continued into Rajasthan and now had only 40 hours to get back in time for our flight. The first three hours passed without incident, even passing through Jaipur without a hitch (a point at which we thought the train might stop if there were any trouble). But then, two hours outside Delhi, our train came to an abrupt standstill and sat on the tracks for three hours. Ok, so we weren't exactly "held hostage", but we were stuck on a train, unable to get off, for three hours because of a politically motivated demonstration on the tracks. After three hours the train headed back in the opposite direction, and two hours after that, we arrived back in Jaipur (our much loved pink city) at midnight. Having written in the last blog that I had hoped we would return someday soon, I must admit I hadn't hoped to return quite SO soon. A fellow passenger had phoned home to England and had a family member book a hotel for her (the only hotel in the guidebook with a 24 hour check-in desk, apparently), and, seeing us lost, suggested we go with her. And so it was that we found ourselves spending our last night in India in the most expensive hotel we staying in during our whole trip, 240km from Delhi with 31 hours before our flight. Our new friend was in a similar situation, and worried about missing her flight, had booked a flight between Jaipur and Delhi for the next day and suggested we do the same.
Six hours later we were up and dressed and leaving the hotel, skipping showers telling ourselves we were going to get filthy traveling and that we'd shower that night in our hotel before our flight. In true Challenge-Annika style we had only 20 hours to get the airport (we were advised to check in 4 hours early for an international flight) and several hundred miles to travel. At the train station a porter actually laughed at us when we asked about trains going to Delhi; "Go out and enjoy Jaipur," he told us, "there aren't going to be any trains to Delhi for a LONG time". Nevermind, we thought, we'll find another way. We finally found a counter where we were told we could get a partial discount for our wasted train ticket, but as the queue was so long, we decided that while Jason waited I would head out to find a plane or bus to get us back.
Finally managing to argue the price of a taxi ride to the bus station down from the 40 or so taxi drivers that accompanied me across the car park, I hopped in a taxi only to find that the taxi driver had no intention of taking me to the bus station but instead wanted to take me to a "Luxury Bus Stand" explaining that there were no buses leaving from the general bus station. My assertion that I would still like to go to the bus station and see for myself fell on deaf ears forcing me to abandon the hope of taking a taxi, and so I set off, bags in hand, to walk the two miles to the bus station. On the way I tried to find the travel office to book a plane ticket fearing that the bus station really was closed, but it was impossible to find. Finally, an hour and a half after setting off, I found the bus station to find that there were buses! And they were going to Delhi! Overjoyed, I hopped in a taxi back to the train station to collect Jason who, when I found him, was STILL in the queue waiting to exchange his ticket. Finally refunded half the price of the ticket, we headed back to the bus station (without trouble this time, with two of us to argue about our intended destination) and found the last air-conditioned bus with any space for the day was late and had room for us. Finally some good luck! With 18 hours until we had to be at the airport we left Jaipur glad to be moving at all.
Seven hours later we arrived in Delhi with little over 12 hours until check-in and immediately set off to find a birthday present for James (my brother)... (which I can't write about right now on the off chance that he actually logs on to read the blog... suffice it to say it is uber-cool) ...and our final Indian dinner. Having spent far too much on a hotel the night before, we had no money left for a hotel so we opted instead for a night spent in the airport. Arriving after a long hot day of travelling, we found that they wouldn't admit us to the airport more than four hours before take-off, and they wouldn't admit us to the waiting room (a separate building) more than eight hours before. We were ten hours early. Finally we managed buy our way in to the waiting room deciding we simply couldn't wait outside on the filthy, hot pavement. The next five hours we took turns sleeping and watching the bags until I finally decided there was absolutely no way I could get on a plane as grossly dirty as I was, and set off to find a shower. I eventually found one, in a cleaner's cupboard and convinced her to let me use it. And so I had the best shower ever, and my last shower in India, in a cupboard amongst the cleaner's mops, buckets and cleaning detergent.
Clean but exhausted we boarded our plane and bid a fond farewell to India. We'll be back, we promised, but right now it's time to go home.
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Dee
non-member comment
ok, so assuming you are back in England can you send me jelly babies and those Mentos on crack thingies that Jason likes please? I will send you American goods, being at the inflated, recession prices they are!