Advertisement
Published: September 7th 2018
Edit Blog Post
Traveling by bus is not much fun. Stephen says he feels like he’s an animal being transported by container and I sympathise with that description. On the lower bunk there’s just enough room to sit up but neither of us have enough space to lie down properly. The movement and constant use of the horn make sleep very difficult. The AC is somewhat over vigorous and the toilet (which is why this bus is more expensive) is only opened on request with strict instructions for ‘urine only’. At least it’s an experience....
We were dropped off by the side of a main road on the outskirts of the city. There were a number of tuk tuks waiting and we got one to our hostel. After showing the driver a map and negotiating a price he soon regretted taking us - the centre of the old town was shut for a festival and all the backstreets were packed with vehicles so it took him longer than anticipated.
Bags dumped at the hostel we went looking for some breakfast/lunch. My previous attempt at breakfast at a roadside stop had failed miserably as after asking for toast I was instead handed 2
cups of undrinkable tea. Stephen. And I resorted to water and chocolate chip cookies...
Fortunately we found a lovely restaurant overlooking the lake, the food was reasonable and the atmosphere good. After eating we went for a very short walk across the lake. The roads here are all tiny little streets designed for donkeys and walkers and cars really don’t fit (although they try). It’s full of touristy antique shops but the atmosphere is still enchanting and you can imagine what its would have been like 100s of years ago when first built.
Now late enough to check in we went back to the hostel and got shown our room. The room is lovely - big comfy bed and nice window seat with plenty of room for our stuff. Unfortunately we were told the nearest toilet and shower were outside our building, next door and up 3 flights of stairs in the hostel communal area! And the WiFi doesn’t work in our room. Somewhat peeved we packed our stuff ready for the hike up to the bathrooms. En route I spotted a boiler and after opening some doors discovered 2 toilets and a working shower. Perfect. I have
no idea why we’re not supposed to use them but we are going to anyway!
Following a much needed nap we went to find some dinner only to discover that there’s a festival on tonight celebrating the birth of Krishna. We detoured to the temple to find it beautifully decorated and an excited crowd filling the square below. There were children dancing on a stage in the middle, a large platform with DJ and people we presumed to be important in some way and hanging across the square was a decorated container well out of reach.
Getting hungry we grabbed some street food and came back. The climax of the event was a human pyramid being made, whilst people threw milk at them, in order to reach the container above Which contains milk & curds. This attempt failed multiple times before we got too squashed to continue watching. We later found out it had eventually been successful as the man who gets it wins a lot of money.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0904s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb