3-
So, upon awakening the next day, we were ready to head to Varanasi to see the famed Ganges River. The owner of our hostel provided us with free transportation to a trustworthy travel agency... which I honestly did not pay attention to. I should have...
So, we get in a car and our drivers take us to this travel agency. I look at the name, and it just doesn't stand out to me. You'd think it would if it had been the name the owner had told me... but, I couldn't remember if it was or wasn't.
That was a my bad moment.
But, regardless, we asked about getting to Varnasi and decided to trust them anyway since the owner had told our drivers to take us there.
Turned out that Varnasi was a good 18-hour train ride... that's the kind of thing you expect in India, so I was semi-excited to experience that yet a bit worried about having to be on a train for that long. The man broke down the different classes, and suggested we'd go on a second-class sleeper since it was pretty much the same as first-class, but cheaper... and the difference between a second-class car and a third-class car was extereme... most importantly, for me, was the lack of AC in third-class.
So, we decided on second-class and figured all was done and ready. The man then tells us that he can begin to look things up... and yeah, wouldn't you know it... everything was sold out.
It didn't occur to me until the whole process was complete... and a good 2-3 hours later... that this was probably another scam... and unfortunately, this time we fell for it.
He showed us all the different options on a web page and everything was, in fact, sold out. However, he was on this website that we didn't know of, he would click an option, show us it all said sold out, then quickly go back and click an option... eventually showing us that all trains were sold out for the day. My skeptical side now is thinking this was not so much a website as a place where they show travelers that things were sold out and they wouldn't be able to go the way they had planned. I mean, how can a train be completely sold out. Not just one train... ALL THE TRAINS! I'm no expert on India or transportation, but, I just feel that a train going to Varanasi would be common. I think if we had gone straight to the station ourselves, we most likely could've bought a train ticket.
But, again... I didn't think of this until it was all done. So, since we did have a time limit in India and basically needed to start traveling if we were to make it back to our flight for Japan, we had to absolutely leave on that day. So, long story short, we went with his suggestion of hiring ourselves a driver for our time in India. We'd pay one price (which came out to like $300 each) and that would cover the driver (who'd take us anywhere we'd want to go), hotels/hostels (with some meals) and some stuff. So, at that moment, it seemed like an alright deal.
Now, let me tell you that there are some advantages of having had a driver... as well as disadvantages.
The pros would be that you're set in transportation. You can go anywhere you want to go... at your own pace... and not have to worry about wasting time or money on trains and transportation and such. The drivers tend to be nice and can make a long drive interesting with random information and stuff like that. So, at the end, I am glad we had a driver. We were able to travel and make little stops along the way... things and places we wouldn't have done/seen if we were stuck on a train.
The cons... you have to put all your trust in the driver. See, I was already on this thing about finding it hard to trust people... and now we're stuck with someone who is basically in control of us. I did have some issues with our driver... he was a bit too repetitive in his jokes and got a bit boring/annoying at times. Then, he kind of began changing our plans during the trip. The major change being that we never even made it to Varanasi because it just was too far. It would've been like a 14-16+ drive... and either the driver didn't want to make that drive and played on our fears of wasting time and missing our flight... or he was being completely sincere that we might have trouble making back in time. Point is, our plans were constantly changing and it was hard for me to relax since I never knew exactly what was going on.
But, yeah... I guess this all depends on the person and their personality.
What matters is that we had a mode of transportation and were ready to hit India.
4-
India is hot... as you can imagine. And funny enough... May is like the peak of summer. India's seasons are a bit weird/off. So, we were actually in India when it was the hottest. Day temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius at some points in our trip.
As you can imagine, a car (that kind of looks a bit shady to begin with) is not going to handle those intense temperatures while traveling on Indian roads.
Let me also say that I haven't been in a car since returning from India... and I want to keep it that way for a bit longer. I might automatically assume the fetal position if I step foot in a car anytime soon... man oh man.
Driving was crazy. There are road divisions and lines and all that you expect to see for their to be order on the road... ASSUMING PEOPLE ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THEM!!!!!
People would ignore the lines and just drive anywhere they wanted to. Sometimes it was the sides of the road... mostly it was in the middle of two lanes directly on the separation lines... sometimes it was even towards incoming traffic. I can't tell you how many times I had near heart palpitations from thinking we'd hit a person or a car or an animal or just die!
Funny enough though... I think the Indians are used to driving like that and we never saw any accidents. Our driver even told us that people seldom get in accidents... that it's usually newer drivers that I guess haven't learned to drive amidst the chaos.
Anyway, I've strayed from the story.
Extreme driving in extreme conditions in an extremely bad car is not good.
This car had things taped on, for instance. The bumper, the SIDE-VIEW MIRRORS!!!!!
The thermostat maintained it's position in the half-way mark... I kept waiting for the engine just to blow up.
That gives you an idea of what's bound to happen.
Car troubles.
Our first real issues was when we stopped at a rest area to cool down and use the bathroom. When we got back in the car... it wouldn't start. After about 5 minute struggling to turn on the car, our driver told us we'd have to push it.
We did... and luckily it started within 10 seconds. Funny and interesting experience... but, kind of a foreshadowing of things to come.
Car was making weird noises at times and I believe our driver had a mechanic look at it while we were in a hostel.
And on our second long road trip to Jaipur, the car just had it. I was listening to music and noticed the driver making it to the side of the road. He remained rather calm while letting the car come to an idle stop. When we stopped, me still not having realized exactly that there was an issue, our driver told us he had to stop the car since the brakes weren't working.
Wait... wha?!?!?
The brakes just stopped functioning out of nowhere... and where most people would react... probably freak out even... anything!!!!! Our driver just remained quiet, calm and collected... not reacting at all!
He put the hood of the car up and told us to stay near the car... not to travel too far and if any shady people came to lock ourselves in the car.
Yup, we were going to die!
He went walking to a mechanic and came back about 15 minutes later. Turns out a belt had fallen off and the car needed to be repaired a bit. He proceeded to turning on the car and drove reverse... towards incoming traffic... until he made it to the mechanic.
There we just waited half an hour until the car was fixed.
It wasn't that bad... but, in hindsight... I probably should've freaked out a bit... that way I'd be on alert and prepared for anything bad to potentially happen.
So, yeah... that's it for this edition.
I might have one more edition to wrap up the (mis)adventure in India!
1 comment:
Oh man, I think I mentioned the whole flat tire thing in my last comment right? After I got into a stranger's car to hopefully take me to my hostel, the guy's car had a flat, and same thing, nonchalantly pulls over, says to wait 5 minutes. o.0 that was the 'worried look' pic also. lol.
I think being scammed at least once is part of the experience in South and Southeast Asia. My scam involved pineapples... I'll tell you some other time. lol.
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