Two weeks ago I was sitting in an awkward tourist restaurant scanning the restaurant menu, completely bypassing the meat section. 'Fuck why is the rice so expensive' I thought to myself. By this time I was well into my travels in India. This situation I had found myself in was not the first, nor would it be the last and unfortunately it would take me some time after visiting these sorts of tourist establishments to develop the skills necessary to navigate them on my own terms.
After choosing the the 'lentils and rice' option I sat there waiting, with borderline negative thoughts simmering in the back of my mind, such as:
'How 'shredded' (or rather 'skinnyfat') am I going to get in India?'
'Man I fucked up!'
'How can a bowl of boiled rice cost $3?'
'Why are there only 3 people (tourists) at this restaurant when there's capacity for about 50 people?'
'Do I even have to buy my food here?'
'This place doesn't even have wifi'
'Am I being stingy?'
'Am I being careless with money?'
'Am I a stupid idiot?'
'Would it be reasonable to pretend to visit the Taj Mahal so I don't have to spend money on an entry ticket (and then sneak off to buy street food)?'
So many thoughts. I knew I had the power to bring closure to some of those questions but the more I thought about it, the further away I found myself from taking action.
I ate my meal by myself, without the use of a phone to distract myself from the present moment.
You might be thinking, 'but Sean, you're an independent cheapskate backpacker, why aren't you ordering street food or eating at a grimey dhaba"?
My answer this question leads to an explanation on how I got 'robbed' by some smooth criminals. You see shortly after flying into New Delhi I ended up forking over $1500 NZD for something which probably cost around 1/3 of that. If you've ever been to New Delhi before, then perhaps it would come as no surprise that this huge chunk of money made it's way from my hands and into that of a tour agency. Technically speaking it was a consensual exchange of money for services, but when you take things into perspective, it's kind of like paying $30 for a handful of cinnamon sticks and cardamom seeds and then later on finding out you could have payed $5 (that's another story)
At the time I was preparing myself for a luxurious 3 1/2 weeks of living like a baby but in reality all it amounted to what could essentially be described as having some dude log onto Booking.com and book 2 star hotels (and ticking the overpriced airport transfer option) on my behalf.
For the first few days I had a driver to take me around the 'Golden Triangle' of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. These first days were perhaps my greatest shock to me as for the first time ever, I had jumped on board the expensive and fast moving train of the mainstream tourism industry. I am the sort of traveller who sacrifices luxury for economy and take things very slowly. I get that some people travel to countries like India with a time-frame of 1 or 2 weeks before returning home and because of this, try to squeeze as many activities into their day as possible. I on the other hand have plenty of time and have been known to spend hours playing pool in the hostel, hand washing my clothes by the side of river, and even visiting the public library for an entire day.
And so my journey in India began with me sitting in an overpriced tourist restaurant, re-evaluating my life choices.
Expensive is not always better, especially in India
You might be thinking, 'but Sean, you're an independent cheapskate backpacker, why aren't you ordering street food or eating at a grimey dhaba"?
My answer this question leads to an explanation on how I got 'robbed' by some smooth criminals. You see shortly after flying into New Delhi I ended up forking over $1500 NZD for something which probably cost around 1/3 of that. If you've ever been to New Delhi before, then perhaps it would come as no surprise that this huge chunk of money made it's way from my hands and into that of a tour agency. Technically speaking it was a consensual exchange of money for services, but when you take things into perspective, it's kind of like paying $30 for a handful of cinnamon sticks and cardamom seeds and then later on finding out you could have payed $5 (that's another story)
 |
| Is this worth $30 NZD (1500 INR) I dunno but I get the impression that perhaps it isn't. (I could be wrong) |
At the time I was preparing myself for a luxurious 3 1/2 weeks of living like a baby but in reality all it amounted to what could essentially be described as having some dude log onto Booking.com and book 2 star hotels (and ticking the overpriced airport transfer option) on my behalf.
For the first few days I had a driver to take me around the 'Golden Triangle' of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. These first days were perhaps my greatest shock to me as for the first time ever, I had jumped on board the expensive and fast moving train of the mainstream tourism industry. I am the sort of traveller who sacrifices luxury for economy and take things very slowly. I get that some people travel to countries like India with a time-frame of 1 or 2 weeks before returning home and because of this, try to squeeze as many activities into their day as possible. I on the other hand have plenty of time and have been known to spend hours playing pool in the hostel, hand washing my clothes by the side of river, and even visiting the public library for an entire day.
And so my journey in India began with me sitting in an overpriced tourist restaurant, re-evaluating my life choices.
Expensive is not always better, especially in India
 |
| I don't wanna be that guy, but I paid at least $20 a night here and I was disappointed to get 4 bits of toast and 2 sickly boiled eggs for breakfast @ Taj Village |
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