What is with the Indian head bobble?!? It is starting to drive us crazy. It's this side-to-side head shake in response to a question that could mean "yes", but it could also mean "no". So we try to rephrase our questions and are met with the same response: A blank eye stare and that side-to-side head shake. Argh!
We took the train as far as it would go Northeast, to Kathgodam, where we unfortunately got in at 1 am. The WORST...because you still have to spend money on a guest house room, but you are only there for 8 hours. Plus most businesses have already locked their doors and gone to bed. By chance, we saw a man on his balcony who had a seedy little room that he charged us Rs.500 for (Almost double our normal rate). So anyway...we left the rail behind for bone-jarring buses and crammed jeep rides, and started inching our way towards the Himalayan. Often the roads are single lane and hug steep drop-offs, so we frequently have to back up a ways to let someone pass from the opposite direction.
First we stopped off at Nainital, which we decided was the Breckenridge of India. It's a super nice vacation town up in the mountains that surrounds a half-mile long lake. There is even a cable car that climbs up to a resort and Himalayan view, and gondola-style boats that you can pay a boatman to row around the lake. The street food is glorious here, ranging from filled pastries and omelets to seasoned corn-on-the-cob and hot chocolate made with a steamer. It was also fairly packed. we searched over a hour for a room and the prices were insane. One guy showed us a room by the light of his cell phone because there was no electricity. A "selling point" of the room was that it had a TV. Then he quoted us Rs. 900 ($20). We tried to point out that the TV didn't count since there was no electricity, and that the room was definitely not worth his price but that we would indeed stay for something more like Rs.250 (still a rip off for this place). He didn't go for it. After much toil and a literal miracle, we found a charming cheap room. Our time in Nainital was spent exploring and hiking the surrounding mountainside.
After spending a night in Almora and enjoying Mango juice in the bottle and the sunset from a rooftop hotel, we went on to Kausani. Kausani is a miniscule but beautiful town. We were met at the bus stop with the usual hustlers trying to get us to stay in their hotels and such. One man was so insistent that we look at his resort that we finally consented, even though we had told him our budget. He showed us a gorgeous, clean room with a balcony and amazing view, our own bathroom, and hot water and told us it was only Rs.1500. We laughed and said we weren't kidding about our budget and we were sticking to it. We started to walk away and he started dropping the price like mad. Finally, in desperation, he shouted, "400! You stay for 400!" It was pretty much a no-brainer at that point...so we splurged and stayed at a legit resort, watched movies in our room, and got room service! (We've found that room hunting is much like buying a car...you just have to NOT need what they are trying to sell you.) Also here, we spent an enjoyable night around a campfire with an Indian family who just kept giving us rum and pakora, telling jokes, listening to music, and taking photos with us/of us so they could remember us always.
We took the train as far as it would go Northeast, to Kathgodam, where we unfortunately got in at 1 am. The WORST...because you still have to spend money on a guest house room, but you are only there for 8 hours. Plus most businesses have already locked their doors and gone to bed. By chance, we saw a man on his balcony who had a seedy little room that he charged us Rs.500 for (Almost double our normal rate). So anyway...we left the rail behind for bone-jarring buses and crammed jeep rides, and started inching our way towards the Himalayan. Often the roads are single lane and hug steep drop-offs, so we frequently have to back up a ways to let someone pass from the opposite direction.
First we stopped off at Nainital, which we decided was the Breckenridge of India. It's a super nice vacation town up in the mountains that surrounds a half-mile long lake. There is even a cable car that climbs up to a resort and Himalayan view, and gondola-style boats that you can pay a boatman to row around the lake. The street food is glorious here, ranging from filled pastries and omelets to seasoned corn-on-the-cob and hot chocolate made with a steamer. It was also fairly packed. we searched over a hour for a room and the prices were insane. One guy showed us a room by the light of his cell phone because there was no electricity. A "selling point" of the room was that it had a TV. Then he quoted us Rs. 900 ($20). We tried to point out that the TV didn't count since there was no electricity, and that the room was definitely not worth his price but that we would indeed stay for something more like Rs.250 (still a rip off for this place). He didn't go for it. After much toil and a literal miracle, we found a charming cheap room. Our time in Nainital was spent exploring and hiking the surrounding mountainside.
After spending a night in Almora and enjoying Mango juice in the bottle and the sunset from a rooftop hotel, we went on to Kausani. Kausani is a miniscule but beautiful town. We were met at the bus stop with the usual hustlers trying to get us to stay in their hotels and such. One man was so insistent that we look at his resort that we finally consented, even though we had told him our budget. He showed us a gorgeous, clean room with a balcony and amazing view, our own bathroom, and hot water and told us it was only Rs.1500. We laughed and said we weren't kidding about our budget and we were sticking to it. We started to walk away and he started dropping the price like mad. Finally, in desperation, he shouted, "400! You stay for 400!" It was pretty much a no-brainer at that point...so we splurged and stayed at a legit resort, watched movies in our room, and got room service! (We've found that room hunting is much like buying a car...you just have to NOT need what they are trying to sell you.) Also here, we spent an enjoyable night around a campfire with an Indian family who just kept giving us rum and pakora, telling jokes, listening to music, and taking photos with us/of us so they could remember us always.
No comments:
Post a Comment