Indiana Jones and Through the Looking Glass
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2005
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10
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Trip End
Jan 15, 2006
Jaipur,
India
Friday, January 6, 2006
Regardless, these areas of abject poverty make the drive seem like we were going back in time to the way things were hundreds of years ago. As we got closer to Jaipur, the imagery started to resemble the CNN images of Afghanistan except that Afghanistan seemed more orderly
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. There were camels & people in shawls riding camels, camel drawn carts. The only thing missing were the AK-47s. I'm sure to the Indian locals they do not resemble Afghans but to the ignorant foreigner such as myself, it was what I'd imagine it to be like.Jaipur
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Jaipur is straight out of the Indiana Jones movie. The scenery, the buildings, the people are similar to the movie imagery. At this point the shock of the 3rd world had worn off and I quite enjoyed the scenery. At least it was very different from most of the places I've been to. There sure as hell were no Starbucks, Prada or McDonalds. To see the people live the way they did was a real treat.
When we got to Jaipur, we met up with Samir's friend Gita. The awesome thing was that she spoke Hindi, which made things so much easier. Moreover she knew what was going on so we were able to see more sites than had it been just Samir and I. We went to the Amber Fort, which was impressive. Next we went to the Krishna temple. I won't describe much as the accompanying photos do a much better job.
Shopping
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Apparently the famous craft in Jaipur is Jewelry and tapestries. Since I know nothing about jewelry I didn't bother to do more than just look at the pieces. Gita left with he uncle to look at diamonds so the driver, Samir and I stopped at various bazaars to look at the crafts. I really hate bargaining because I suck at it. Consequently I don't bother buying anything because I think I'll get ripped off
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. Honestly the process is like haggling at a car dealership. All the tricks in the book are used by the merchant. These include:1. Give you a drink so you are obligated to look or feel compelled to buy.
2. Give you a long pitch on the product.
3. Start with a ridiculous price and then look offended when you counter offer.
4. Force you to make spot decisions with pressure tactics.
5. Use the "I have to ask my boss" trick. This is especially ridiculous to me. If the price you give is below their invoice, they'd never bother talking to the boss. You'd just say no. If it is way high, the merchant will immediately say yes. Anywhere in between falls in the negotiable category and should not be hard to decide. Therefore this stalling tactic is a waste of time in my opinion
Haggling over $5 on a $50 item seems like a complete waste of energy. I generally avoid haggling at all cost. Wasting 1+ hour to save $5 is not the most effective use of time to me.
In the end I did buy a Pashmina scarf for my sister from this guy. Real nice embroidery with a 70/30 silk blend an off-white color. I know I probably overpaid a bit for it but I sure as hell didn't want to waste hours haggling.
Dinner
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Dinner was spent with our local guide Hamir. Hamir was a young man around our age and we ate at his ancestral home that was converted to a hotel. We had some interesting but good food. The highlight was their proprietary alcohol. It was some strong saffron or spiced Indian alcohol
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. Two sips and you are literally buzzing. I swear that the drink made my pupils dilate. Interesting experience overall and highly enjoyable. This trip is turning out to be better than I had expected. Through the Looking Glass
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Culturally India has been interesting, maybe even more so than China from my perspective since I know a lot about Chinese culture but nothing about Indian outside of the engineering guys at work. The forts and palaces we've seen so far show how advanced the culture had been with its natural humidifier, Air Conditioning, drainage systems, and architecture. It really accentuated what I had read in the "Guns, Germs, and Steel" book on the dominance of Asian/Persian empires hundreds of years ago.
You never really know about why a group of people act a way they do until you've seen their world through their eyes. Their reality, their culture, and their life are what make them who they are. The humanity of an individual is a function of their external stimulus (s)he experiences in their lifetime coupled with innate traits from our parents. Some 99.9% of traits are common between any 2 groups and therefore it is obvious that if we take any member of different ethnicities and subject them to similar stimulus, then it is highly probably that the distribution of personality types will be highly similar. Yet because of the regional customs, influence, stimulus we have very different types of people. Getting to see how the others lived greatly closes the gaps between cultures. No longer is a particular response from a person weird, inappropriate or whatever else, rather one can understand the particular response and thusly not prejudge or take offense. So far living in the US and visiting Anglo-European cities, you don't get a as much of a different viewpoints due to cultural and economical similarities whereas coming to India and seeing a completely different world has been eye opening to say the least.
