Jan. 20 : Bhubaneshwar, India

Friday, January 20 :: Bhubaneswar, India :: 0km today / 2679km total

A day to recover and refuel. I walked around the town today, saw the sights, kind of interesting, all Hindu. I booked a tour, yes a TOUR, with a tour bus and guide and everything, for tomorrow, to go see the nearby Sun Temple of Konark (the main reason I'm here in Bhubaneswar), as well as a few other things. Can you tell I'm getting travel-weary? It'll be nice to just sit there and let someone else think things through for a day. Just for a day.

I spent a horrible 2 hours at the train station, trying to book onwards tickets, only to ultimately find out that all trains North are booked solid for the next week. I could try for the waiting list but with the bike to deal with, its just not feasible. Well, back to the bus. The nice thing about buses is that there are ALWAYS buses and they're cheaper than trains, even if they do sometimes ding me a luggage fee for the bike. A general rule of thumb for many travellers is that if a trip is less than 6 hours, take a bus; longer, take a train. Hopefully there aren't too many horrid pitstops enroute to Calcutta, 10 hours away.

I've had to spend a lot of time dealing with Indians in a lot of different ways in the past 3 days. Haggling has never been my favourite thing to do, but I've been forced to play the game quite a bit. I wish there were flat rates, but such is the way it is here. Unfortunately for the Indians the power is really in the hands of the tourist, if you know how to use it. The thing is, here in India, there are 10-20 people selling the exact same thing, all lined up in a row. Its called "overpopulation". What you do, as a tourist, is pick a price you know is fair, not penny-pinching but fair, before you talk to the vendors. Walk up to the first, say, tuk-tuk (taxi) and say "railway station - 30 rupees?" If he tries to counterbargain, ignore and walk to the next guy, 3 feet away. "railway station - 30 rupees?" Of course he heard the first offer, and can choose to take it or not. I've never got further than the 3rd or 4th tuk-tuk (or tangerine seller, etc) before being taken up on my offer. It may sound harsh, but its their game, not mine; my way through it is terribly efficient and I always get the price I want.

I've been quoting a lot of prices throughout my blog to get across how cheap travel can be here in India, and the value you get for your money. But it is a two-way street; even with my budget-style travel the Indians that I meet and pay are very happy with my business. To put things in perspective, the poorest of working Indians makes about 40-50 rupees per day, thats $1-$1.25 CDN. A typical tuk-tuk ride costs 30 rupees. A typical, full roadside meal costs about 80 rupees. A typical night in a guesthouse is 250-300 rupees. I tip very highly, always - when the difference between a crappy tip and a high tip is about 10-20 cents, why not put a big smile on someone's face, someone that has done you a service, for less than a quarter?