Jaipurian Journey

Our journey to Jaipur began with the surreal. The walk from our hostel to the bus, at 6.30am, was an unexpected treat. Before now we had only seen Delhi in full power mode, with people and vehicles and sales pitches everywhere you turn. But at 6.30am the contrast was startling, an ethereal experience, the city was just coming to life. What we saw was darkened backstreets, lit up only by the rare barber operating and one or two food vendors serving breakfast to those unfortunate enough to be up at this hour, a different Delhi.

This journey was led by the guy who called to our hostel at 6.30am to lead us to our bus (we had never met him before). We followed him for 10 minutes through the backstreets, then he took a right and a guy on our left started beckoning us to follow him. My first instinct was to stick to our leader, but he proceeded to ignore us. So what could we do except follow this other guy? It was the right bus in the end. And it was a good lesson in how things are done in India. You just have to roll with it.

Our first Indian bus journey and we sat at the back, like all Irish cool kids do. The journey was a rollercoaster of emotion and kinetic energy. Have a taste for yourself with the video below.



Five hours later we arrived in Jaipur, shaken but not stirred.