Friday, March 20, 2009

O-H M-Y G-O-S-H

You may remember my post on the first rickshaw ride we had - I believe it was in Dehli but who knows. Well, that was NOTHING compared to last night. The bus could only take us so far and then we took a rickshaw ride to the Ganges River for the evening ceremonies (see other post). The roads are too narrow (and crowded) for the bus. Our rickshaw driver was about 50 - maybe 5' 1" and maybe 110 pounds but very wiry and strong (to pull both of us) :-) Oh, the horns and the traffic. The round-abouts were the most fun with vehicles of all kinds roaring in from all different directions trying to be somewhere else all at the same time. I really don't see how accidents keep from happening. I LOVED it!! Such an adventure. Saw a bull inside a store - a very stylish store at that - asleep on the floor (it was still there when we returned later that evening). I am convinced all the cows and probably most of the people are deaf from the horns and that the horn is the first thing that wear out on any vehicle in India. And horns are like phone rings - all different. When we returned after the ceremony the rickshaw riders found us - they waited for us and recognized us. The trip leader said "not to worry. Your driver will find you" Well, there were ONLY 100,000 people at the ceremony - how hard could it be to find two Americans!! Of course, we met at a prearranged place but our driver did indeed recognize us and did speak English very well. As we were returning to the bus, the narrow escapes just kept on coming. One time I told Ben "I think I'll close my eyes" The driver looked back and said "no problem" :-) Then another time a motorcycle came roaring in from our left, a tuk-tuk was headed straight for us on the right and I told Ben "I feel like lunchmeat!" What a ride!!! The driver asked what hotel we were staying in and we said the Raddison and he commented that he lived near the Raddison (I think he was drumming up business for the next day) Anyway Ben said to me "Is he taking us to the hotel or the bus" The driver looked back and said "Bus two minutes away!" It was about 8:00 and dark by this time and we suddenly left the lights and I realized to my dismay that our rickshaw had no lights! No one could see us coming! ARGHHH! But then we were at the bus. I didn't literally kiss the ground but spiritually I think I did! Actually this was the highlight of the trip. So exciting!! Only sideswiped a couple of cows on the way not to mention pedestrians!

2 comments:

Jill Williams said...

Please tell me the shop the bull was in was a china shop. :)

Ben and Lola said...

I would love to but I think it was clothing. That would have been perfect wouldn't it? The driver pointed it out the first trip but we didn't know what we were trying to see so missed the picture. Bull was still there on the return trip!