Claire: Pushkar and Shopping
Usually when I return from a weekend trip my camera is loaded with new pictures, but not so much after this weekend. It was a great weekend in lovely hippie town Pushkar, but what was different was we didn’t go see the main sites like usual. We soaked in India’s culture another way: shopping!
Pushkar was AWESOME for shopping. They had a main road bazaar with shops lining both sides of the street- clothes, handicrafts, food, jewelry, bags, art, and home decor, everywhere! I found myself always lost and turned around in Pushkar, but realized it was because I walked around with my eyes glued to the clothes hanging at every stand instead of where I was going. I probably stepped in cow poop a few times. Or caused a motorbike pile-up. Wouldn’t know for sure, I was that entranced.
One shop we walked into was in the middle of an alley. A few turns off the main bazaar street, dimly lit, and no one around besides the three men in the shop. Casual. The shop was itty bitty but FILLED with t-shirts and tapestries. Stack after stack reaching the ceiling. I think there were enough shirts in there to clothe all of Rajasthan. We found a few we liked and wanted to pay 150 R each, max. The guy wanted 400R! Crazy talk. If you want to get a good deal you have to be patient, committed, confident, and not afraid to walk away. After a heated debate that lasted a good half hour we all walked out with shirts for 100R. Woo! Haggling is probably my favorite thing.
Most of our shopping experiences are like this- even when we need to buy a bottle of water. They see us, obvious westerners, and think “oh, a silly tourist who will pay too much” and throw out a high price right off the bat. I don’t blame them-I’m sure there are many tourists who pay it and don’t realize you need to barter. 15 rupees is a good price for a liter of bottled mineral water. They usually cave to that price pretty quickly when they realize you know how it works.
A large upside to living here is I have time to scope out prices and learn what I should pay for things. I spent a lot of this first month gathering information and comparing prices of items I am interested in.
My friends here and I have been shopping together for a while now and have become successful team bargainers. We’ve tried a few different strategies. There’s the good-cop/bad-cop approach, uninterested approach, buying-in-bulk approach, holding-the-money-out-so-they-see-it-and-can’t-resist approach, you know, the classics. My favorite is the I-saw-it-for-cheaper-at-the-shop-down-the-street-so-ill-just-buy-it-there-instead approach. There is nothing they can’t stand more than losing a sale to a neighbor shop.
What’s funny though is no matter which direction the haggling brings you with the shop owner- once you buy the item you are suddenly best friends. Even if you ended the bargaining by insulting the guys mother, once those Rupees are handed over he’ll shake your hand, say he loves America, kiss your feet, invite you to his house for dinner, braid your hair and oogle over how dreamy Ryan Gosling is… It’s strange but everyone leaves happy and sometimes you make a new friend, so I like it.
There was one shop owner who was studying his English from a mini textbook when Dani and I walked into his shop. He was very genuine, we chatted about our lives a bit, and then he asked us to write down some English phrases for him to learn. He was a sweet guy, and I ended up buying a pair of deluxe wrap pants from him, for a great price. I loved that he didn’t harass us about buying his stuff. Usually you have to be careful not to touch something or stare at an item for too long because once they see you-they pounce! They’ll start whipping out every version of that item, and make a complete mess of their shop. Once I picked up this wooden, cat shaped box that looked super silly. I didn’t want it at all, was just looking, but the guy ran into the back and dumped out this enormous crate filled with cat boxes. WOODEN CAT BOXES EVERYTWHERE. 200 rupees! 200 rupees! Good price madam! You like cat? Where you from?! Good price! Okay, okay, 180 rupees! Special price for you!
My suitcase barely passed the weight limit on my way here. It might be a struggle to bring all my goodies back home in December… Who am I kidding, it will definitely be a struggle. How was I expected to pack only two pairs of shoes to live off of for three months? Luckily my suitcase was filled with comfort food too: peanut butter, trail mix, granola bars, Gatorade and crystal light packets. Once they’re demolished I’ll be replacing them with floral Aladdin pants, turbans, and tapestries. Maybe some wooden cat boxes too.
Pushkar. View from our hotel rooftop.
Cow partyyyy.
Spectacular views.
Beauteous.
This reminded me of the market in Aladdin.
Mint Lemon juice slushy.
WE Travel Correspondent Blog: Intern in India 