Pune

Next up – Pune. After spending 2 nights in Mumbai, we took a bus that took about 5 hours to arrive at our destination. Let me emphasize that the journey is only about 150km, it means that the bus is only going at a speed of about 30km/hr. Literally. Not that the bus was pulled along the way by cows or Indian coolies, but the combination of stopping 85762572892 times every 0.2534km to pick up passengers and the weaker-that-weed road, makes the journey a long and painful one.

There is nothing much to update for Pune, but it is also the residency place of Indian Tan serving his internship so I cannot help but look forward to pay his sound-like-haven home there. As Indian Tan still gotta serve the last few days of his internship, I was left alone and had the luxury of the whole entire house to myself! Hohoho. So I found myself slacking for the first time (after leaving work) rolling around in bed and watching all the cable movies imaginable that is available in India. Of cuz, food comes into the picture as well, needless to say.

But still on Day 4, we managed to visit Choki Dani, a Rajasthan cultural village. It’s situated far from the main roads and is very inaccessible. Took an auto-rickshaw which cost 300 rupees to reach that place. The entrance fee is a bit high at 400 rupees too.

Upon reaching there, we thought we had arrived at a ghost village; the whole place is almost empty with no visitors. The entertainers are just sitting at corners chatting among themselves. AND WAITING FOR US. So even with just 2 visitors, they have no choice but to also do their performances at their respective stations. We got head and body massages, tried archery, shooting, watched magic shows, some fire spitting and cultural folk dance, some rope walking performance and the whole works etc and finally end the roaming in the village by eating some of the traditional Rajasthan food called Thali.

The Thali consist of rice, biscuit, potato, many sorts of curries, some porridge-thingy, sweet deep-fried caramel and many side gravies and sauces. It’s a very elaborated food menu. The staff couldn’t stop feeding us with food and seemed to be enjoying themselves forcing food upon us. We were literally begging them to stop putting more food on our plate. LOL-ed. But Indian Tan has got me to thanks because the staff gave up making a fool of themselves when they see that I have no problem taking down whatever that goes into mine and his plate.

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Getting a taste of how a traditional head massage feels like