It’s been a long time since I published a travel blog. Does anyone still do travel blogs? It seems like most of the internet is just people unboxing products from Amazon and promoting them via their ‘Influencer Pages’ — thus perpetuating our mindless culture of content and consumerism.
Okay let’s do a blog about shopping:
I traveled India for 14 months from 2020 to 2021 — and when in India you must learn how to bargain for deals in the insane street markets. Here I’m going to share some of my story through purchases, including captions and prices paid — to the best of my memory – which was quite hazy around that time.
OLD MANALI STREET MARKET — (Kullu hoodie with matching knit hat & gloves: 800 rupees: approx. $10 USD) After six weeks of traveling through the tropical south of India, I arrived in Manali, which is located in the foothills of the snow-capped Himalayas. I realized I had no winter clothes so I bought this outfit in the market just in time, because the next day India administered a country-wide COVID lockdown. I was quarantined in my hostel (pictured) for 72 days and needed this outfit to survive through the final winter months, as our hostel had no heat or indoor dining area.
Right after lockdown I bought two hats and shawls from this local vendor Arun, which are traditional to Manali and made of yak and angora wool. I can’t remember how much I paid, but it was quite costly, as they are made by hand on-site. Later Arun invited me and my friend Chris to his house for a dinner party with a dozen men wearing these hats, eating goat curry and getting trashed on some sort of white, local moonshine.
Arun showing us how the Kullu shawls are made on the handloom behind his shop.
MANALI ENGLISH BAKERY — This was one of the first restaurants to re-open after lockdown, and it became a daytime hangout for our crew: ‘The Manali Renegades’ (partly-pictured). I usually ordered a double-espresso and a sandwich or piece of cake, which probably cost about $1 or $2 total.
AMBER PALACE, JAIPUR — After lockdown I continued traveling and found myself in this luxury textiles market below the Amber Palace in Jaipur. I bought two of these silk quilts for my aunts back home. I know exactly how much I paid because I saved the receipt: 12,765 rupees including shipping back to Wisconsin = $178 total cost. (p.s. — the quilts arrived at my aunt’s house approximately two months later.)
JAIPUR GEM MARKET — (400 hand-cut blue sapphires — 18,000 rupees = $250) In Jaipur I received a palm-reading, which was included with my silk quilts purchase. The mystic foretold that I must wear sapphires for protection, so I headed to the famous Jaipur Gem Market. I bought 400 small, blue sapphires, which the jeweler threaded into a chain for this pendant, which was a gift from a friend. The pendant later broke off because it was too heavy, and I had it replaced with a small opal-stone in the shape of a palm leaf.
As for the protective properties? Well, I was wearing my sapphire chain when I was hit by a truck on my motorcycle in Goa. Sounds unlucky, but I escaped with no life-threatening injuries. Verdict: worth the 18,000 rupees, and I still rock the chain as of today.
JAISALMER FORT — LOCAL ART GALLERY (3 pieces of hand-painted artwork: 5,000 rupees or $70) I was staying inside the Jaisalmer Fort, which is one of the few ‘living palaces’ in India. One day I walked past this artist’s gallery and he invited me in, but I said “Tomorrow, my friend.” The next day, I walked past and he said, “It’s tomorrow, my friend, you must come in!.”
So I entered and bought three pieces of art to ship back to my family in the US. This was the biggest piece and now is hanging on my dad’s wall in a frame that costs 10 times as much as the art. My negotiating skills were clearly improved at this point, which marked nearly 1 year of traveling India and bargaining for treasures.
JAISALMER FORT MARKETPLACE: Bhang Lassi, Fullpower Edition (approx. $3) Here you can see the Jaisalmer Fort in the background where I was staying in one of those turrets ($24 for the hotel suite, COVID-special). This is one of the few government authorized shops in India that sells “Bhang Lassi” which is essentially a bright green marijuana-infused milkshake. I drank one right before embarking on a camel camping safari trip in the desert, which made that experience quite dreamy.
After I ordered my Lassi, the owner showed me a picture of Anthony Bourdain in his shop sipping on the same beverage: a “Royal Lassi with Bhang.”
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