It's an old Cold Chisel song: "I've been living at the Plaza Hotel/It aint the Hilton but I live well" that filled my mind as I checked in this morning at the Hotel Plaza (of course). Actually the place I am at is better than the one described in the song - no "holes in the ceiling" or "holes in the floor".
The owner was quite up front - "this is an accomodation city there is nothing for tourists here", except of course as a gateway to the famous caves in Ajunta where I will be headed tomorrow. So basically the day was spent just hanging around.
I finished "A passage to India" which I enjoyed - more and more I admit because of the fact I am in India though as I could relate to the themes and places. I also looked for the characteristics of the people described. I started Flaubert's "The desert and the dancing girls" - which is a collection of letters he wrote of observations from Egypt in the 1840's - interesting to see if I can connect with the book when it is about a place I haven't been to (yet). I alway seem to have that problem even with the lonely planet - can't get into reading it until I actually get there.
I took the long exploratory walk around the city - it is very commercial and mercantile with lots of little shops. It seems they are organised into groupings of like businesses. I noticed a whole area of textile stores, then another section of car part stores etc. I ordered my usual "Limca" lemon and lime drink but it was much too acidic for my upset stomach, will have to find a substitute in future (Fanta perhaps) and stopped in for an ice cream at a very nice looking cafe. It was on a busy main road but it was a bit of an oasis - nice and clean and modern looking. I ordered a waffle cone with Pistacchio ice cream - something to cheer me up. While paying I noticed a nice new clean expresso coffee machine which surprised me, so I ordered cappucino. Not getting an authentic Indian experience I know but it was certainly what I was in the mood for and it was the best coffee I have had in months. I sat on the terrace ignoring the noise, drinking coffee, eating ice cream and feeling good. Not exactly a balanced diet - but enjoyable. So much so I ordered a second which I didn't really need.
While drinking the second the man from the shop pushed some machine past me onto the sidewalk and started it up - it was a very noisy generator. This was just a bit more than I could ignore unfortunately. In Jalgaon and many other cities around here electricity is rationed under a load sharing agreement. It was true in other places and I took it for granted as part of the deal but here they have 6 hours of down time a day in two three hour outages. That seems quite a lot for what seems to be a reasonably modern city,
I went in search of English books and found mainly airport novels at the few places I found (stalls at the train station and one of the street) till I stumbled across a temporary "Book Exhibition" which was like one of those clearance sales in a warehouse. Plenty of English books that you don't want to buy. Although there were also lots of literature classics very cheap (about $1.00). I bought one just in case I finish the tiny thin Flaubert book before I get to Mumbai later in the week.
The word on the street is that Budget guest houses and hotels in Mumbai won't even take bookings at the moment because they have so much demand they don't want to take the chance someone doesn't show up - it is just first come first serve. So I have given up trying to organise accomodation in advance. I have the name of a hostel with dorms that is apparently always a good "emergency" place near the main railway station if you get stuck so I am just going to arrive and see how things pan out.
I met a Norwegian/Italian couple this evening who are travelling around in a similiar direction. They had some interesting stories. They made a comment about a website called "couch surfing" that is apparently a realy good way to find a place to stay in Europe. Basically it is like a dating site - people put their names there if they will let you sleep on their couch and you approach them if you want to. They said it isn't much use in India but I thought it an interesting concept if you like meeting travellers etc.
So that's the day - moving on early in the morning and will be back here in Jalgaon on the 22nd. All under control (knock wood).
