After having a rough week with our 2 day stay average starting to take it’s tole on our brains, we were starting to wish we had booked our Goa tickets for an earlier date for some much needed beach time, but unfortunately our tickets weren’t changeable.
We arrived in Chandigarh with the hopes of having a bit of a relaxation break considering there isn’t much to see in Chandigarh from a tourist stand. All those hopes were shattered the minute we stepped off the bus. Walking away after being literally surrounded by Indian men/boys to get our business for their rickshaws, I promptly had to turn around and tell the lot of them to “Please F*CK OFF!.” After a long bus ride having your ass grabbed is not a nice introduction to a city.
From here we got in a rickshaw and drove around to 10 different hotels being turned away by each (except one, which I walked away from on the account of a very apparent cockroach infestation.) When we got to our eighth hotel we asked if we could use their phone to call another hotel to see if they have room because we were tired of driving around, the receptionist obliged and called speaking Punjabi on the phone with the other hotel. After we thanked him and handed him some rupees for his help, we got in the rickshaw and arrived at the hotel he had called for us only to learn no one had called and surprise, surprise…they also had no room. After Nick used his very serious voice with the next hotel owner and assured him that we would not leave until we spoke to a hotel that had vacancy, we ended up at hotel AB’s which was $50 compared to our average budget of under $10. Although it was nice I didn’t feel it was quite worth $50, as in India $50 can generally get you a very nice place.
Waking up this morning we were well rested (on sheets that were pure white no less!) but were sitting uneasy knowing we were eating away at our travel fund. We decided to call one of our original budget options and stay the next night there.
