sticker shock in delhi
first off - sticker shock! good god - everything is night and day here. the guy who drove me from the airport 30 minutes to the hotel said he makes 3000 rp per year. then, the hotel charges what can only be viewed as u.s.-comparable prices for just about everything. got a vegetable curry puff pastry thingy from the bakery downstairs for 40 Rp, which is just under a buck. my internet charges max out at 600 rp/24 hours - gee, that's what they charge in the states! then i asked them for a plug adapter and noticed the price tag on the box - 75 rps. dude - who buys an adapter for 2 bucks? (then again, the damn plug keeps falling out of it so i guess you get what you pay for...) walked down to the shopping arcade and the rug guy showed me a gorgeous 100% silk rug 2 1/2 ft x 4 ft. $1100. yeah, right! then he showed me something much lower quality that would be comparable to something you'd find in your average store in the states for $250 or so. pashmina scarves for 12000 rp seems a bit da ripoff. the concierge brought me some throat lozenges and said the 70 rp would be charged to my room - that's pretty reasonable i suppose, but breakfast buffet upstairs is 500 rp. mein gott!
anyway, just got back from lunch. excellent rogan josh from one of the hotel restaurants for 425 rp - under 10 bucks - pretty good for a hotel restaurant. the buffet was 1000 rp, but heaven knows i wasn't that hungry! i am keeping my fingers crossed that i don't develop "delhi belly" but with my weak-ass stomach, it seems more a question of "when" rather than "if".
hopped a cab out to a small shopping place. spent about 50 bucks on a (probably overpriced) $16 silk hand painting, a couple of small baubles and an shimmery light blue pashmina shawl for just under $15. even though i view those prices as reasonable, though, i have this sinking feeling that i can do better. a lot better. hopefully the girls at work will have better insight for me. for now, though, it's only 50 bucks. ended with a stop at a hole in the wall pharmacy - quite literally a counter and a bunch of shelves of stuff - not a walk-in place. the guy tried to sell me some decongestants for 1100 rp. 30 bucks? are you out of your mind? maybe i misheard him, but a box of sudafed in the states is 5 bucks. naturally, i didn't buy it. back at the hotel, the cabbie charged me 350 rp - under 10 bucks, which wasn't bad given that he drove me out, waited for me to shop around and buy stuff, and then drove me somewhere else, and then back to the hotel. but after last night's ride from the airport to the hotel, it's quite possible i could have done better. it really started me thinking about how many of the merchants here are trying so hard to scrape out a living. i wonder if - as a result - maybe they are resorting to extreme measures to squeeze out as much money as "the market will bear"...
anyway, just got back from lunch. excellent rogan josh from one of the hotel restaurants for 425 rp - under 10 bucks - pretty good for a hotel restaurant. the buffet was 1000 rp, but heaven knows i wasn't that hungry! i am keeping my fingers crossed that i don't develop "delhi belly" but with my weak-ass stomach, it seems more a question of "when" rather than "if".
hopped a cab out to a small shopping place. spent about 50 bucks on a (probably overpriced) $16 silk hand painting, a couple of small baubles and an shimmery light blue pashmina shawl for just under $15. even though i view those prices as reasonable, though, i have this sinking feeling that i can do better. a lot better. hopefully the girls at work will have better insight for me. for now, though, it's only 50 bucks. ended with a stop at a hole in the wall pharmacy - quite literally a counter and a bunch of shelves of stuff - not a walk-in place. the guy tried to sell me some decongestants for 1100 rp. 30 bucks? are you out of your mind? maybe i misheard him, but a box of sudafed in the states is 5 bucks. naturally, i didn't buy it. back at the hotel, the cabbie charged me 350 rp - under 10 bucks, which wasn't bad given that he drove me out, waited for me to shop around and buy stuff, and then drove me somewhere else, and then back to the hotel. but after last night's ride from the airport to the hotel, it's quite possible i could have done better. it really started me thinking about how many of the merchants here are trying so hard to scrape out a living. i wonder if - as a result - maybe they are resorting to extreme measures to squeeze out as much money as "the market will bear"...