Well, I’m still staying in Kamrej. I’ve been working on a project for a customer during the past month, which is why it was pretty silent on the travel front.
I wanted to go to Surat today to get some supplies – most importantly, cleaning stuff for my contact lenses. As you may know, my glasses rest in the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between New Caledonia and Ile Surprise. Ironically, the hotel I’m staying at is called Pacific Inn. Anyway, I asked at reception how much I should expect to pay for an auto rickshaw to Surat, and they offered to organize one for me for a reasonable price.
The driver, Mahesh, is a brother of one of the waiters and a nice guy. He showed me around Surat and helped with the shopping. Unfortunately, cleaning fluids for hard contact lenses were nowhere to be found. I’m kinda back to square one in that regard.
On the road to Surat I saw camels dozing in the shade of trees and camel carts. The city itself is full of textile factories. For some reason I find it amazing to look into open doors and windows and see (big, industrial) looms en masse. We also tried to find some of the local sights. Surat has a mini Eiffel tower and we found it. However, the Old Fort, widely advertised on the web, was unknown even to the locals. I couldn’t suppress a big smile when Mahesh suggested I should use my phone to look for the Fort’s address online (did that, but to no avail, by the way).
More than once now have I thought that it would be uber-cool to travel (India or elsewhere) with an auto rickshaw. I thought about hiring Mahesh for a longer period, a few days maybe, but there wouldn’t be enough space in the vehicle for two people and luggage. And my bike wouldn’t want to be left behind, either. Well, one day I’ll do that!
