You call this a shortcut?
January 26, 2011
As I’ve already mentioned my driver and my ideas of shortcuts were widely different. I’ve already talked about driving on the wrong side of the highway, but I haven’t talked about our run-in with a strike. On our drive to Jaipur, my driver informed me there was a strike on the highway. I couldn’t understand what he said it was for, but we came across stones in the road blocking our way. My Swedish tourist friends said people had tried to open their car doors when they got to the strike zone. My driver didn’t really hesitate, he just turned around and drove back the way we came (on the wrong side of course) until he got to a turn off. Then, along with the rest of the diverted traffic, we were driving along unpaved, barely one-lane roads through little villages. It seemed to be the only road through most of these villages, and we were trying to pass large trucks and tour buses. This was probably the most nervous I felt my whole trip. I was sure we’d break an axle or a tire. Everyone came out of their houses to watch all the traffic go by (and nicely direct us if there was a fork in the road). My driver told me they were excited to see tourists. There was lots of little children waving at me, but when the young men flocked to my car kissing the glass and photographing me with their cell phones, I was a little nervous. But my driver was calm the whole time and proudly announced that while we only added 2 hours to our trip time, other drivers had added 6 hours!
