When we got back to the mainland I went to the Taj Mahal hotel to use the facilities and freshen up. I had the guide write down the port information so I had it just in case. Then she dropped me off at the shopping area with instructions on where to shop and how to catch a taxi. She and the driver then took my friend back to the ship.
I struck off on my own. It was about 6 p.m. We didn't need to be back to the ship until 9:30 p.m. I figured I would get a taxi about 8 and be back at the ship by 8:30 as the drive was supposed to be no more than 20 min. I loved popping in and out of the shops. Hawkers tended to follow me and try to get me to go down back alleys to their shops. The main area shops seemed reasonably safe. The dark back alleys were scary. At 8:00 I crossed the street as recommended and proceeded to try to hire a taxi. I spoke with a few drivers. None seemed to understand where I wanted to go. I showed them the written port information. There was no spark of recognition. I moved down a block and tried again. And then moved down another block and tried again. I went through at least 10 taxi drivers, drawing a blank stare and a shake of the head. No one seemed to be able to read my card. No one understood or knew where the port was. It was getting close to 8:30 and I only had
an hour to get back to the ship. I hadn't been smart enough to get the guide's cell phone number so I could call her and have her explain where it was.
I could likely walk to the port but I didn't know the city and didn't know how bad of an area it would be that I would have to cross. I tried to think of other alternatives and decided to go back to the Taj Mahal hotel and get the bell captain to hire a taxi for me. But I had to find the hotel first. By this time I was close to where I had started from and thankfully I still recognized the stores as being ones I passed. I asked directions but just got a hand wave in response so I was on my own. I peered down the side streets and miracle of miracles I saw the top corner of stone work that looked like the hotel. I set off at a slow jog (in the 100 degree heat) down the empty almost deserted side street. When I got to the hotel I still needed to skirt all the way around it because of the security barrier from the shootings a few months back.
I explained my problem to the bell captain who immediately knew about the cruise ship and the port location. He spoke to the cab manager who also immediately knew where I wanted to go. I asked the price of the cab. He said 400 rupees. I countered with my guide having told me it would cost 50 rupees, maybe 100 but no more. I said I would pay 200. He got the cab, I got in and off we went. When we pulled up to the deserted gate on the dark street I asked the driver how much. He said, however much you think. I said 200 rupees, gave him the money and went to get out. He handed me back two 10 rupee bills and said I had given him the wrong bills. I said, no you are trying to cheat me, I did not have any 10 rupee bills. I hopped out and walked right for the gate. There was no one there to open it, just a few bums lying on the street. On of the bums pointed me toward a door that said "exit". I heard foot steps running up behind me. I quickly went through the
doorway and was thankful to see an official person checking badges. He passed me through and the person behind me who was not the taxi driver but someone who had a port badge. Phew!
On the other side of the gate I could not see the ship, just containers. The guy who came through quickly disappeared to my right. A car to my left drove off. There was not a single soul around. I thought to myself, what have I gotten myself into? We have been repeatedly warned not to walk on the docks and there has always been a shuttle to take us from the gate back to the ship or it has been within sight with alot of other people around. There were no other passengers or ship's personnel returning to walk with.
I struck off to the right. After walking a ways a man came out of the shadows toward me. I stood tall and strode purposefully. He turned the other direction and I kept going. Finally I sighted the ship's string of lights over some containers and I knew I was getting close. After rounding a corner I had the ship in sight and just had to cross an open area and then would be home free.
I was so thankful to be back and cursed myself for the error I made in shopping by myself and not hiring the private car to take me back. I think my success with other cities along with the heat affected my judgment. To further compromise my decision making I had not been able to sleep the night before and had ordered a glass of milk from room service at 3 a.m. When they delivered it they spilled it all over the carpet, the bed skirt and the blankets. It took an hour for someone to come mop it up and then they indicated the carpet would be shampooed the next day. I then had to be up at 6 a.m. to go through immigration so I hadn't gotten enough sleep.
Back at the ship I discovered that the carpet had not been shampooed as promised, nor the blankets and bed skirt changed. I had done alot of power walking in 100 degree heat to get back to the ship so started to feel the affects of heat stroke. I drank alot of water, conferred with the front desk and got a substitute room to use while they cleaned mine.
This morning I talked to my room steward from India. He also indicated he had been afraid when coming back to the port and having to walk by himself back to the ship in the dark. He had originally gone in the wrong direction. I asked him if he knew why no one knew the port location and showed him the card I had. He said, they all should have known it and then he pronounced "Ballard Estate, Ballard Pier, Green Gate" in a completely different way then I was saying it. Green Gate sounded similar but Ballard was pronounced differently. I can only assume that the taxi drivers didn't understand what I was saying and could not read the card as it was written in English. I has also used the phrase "cruise ship terminal" and had not gotten any recognition for that phrase except at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
I shouldn't have been surprised by this as when talking to the shop keepers I felt that mostly they did not comprehend much of what I was saying but were operating off of a few key words that they recognized like "ready made Punjabi suit".
Unfortunately my ignorance of my inability to hire a cab put me at risk multiple times on the street. I'm not sure how to have avoided the dock problem except to have returned with my guide who could have taken me back to the ship directly as she had the paperwork to get the car through. Other ports where we have had a long walk through the docks have provided shuttle cars or allowed the taxi's through to take us right to the ship.
I will be much more careful and sacrifice touring experiences for safety in the future.
2 comments:
What an adventure. At least you kept a cool head. I'm glad things turned out okay. Be proud of yourself.
Thanks Blair! I talked to another passenger who also had trouble getting a cab back. He also found that the black and yellow cabs did not know where the Green Gate was. He lives in India so it turns out not to have been my pronunciation but the fact that the group of people who drove the cabs did not speak English and/or did not know the gate location, which is the sense I was getting when trying to communicate with them.
Post a Comment