Think of yourself at a place like Walmart or Target. You simply look in the aisles with no crowd, pick an item, and walk peacefully to the checkout.
That is the complete OPPOSITE in India!
We first went street shopping in Baroda, Gujarat with my mom and grandmother in an auto-rickshaw. A rickshaw is like a motorbike with extra-shady seating. Instead of booking on Hertz or Uber; simply shout RICKSHAW and it will come to you. Pay 150 rupees (about 2 dollars) and enjoy the ride!
Hundreds of shops were lined up against the unpaved roadside. You could buy all sorts of things, like jewelry, veggies, steel bowls, clothes, toys, and many more things.
Experience
Something I couldn’t even imagine; motorcycles and cars and dogs and cows were allowed to run at full speed on those roads. They weren’t even meant for vehicles! Some roads are for cars and some are for people.
It was even more crowded than the Macy’s Christmas Festival! Everyone kept bumping into me and motorcycles just zoomed past me on the narrow roads. I felt like it would bump into me like they WANTED to kill me.
But I survived and got a TON of stuff, like containers, cushion covers, clips, and some more things. In India, things are pretty cheap. 80 R is 1 dollar, and most things are about 500 RP (about 6 dollars).
Food
The food, unlike the shops, was BOMB. We went to Barbeque Nation, and it was a whole buffet, with custom spice pasta, a variety of rice and chicken, and desserts. I had pasta, biriyani, noodles, something called Pacific Blue, and a make-your-own kulfi. It was close to my grandma’s birthday, so the whole staff came, gave us a mini cake, and played the birthday song. 5 Star!
We also went to SANDOZ restaurant with my mom’s cousin and his wife. It was good service, and the starters were crunchy vegetables and spring rolls. The crunchy veggies were somehow amazing because I’m not a big fan of that stuff anyway. My main was Hakka Noodles, and they were pretty good. The picture in the menu had chopsticks but the real deal didn’t :(. Anyway, it was still FIVE STAR!!!
The better area
A few miles away came another shopping area, but this time the shops were big with air conditioning. We went to a pillow shop and my parents wanted designer pillows, so they took an hour to pick a bunch of pillowcases. I love those cases. 5 star.
Another place was the kurta shop next door. They were very good selections and we got some of their designs. 5 star. Then there was another clothing shop made for kids, and those did NOT look like what was advertised. They were a bit too colorful and dressy. We needed a traditional kurta.
There was also a hair saloon so we went there. They were amazing at cleaning, and I got a layered cut. If I could, then 10 stars!!!
Back in torture-land
In Ramnagar, we went to another street shop area, and more cows were, there, which enhanced the smell, making it worse. My dad told me that the stores there were also in his time and nothing had changed. The shops were ok there. We went to a jewelry shop and I got these nice studs. In total, the experience was different, also fun at the same time!