92 in the shade

This is a lime soda. It is about 1-2 oz of lime juice with club soda. You can get it sweet or salty, I prefer it plain, straight up, stirred with the straw they usually give you. It's very thirst quenching. The cost is between 30-40 Rs (75-90 cents). I probably spend $4-5 a day on these things. At least I do here in the south. Now in the very south, this so-called winter weather is brutal. Maybe if I was a Bikram yoga practitioner.....I think it's effecting my stomach too. Well, what doesn't effect my stomach?

The spice trade all use to be right here, but since it went online now many of the storage and trade shops/warehouses are Kashmiri 'handicraft' shops. The prices are quite steep. I went into one and bought some things. I liked the stuff and they were about 10% less than the shop I went into yesterday. The chic chi-er ones have a cafe attached (where I had this lime soda), and they have the wares artfully hung about, etc. I'm sure I paid too much. What else is new? I am a walking ATM and I am here to be ripped off. That is the way of the western tourist, or so it seems. Bitter? Maybe...nah...., it really is the way it is in these tourist towns. It's part of accepting India (or just getting real, accepting is up to the individual). They won't even bargain here, they give you a discount if you get a few things, but they decide how much. Different than what I've experienced. Anyway, I just got a few giftees and the young lady was nice, helpful, never leaving me alone for a second (unless to check on a price with her boss). Very different from the west. It's the same kind of horn blowing philosophy; of blowing the horn to 'talk' to the other vehicles, to make them aware of your presence. So there's constant honking when there's anything on the road. The goats are quieter.

Anyway, I'm over it, ready to go north. I will report with photos about the trade business here. There are rice and pulses still going on, it looks like a very traditional, perhaps antiquated, kind of charming way to do business. It seems the rest have been replaced by the Kashmiri Indian Handicrafts stores. Oh well, I enjoyed the lime soda and the view. Photos following.