After our visit to Bagru, we needed a few minutes to relax and chill out, before having a light snack back at our hotel. Our guide arrived at 4:00 pm to take us around the old city markets.
It was very busy with traders, buyers, and the streets were crowded with tuk-tuks scooters and vehicles. Our guide very carefully saw us across the busy streets and took us into the various market streets in the bazaar.
We sampled some street food that he recommended and saw it being freshly cooked.
As it was the wedding season there were many young ladies with their families choosing their wedding outfits and others buying presents for Diwali.
Different streets specialized in different merchandise and there was a whole area devoted to wedding outfits for men and women. Elsewhere, we saw a man making sparkly bangles from resin. Their family had originated from Iran.
We tasted some chutney, kulfi, some Bombay mix and some samosas, but passed on the condensed milk sweets.
In one area we saw groups of men apparently chatting with men on motorbikes. They were dealing in jewellery and precious stones. Later on the streets became very crowded and on enquiring, we found out that the police were cracking down on traders displaying their goods out on the pavements and were closing the shops, whilst the traders were objecting and causing a blockage in the street. No doubt it will be in the news tomorrow.
The tour itself lasted over two hours and because of the traffic we didn’t get back to Dera Mandawa until after 7:00 pm. Nevertheless, we were able to have a light supper before going back to our room and packing for our 9:30 departure tomorrow to Fort Barli.