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India 2004 -
continued
Friday
30/01/04
I arrived in Jodhpur safe and sound, and checked into a lovely room in
the Cosy Comfort Guesthouse, with hot water and TV. After a well
deserved shower, I went out to change some travellers cheques, and had
dinner in the hostel. A crappy Steven Seagal film was on, which is
always a bonus!
Saturday 31/01/04
I walked around the fort with Pascal, a Swiss cyclist who I got
talking to the previous night. the views out over the city were
amazing, and this picture shows some of the blue houses as seen through
a battlement. Had dinner back at the hotel, and then went to the
railway station where I caught the night train to Jaisalmer.
Sunday 01/02/04
Caught a jeep to an ok hotel, and after a nap and a shower, I booked to go on a camel safari starting that afternoon.
The safari! Got picked up by a jeep, and went first to a Jain temple,
which was very pretty but not exactly spectacular. Then I was taken to
the dunes, where I rode my first camel. No problems, but a bit of
chaffing around the balls area! Got off after an hour, and was pestered
by a series of kids whilst waiting for the sunset. I then rode the
camel back to camp, where I had a meal and discovered that because of
some Muslim holy day, I would be the only one going on the safari!
(This area being mainly Muslim). Normally there would be a couple of
hundred other tourists sleeping out in the desert, but today, it was
only me, and i fell asleep to the sound of drums and music drifting
across the desert night air.
Mon 02/02/04
Had an ok sleep, and after some early morning chai, it was back onto
the camel. Just the (not so happy because he couldn't go to the
religious party) guide and myself on the safari. Riding the camel was
fine, and I found them quite amusing. A little like old women, moaning
and nervous all the time. Stopped off at some dunes to do a spot of
dune jumping, and then rode on. Stopped off in the shade under a tree
for a long lunch, where we were joined by a goatherder who gave us some
goats milk for chai. Then we trotted off for the rendevous point. By
now, my legs were starting to ache just a touch, and so it wasn't
exactly with pleasure that I spotted the sight of a motorbike waiting
to pick me up, so that they could continue aching for a further 30
miles! The fact that the rider only looked twelve, and said that he had
only ridden the bike twice before (including the trip out to pick me
up) only added to the joy. No harm done though, as there wasn't too
much traffic, and so I got back to the hotel safe and sound.
Tues 03/02/04
The day didn't exactly go to plan. I checked out ok, had some
breakfast, and then went to use the internet. It was at the point where
it took three quarters of an hour to read one email that I knew how it
was going. I went back to the hotel to pick my stuff up, and the guy
behind the desk there said that the afternoon train was cancelled. At
first, I took this to be bullshit (a ruse to get me to stay another
night, or buy a more expensive ticket), but I went down to the station,
and yes, it was cancelled. I queued for an hour to get to the counter
to find out what was going on, but they didn't really know, and
couldn't guarantee to get me on on a train for the next day either.
They had another couple of options which didn't sound too promising, so
I decided that it would be better to get a bus instead. Back at the
hotel, I watched another marvelously bad Steven Seagal film called Exit Wounds.
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