Jaisalmer - Jodhpur

Im not sure if we are currently under attack or there are fire works outside our room but Rudi hasn’t come running out of the shower so ill just keep typing and hope it is the second option! We are in Jodhpur tonight…The Blue City! On our quick glimpse of it as we arrived it wasn’t as blue as I had expected of a blue city but definitely a place the smurfs would love! This morning we were in Jaisalmer still so after breakfast we took one last stroll down to the Fort and were attacked by the same women as we were the previous day to buy jewellery and bracelets! The more you ignore them the louder the scream “MAM HELLO!” Anyway we managed to pass them without spending any money an improvement for Rudi from yesterday! We went to a temple inside the fort but it wasn’t anything to spectacular! We slowly wandered back and stopped at the pharmacy for a few necessities and a needle! I was sure he would think I was a junky so I showed him my finger which has had a prickle in it since the camel safari several days ago and had started to get pussy! He kindly gave me a sealed disposable needle for free! We returned to our hotel to wait for Sud where I performed some quick surgery on my finger, we said goodbye to the wonderful staff at our hotel, had a photo with Ricky Martin our chef who speaks poor English yet loved to chat to us whenever he wasn’t cooking and then off we headed on the road to Jodhpur about a 5hr drive! We stopped a couple of hours in at a city called Pokaran to check out the fort. It was pretty nice, yet not as spectacular as Bikaner Fort! We had a lovely young man guide us around for about 1/2hr which we weren’t sure whether we were supposed to pay but since we had paid to get in and he didn’t ask us we chose the cheaper option! I was called by a lady sitting in the temple to come over and she had an orange powder which she used to put a dot on my forehead…she said it was very lucky! We then kept wondering and ended up at another temple where another lady called us over this time Rudi and I both got dotted! We then hit the road again…looking more Indian than when we had got out of the car! We stopped for a quick bite of lunch but was fairly expensive for here so we didn’t order too much! The road turned quite rough for about the last hour of the journey but we safely arrived in Jodhpur…not our hotel though. Sud explained to us he could not get the car down the narrow streets so he was dropping us off in the carpark and we would need to get a rickshaw to our hotel and meet him back at the same carpark tomorrow! We were in the middle of crazy town and had no idea how we were ever going to find our way back as the rickshaw ride was about 4km! Sud wrote down the name of the place we had to come back to and negotiated us a deal with a rickshaw driver! He told us to message him when we arrived at our hotel so he knew we were ok, he’s such a cutie! This was our first Rickshaw ride and was actually quite fun! I think because we are used to the traffic it wasn’t as scary as it would have been a week ago! Still pretty crazy though barely missing people, other cars, motorbikes! Rudi said it was like a roller coaster ride…the driver just almost changed direction instantly and always at the last second! When he pulled up he said we had to walk up a lil alley. We followed some signs and the little alley turned into a big hill and we eventually found our hotel a little short of breath! We checked in to our run down looking blue hotel ‘The Cosy Guest House’ but it has a lot of character and lots of nice painted walls. The people here are also very friendly and the man that runs the hotel is called Josie and he told us “If you don’t feel cosy then you don’t pay Josie!” I haven’t stopped saying it since! Sad I know! We headed to the rooftop to check out the view and it is also quite beautiful with the fort on a hill similar to Jaisalmer but not quite as big or detailed! We had a drink and played some cards and then in the darkness I spotted a rather large monkey on the rooftop next door! It was dark already so we couldn’t get a good picture but it was the first monkey we have seen on our trip except at the monkey temple we drove past in Delhi so we are excited to go monkey hunting in the morning! We have had a yummy dinner and now just winding down! Im off to shower coz Rudi said the water is hot! Will be our first hot shower in 4 days and I’m dying to wash my hair! Early start tomorrow and hopefully we will find our way back via the Rickshaw to meet our driver!

Lessons Learnt So Far continued!:
* Do not sleep whilst driving around India as this can result in whiplash due to sudden breaking due to large pot holes, cows on the road or a large truck coming head on! Stay alert and in the brace position!
* When offered chai in an Indian home do not refuse and then jokingly ask for opium…”it is illegal but in India anything is possible!”
* Wear fake tan whilst in India to look like an Indian…things are (no joke) 100 times cheaper if you are Indian!
* When placed in the situation with one hungry Indian boy trying to sell you a piece of rock always carry a banana. It is better to give than receive!
*850 rupees a night does not get you hot water or a bed that you fit in or sheets that fit the bed you don’t fit in. It does get you 30cms of toilet paper though!
* Practice yoga before coming to India…you need all sorts of weird and wonderful positions in the shower to avoid the stray sprays from the shower head going in your mouth! The limbo would be great practice for washing your hair too!