Jaisalmer

So we have been to the Red Fort in Delhi, the Red Fort in Agra, the Amber Fort in Jodphur and now we go to the Golden Fort in Jaisalmer which is out in a region known as the Thar desert. There was a slight problem though, as it was Diwali week and a public holiday for the Indians all week and the day we wanted to travel, the train was booked solid for the whole week. So it was the bus option for us which we dreaded as the last time we were in India we had some bad experiences with the buses so did not want to repeat the nightmare again. We did our research but it was all a bit vague online but we picked a company that we thought we would arrive at our destination in one piece, alive, and with our luggage intact called Jain travel which had average reviews but to be honest they were all pretty bad. We rocked up at their office near the train station and found no-one there but a 'friendly' Indian insisted we waited and the dude would be back shortly. So we waited for 15 minutes and sure enough this smiley but slightly creepy guy showed up and offered us the bus tickets which he wrote out and presented to us. Then he asked for the fee which we already knew the cost of as we researched it on their website but he was asking 35% extra, so we asked him why it was so expensive. He made a phone call to 'check' with the 'office' of the price and confirmed there was no discount. We then checked the so called ticket and wondered why it had no seat allocation. At this point Mr Smiley started getting shirty with us so we went online on the phone to see if he did actually book the tickets for us but he already knew we were on to him and started slamming things around, shouting some Hindi expletives then he jumped on to the back of a bike and off he went leaving us standing there. Turns out it was just a scam and the office was a front to relieve tourists of their money so we escaped that one luckily. It seemed there was a couple of dudes in on it who vanished pretty pronto as they do when your looking for vengeance but that's India all over. I could go on for hours about how many times we have knowingly avoided scams and I don't want to think about the ones which we are unaware of where we did get duped.
  Anyway a quick search on the phone gave us the real address of the bus company and we got the tickets at the right price for a nice 6am start. The bus pulled up next day and it looked mildly roadworthy which we were initially pleased about and our luggage being locked securely away underneath. That's about as good as it got. The quoted 6 hour journey turned into over 7hrs and the bus would stop anywhere and everywhere as it slowly trawled for passengers across town as it will not leave until full. We paid extra to have an A/C bus, but guess what? It didn't work and as we hit the desert the bus became pretty rammed and inside became like an oven as there we people all over the place, in the aisle, in the stairwell, on the engine bay. It must have been a good bus company though as there was (as far as we know) no-one sitting on the roof or hanging off the sides like you see on TV. Also there were no toilet stops so you were afraid to drink any water because of the heat in case you had an accident during the journey.  So after 7 hours they dumped us off just outside Jaisalmer in the blazing heat of the midday sun where the rickshaw mafia descended on us as usual so Kathy curtly told them what they could do with their offers of over priced transport. They got the message and dispersed. We have made an interesting observation that Indian men do not like confrontation with mad English women especially when they get angry and give them a salvo of their thoughts. I am so proud of her as Indians don't give women a lot of respect here.

I wish we had kept our house flood insurance up to date.

   A phone call to the hotel got us picked up which was lucky as our room was inside the ramparts of the actual fort and the breakfast area was on the battlements over looking the town of Jaisalmer and off into the desert. We would never have found it on our own through the maze of medieval streets. We were unsure whether to visit here as it was so far from Delhi which we had to get back to to fly out and also it is not far from the border with Pakistan but our fears were quickly quashed as it turned out to be a stunning location and the fort was spectacular with its golden hue walls looking like the whole structure was built of honeycomb sitting on a stark bluff rising out of the desert. The beauty of this fort was that it was occupied by the locals and was like a normal village inside unlike all the other forts which were solely for tourists. Roaming the streets was magical as it transported us back in time to when it was built for this purpose to house and protect the inhabitants from alien invasions. We whiled away a couple of days walking around checking out stuff within and outside the castle walls like the lake, just enjoying the atmosphere and ancient monuments.

Kathy takes her hotel room security very seriously.

 Kathy was suffering from the pollution in India which has been horrific since we arrived and she had contracted a sinus issue so was ordered to rest in the room so it gave me a chance to strike out on my own. I quickly acquired a motorbike and roared off into the desert for about 45km until I came to a place called Sam which had sand dunes where you act out your Lawrence of Arabia fantasy and take a camel to transverse the dunes. Funny enough though real life isn't so perfect as riding a camel is really uncomfortable and the sun cooks you like an egg as you have to cover up to protect yourself from getting burnt. Half an hour was enough for me so I got the guide to take me back to some shelter before I had sunstroke.

Lawrence of Arabia was well pleased with his new man bag.

 I stopped at a far out place in the desert on the way back for a spot of lunch and I think I was the first white man to ever frequent this area since as soon as I pulled up a seat in this dust bowl of what can only be described as a 3 sided shack with a couple of plastic chairs and a swarm of flies for company, than out of the woodwork gradually appeared one after another a procession of swarthy looking Indians who looked like they had faces constructed of leather and features which the word emaciated would not do them any justice. Anyway about 20 of them rocked up and positioned themselves around me, piercing me with their intriguing stares but not saying anything. I felt I should grab a guitar and knock out some old tunes to pacify their expectation of a lone white man on motorbike arriving from nowhere to their humble arena. I broke the silence with a "Hello" which went down with a good response but then I found out no-one spoke any English. Sign language followed to indicate I wanted feeding and someone was dispatched after an exchange of Hindi between them and 2 minutes later a boy of about 12 showed up who spoke a sprinkling of English and first contact was made. After I established there was no menu, and in fact bugger all food here, I managed to persuade them to knock me up a tomato omelette in the kitchen (that looked like someone had died in there and been allowed to rot away naturally as a mark of respect to their time served there). My hunger got the better of me so I took a gamble as to whether this meal was going to secure me to the toilet for the next 3 days or permit me to carry on my merry way without incident. It's very unnerving having 20 people watch you in close scrutiny every mouthful you cut up and put in your mouth like you are a being from another dimension to watch the consequence of these actions. Anyway it tasted all right so I ate it all, handed over my 65p and for their entertainment as it was a hire bike done a couple of doughnuts in the dust, engulfing their little clan in my dust and peeling out into the desert again. They seemed pleased with my efforts and gave me a parting wave as I headed back to base.

I just could not get my knee down on the desert road twisties.

 Later that evening I had to return the bike so rode down to the vendor who asked me to sign his customer satisfaction book and write a comment. Not something I usually do, I was hesitant at first as I wanted to score some beers before the beer shop closed (they shut at 8pm sharp!) but he was polite for a change so I opened the latest page where the previous respondent had written;
  "I rode this bike all the way on the limit, really screwing up the engine and totally abused the piece of crap until it was scrap and returned it to the owner job done."
 It was obvious that the owner did not read his own feedback so I wrote something along similar lines for my own amusement but just raised it a notch so the next renter can have a chuckle at it and carry on the momentum. LOL!. I closed the book and returned it to him and he thanked me for my contribution to his business. Beers secured at the last knockings luckily I returned to my patient who decided she was not ill enough to avoid sinking a couple of cold, extra strong Kingfisher beers (medicinal?).

I could not believe I forgot my bucket and spade on this trip.

  Another interesting fact about Jaisalmer is that it has a government approved Bhang shop.  What is Bhang I hear you cry? Well, it is basically ground up buds from the cannabis plant (so the owner told us) which the locals take to help them with their spiritual journeys when they are engaging with their gods during meditation. It is mixed into a full bodied type milkshake called a lassi (nothing to do with dogs from the 70's) which you just drink as normal. Well, Kathy and myself are always up for a spiritual adventure, so as they they say, 'when in Rome' we shared a small lassi to see if it was all hype. It didn't taste like anything was in it and was a very small cup to share and we could not detect any added ingredients. We finished the drink and left feeling like we had been ripped off again and trudged back to the room. About 2 hours later back in the room we were formally introduced to the Hindu gods Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh and Hamunan and had a lovely spiritual journey with them and a real quality sleep. What a great government they have here!
  We will be very sad to leave Jaisalmer as it was a real class destination but we booked another train back to Jodhpur where we will stop for one night and then take another bus next day to Udaipur as we did not fancy the 12 hour (read 15 hour really) sleeper bus from Jaisalmer so have split the journey into two 6 hours bitesize chunks.

Our sandcastle won best newcomer 2017.