Rajasthan - Last stop!

This is Elvis and I having a 'splurge'! We had one night staying at Fort Rajwada, Jaisalmer. It's a modern place built to an ancient Indian design. As only fools like us holiday in such heat the hotel was just about empty (hence the 'splurge' as it was cheap!) and we had the place to ourselves.



This is Jaisalmer Fort, a warren of narrow streets carved from sandstone harbouring a palace, temples and many simples havelis (traditional residences often very ornate). The fort was built in 1156 and stands proud on Trikuta Hill. 25% of the old city's population live within the fort walls and it's an extraordinary place to wander round.

Unfortunately ('Environmental hat' on here - the fort is sinking into the hill due to the pressure on the drainage system from increased tourism and its now one of the world's most endangered monuments, shame eh!)
These ladies carry all sorts of things on their heads, the strangest one we've seen is a woman with a full bag of cement on her head!




Me preparing myself for a welcome dip, eeee it was like having your own pool (look carefully, I am there at the far end!)











Another view of the magnificent fort.

Now who is this little Indian beauty I hear you all say! Don't worry she hasn't 'turned' Hindu and been sold to the Maharaja as 'another' wife! She's still mine! This is Elvis sporting her new sari, she got lots of compliments from the locals. It might not be worn on a Friday night in Sun'lun town centre but I'm sure if any of you girls would like to see it, she wouldn't take too much persuading! For a free cup of tea - if you unfurled Elvis's Sari (ooerrr) how long would it be? The nearest guess wins the tea!

This is Tilon-ki-Pol, leading to Gadi Sagar. A good little story about this - it's said to have been built by a prostitute. The maharajah refused her permission on the grounds that he would have to pass under it to get to the lake and he felt this was beneath his dignity. Whilst the king was away she built the gate anyway and added a Krishna temple on the top so he couldn't tear it down, clever eh!

A full length view of the very gorgeous Indian/British girl!

This is the entrance to our hotel. The lovely guy at the gate saluted every time we went past him. Gee, we felt like royalty!

As we left the next day, we were 'treated' to a full sandstorm (from the safety of the car) as you can see the visibility drops dramatically and it looks like a very hostile place.

I wanted to get a picture of a REALLY full truck, but this was the best I could get. Some of the trucks are so overloaded that the wagon looks tiny in the middle. We've seen a few lying overturned on the side of the road a few times to!

Now this scene is commonplace in India. Cows are sacred over here and boy do they know it. There is ALWAYS at least one wandering down the road with the traffic just weaving it's way around it. One morning there was one just sitting in the middle of the road during rush hour traffic, a bit like a cow making it's self comfortable in the middle of Durham Road at 8.30am on a workday!


This is the sun setting over the red fort at Bikaner - last stop before Delhi.

This is our driver Subhash. A man of few words many which were mumbled as he 'chewed' his tobacco. He was a very creative driver. If he had just 'loaded' his gob with baccy, any communication was made by grunts and eyebrow raising that we eventually learned the meaning. Once an unfortunate petrol pump attendant didn't get his drift, so a jet of brown liquid was aimed at his feet - lesson learnt!

Back in Delhi and straight into action! This is me at yet another cooking class! This time I'm learning how to conjure up delights from Northern India - play your cards right and some of you may be able to test my skills!

Cup of tea carry on: Great timing June, first time answering questions and first time a winner - with time running out you've bagged yourself a free cuppa, you must be truly delighted (he he)! Camels are the reason the trees look so straight along the bottom, well done the rest of you with your guesses, although those who didn't win are no doubt going to accuse me of not wording the question right - tough we're the boss and June knew what we meant!!!

After all of this it was off on another flight! But in the words of 'The Credence' - 'Bother me tomorrow, today I'll bag no sorrow' - Next report from Kerala - that's South India to you land lubbers!