We arrived in Jaisalmer at 10pm. We left Mt Abu at 8am. 14 bloody hours it took to get here! The Lonely Planet says there is a direct bus from Mt Abu to Jaisalmer which takes 11 hours. There isn’t. The Lonely Planet says there are A/C buses available. There aren’t. We sat on a hot sweaty bus for 7hrs to Jodphur. Bumping up and down and all over the place....
Firstly Happy Birthday to my dad! Sorry not there to see you. Hope you have a fab day and the card arrives in one piece without Rex chewing it up! x x x Mt Abu is unsurprisingly at the top of a mountain and the bus driver was a normal Indian driver – overtaking on bends and liking the edge of the road rather than the safer side. But we got here in one piece to another lake side town....
Yesterday went for a gorgeous romantic meal at Ambrai restaurant overlooking Lake Pichola, Lake Palace Hotel on Jagniwas Island and City Palace. Beautiful setting. Lush food. Worth every penny. We normally spend around 300 rupees on a meal. That was 1000. Which works out about the same as a Dominos pizza! Watched Octopussy in a lovely bar lazing on cushions on the floor. We recognised so much of the scenery. it was fun to do it....
We arrived in Udaipur late on 23rd and its not a bad substitute for Pushkar. So far in Udaipur:- cows blocking Daiji bridge- squealing chinese tourist! bathing ghats and old naked washing women rooftop sunsets beautiful lake and palaces good aubergine and tomato curry plus garlic cheese naan @ Jasmine restaurant by the bridge Quirky Vintage & Classic Car collection with veg thali – personal viewings of the cars including black Rolls Royce rfom Octopussy....
Today we leave Pushkar to go to Udaipur but it’s a shame to go as we’re loving it here. Even though it is a veggie, alcohol-free place! It’s a small town with winding streets full of market stalls surrounding a lake and itself surrounded by hills. Now we have been here a few days people are recognising us so we’re not being hassled so much. Rather just lots of Namastes and they let us move on....
Matt has promised to add some photos soon to help make this blog more interesting! (he says see flickr :) ) Had enough of the bugs and electricity cuts and dirty walls in Hotel Sanjay so we’ve moved to a quieter part of town to Hotel Rising Star. Only 300 rupees a night (£4.20) and its so much cleaner and lovelier than being on Sadar Bazaar. No views of the lake but we’re not that far away and in a cluster of other hotels recommended by LP....
Here are a few sayings that are no longer as descriptive as they once were: Wait until the cows come home Smaller than an ant
7am wakeup calls from the market traders and motorbikes in the street below didn’t deter us from the first lie-in in a while. Good old ear plugs. 11 o’clock we rolled into the Sadar Bazaar and mooched up the street looking for Laxmi market. Accosted by Gutar in Navjyoti Tailors he successfully flogged us some new traveller styley clothes so we can start to blend in more. All Matt needs now is a tan and he’d look the part....
Agra was a relief from Delhi as it wasn’t as hectic but it was very touristy and the tuk tuk drivers were there to get as much as poss out of you. Except perhaps our last guy Ahmed who arrived at our door at 4am to take us to the train station for our 5.10 train to Ajmer. This time we chose A/C Chair car so it was like being on a plane, not the comfiest to sleep in but we managed a few hours....
6am outside Tourists Rest House, no sign of our lift. Not surprised as we weren’t interested in his all day tour of Agra for 600 rupees. We just wanted a lift to the Taj Mahal and play it by ear. Found another keen soul who nicely ripped us off as he didn’t have any change. Then found out that he’d dropped us off at East Gate and the booking office was 1km away....