Through a Long and Sleepless Night

Thursday 20 November 2008
Bikaner – Mandawa

For some reason I have really bad nightmares overnight. There's a serial killer on the loose and seemingly intent on getting me and the people I'm with (I can't even remember who they were). The weird thing is that this lasts for ages. Usually if I have bad dreams I just wake up or become conscious of it and change it to my benefit. But not this time.

Anyway I wake up eventually and have breakfast and do a bit more of wifi uploading. After that we head to the fort in Bikaner and for the third time I do the audio tour. It seems the guide books haven't caught up with the recent developments in fort tourism in Rajasthan. They only mention Jodhpur as having worthwhile audio guides, but the last three places all have good audio tours. Indeed, the one in Bikaner is done by the same company and narrator as the one Jodhpur.

The fort is large and parts of the tour are through empty corridors or spaces that have no displays in them. Probably as there's just too much space to fill up. They've put a Lancaster bomber in one room, just because it's quite big and fits quite well (that's not strictly true but it sounds good).

After that we head out on the road, stopping at a camel farm which is closed, though it's no problem. There's only so many camels you can look at before you get the general idea. We stop at what Raj tells me is the famous Rat Temple where rats are considered holy and worshipped. But it's not, it's some surreal Disneyland-style temple to Ganesha that still seems to be in the process of being built. Given that Ganesha is the god of good luck I think Raj just wanted me to help out with his bad run of luck. The Rat Temple is in the opposite direction to which we're going anyway.

Of course we talk about sex again. I wonder if Raj thinks about anything else? We arrive at Fatehpur and visit another haveli run by French people. They have some cute dogs which I play with and take photos of. After that we head off to Mendawa and check into the hotel.
I check the internet at the hotel and update my blog offline. That evening it's drinks and food on the roof terrace of the hotel with Raj and another driver. Raj asks to borrow another 50 INR from me. Given that he already owes me 3360 INR I initially refuse. However it seriously upsets him and after a while I relent. I better get my money back or he'll receive no tip from in me – it would amount to pretty much the same thing anyway.

Once again Raj wants me to try it on with some girl – any girl – that's in the vicinity. Of course the intention is to acquire one for me and one for him. Given that the only girls are two French girls both with their respective partners sitting right next to them, for some reason I decline. He really is desperate.

After a while I turn in as there's only so much drunk Raj that you'd want to experience for any given period of time. Unfortunately some locals are having a mini party in one of the rooms nearby, playing live music with harmonium, drum and singing. It sounds good but I don't want to hear it as I'm trying to get to sleep. I set my iPod to white noise. Looks like another “interesting” night ahead.