Old Red Eyes is Back

Wednesday 19 November 2008
Jaisalmer – Bikaner

As my battery had run out I decide to go back to the fort in the morning to take the pictures I couldn't the day before. I have to pay the 250 INR entrance fee again but at less that 4 GBP it's worth it. I do love this palace. It's smaller than Jodhpur and Bikaner but as ever I love the small winding passages and the golden stone, which adds plenty to the ambiance.

It's mildly disappointing that the morning sunlight renders the stone more harshly than the full-on early afternoon light, but I make do. I then wander around the rest of the fort, taking a few more pics including one ultra-cute photo of a puppy. As dogs run pretty much wild and un-neutered on the streets of India (and also dead, on the roads, with their guts ripped out) you see your fair share of puppies, which are as cute as hell and you can't help but love them.

After that we set off in the car to Bikaner and have an early lunch as there is no chance to eat in the last 250 km of the 325 km journey. This leaves me bloated, and as there's no chance of a loo (short of al fresco in the desert) most of the rest of the journey is spent managing my guts. Luckily Raj is there as ever to take my mind off things but talking about sex once again. He tells me even more about his experiences including stuff that you would never expect to hear ... I guess being away from your wife for two months at a time, at the age of 26, can do this to you. Man, with his sex drive the boy needs to get laid regularly. Let's just say that.

We stop at some random small town in the middle of nowhere to replace two tyres. It takes a fair while which of course give the locals a chance to get to know the only westerner they've seen in a few years probably. A bunch of schoolchildren were interested in me, and kept on coming up to me asking the same questions over again: what's your name and where are you from. I have to say it's great fun. Even on this Rajasthan tour which is so popular with tourists, when you stop and get out of your car anywhere that isn't one of the major towns, locals look at you like they've never seen a non-Indian before. It's good fun to meet their gaze with a heartfelt “Namaste” and see them smile back (or occasionally look away). After a while I started listening to my iPod to pass the time and a local came up to me and wanted to have a go. I played the same three Cornershop songs as before and he was into it as well – in fact he insisted on giving me his mobile number, not that I would have much need for it, but I understood the gesture.

As fate would have it less that 25 km from Bikaner there were some roadworks that meant driving over what was essentially rubble, and a few minutes later a puncture had worked its way out of one of the replaced tyres.

Once fixed we were soon into Bikaner which had its fair share of pollution. We had to take a detour into town as one of the bridges was being replaced (as you do) and then wait for a train to pass at a level crossing. We arrived at the fort in the centre of town just as the sun was setting, which gave it a dreamy pink glow.

We arrived at the hotel which was literally a building site – the place we wanted to go was booked out, but they were building a new place next door and there was one room complete, which I could stay in. In fact I was the first occupant of the new hotel, something that earned me a free ice cream for my troubles.

The existing, built hotel next door was the venue for dinner, which was very tasty indeed. But something truly amazing happened here. I checked my phone and you'd never believe it – there was wifi. And it was FREE! Not in Delhi, nor in Jaipur, Jodhpur or Jaisalmer did I ever find free wifi. But Bikaner, the most northwest habitable town in Rajastan and indeed this part of the border with Pakistan, was where we found free wifi.

So of course I make the most of it and upload a bunch of stuff and check out hotels in Bombay and so on. And after that, with Raj drunk as per usual, its time for bed.