bikaner & deli

we stopped on route to bikaner at a rat temple. legend has it, or as the indians would tell you, it is a fact, that some fella tried to do a deal witht he god of death but was double crossed and in an effort to get his own back be turned 1500 storytellers into rats. the temple itself is one of the more shabby that i have seen, it also smells, not really suprising givne the 1000s of mangy rats that scurrey about he place. to be honest the rats didnt bother me so much as the flys. the indians come to give blessings here, the main one is to bring food which the rats then run over and they eat. i have had several blessings since i have been in india i didnt participate in this one. unfortunatley no phots as the desert broke my camera. ill have to buy a new one. we stopped in bikanner overnight, nothing really happened although i think i stayed in the hotest room ever.

the next day we had a mamouth 13 hour drive to deli, we left at 8, and the hours and the miles rolled past we grew a little bored. so first out came the cards then half a bottle of rum, which quickly disappeared, followed by numerous botles of rum and vodka, by the time we were driving into deli nick, sana, james and i were hammered. sana had a new sport of pinching hats and scarfes of indian guys as they drove past on their motor bikes, james was leaning out of the window shouting 'welcome to india'. that night we sat on the hotel roof and continued drinking till the small hours, some of the guys got very excited about a near by piza hut and ordered shit loads of pizza.


the next day i was struggling with a hang over and 45 degree heat i was dragged around some monuments, where helen decided she wanted her photo taken climing all over someones tomb. i pointed out that desicaration of graves was not veiwed favorably in most cultures but she seemed unfazed. we saw some other bits and bpeices which was all the standard fare. we also visited a mosque, which i found really calming, as the others wondered around taking snaps i sat in the sarong i was given to wear by a pool in the middle of the prayer ground and reflected. the sqarre and the surrounding redsih walls with the huge tower reminded me of the prision in shawshank redemption, i just wished that someone would play opera out of the loudspeaker and it would have been perfect. unfortunatley some fella just kept shouting in what i assume was arabic.

that night we all went for dinner to celebrate by birday, say goodbye to the people leaving the trip, Robyn & jesica, and say hello to the people joining, jeff ansy & rob, mel & paul, sarah & gemma, and an american called TJ. it was odd that everyone who joined at deli were just on a two week holiday and were traveling in a group. we were also joined by andy and becks, who work for dragoman but are passangers on this part of the trip, but will take over as the trip continues into packistan, with steve and adam going to africa. about 25 sat dowbn for food and beers. the girls had apparenty risked the lives in a tuk tuk with a driver who insisted on driving into on comming traffic while looking over his sholder at them and laughing to buy me some birthday gifts - a map of india signed by everyone, a sarong and some winter tonic which increases 'sexual strength'. i dont know why they thought i needed this. we were there for several hours leaving about 12, tring in vien to find a later night drinking haunt, but apparently everything closes at 12.30, only a handful of places remain open later and they are either rediculousley expensive or really seedy.

i think that deli was the calmest city i have visited although the population is in the 10s of millions there was space, it was quieter, its sometimes difficult to walk aroundt he big cities without suffering sensory overload. they seemed to follow some kind of road rules. but maybe i have been hear to long and just blank lots out as one of the girls, gemma, had acomplete flip out and after one day was ont he phone trying to arrange flights home.

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