After a remarkably comfortable night's sleep, with only a cold nose and ears to indicate the low temperatures that had been reached, I heard someone banging on a pan at about 6:45AM. In my half-awake state, I took this as a signal to turn over and snooze for another 15 minutes, but unfortunately it was meant to indicate that sunrise was imminent and we should get out of our tents ASAP. So I missed sunrise, but Kesh said it was less spectacular than the sunset had been. Breakfast consisted of a freshly cooked omelette with some chai, and at about 10AM Andy, Kesh, and I said our goodbyes to Susan and Steve, who were staying out in the desert for another day. One of the camel carts was emptied and all our bedding thrown in, which ... read more

I'm sure that many a lightweight backpacker has been lured to destruction by the siren song of King of Shaves. This product is a shaving oil that comes in an attractively small container, and claims to provide 100 shaves using only a few drops of the contents per shave. Unfortunately, missing from the small print is anything stating that it will clog up your razor in seconds, and that it is completely unsuitable for more than a couple of days' growth. This I discovered this morning. I may as well have been carrying a small slice of cheese for the assistance that it gave me while shaving - at least I could have eaten that. Consider yourself warned. Today turned out to be another admin day. Firstly I had to journey to Vijay's Guest House on ... read more

The SIM saga continued today, with the shop asking the hotel owner to give me a personal recommendation. After consulting with his lawyer, he refused to do so, claiming that if I subsequently committed a terrorist offence (the rationale behind needing the recommendation), he would be considered an accomplice. I could see where he was coming from, though I don't know why this wasn't a problem when I bought the SIM in Delhi, so I trudged back to the shop and told them the news. Of course, this wasn't an unsurmountable problem, and they decided to proceed with the application anyway. I won't go into all the gory details, but what with not being able to photocopy the relevant pages of my passport because of a powercut, as well as umpteen unsuccessful attempts by the shop ... read more

Fortunately my nose had stopped running, but my head was still heavy and my throat sore. A conversation with the owner enabled me to understand why there had been no hot water yesterday morning, and why I was unable to flush the loo last night. It seems as though there are scheduled power cuts between 9 and 10:30AM, and 1:30 and 3PM, every day, plus the water is turned off between about 10PM and 7AM. Hence I need to get up between 7 and 9AM in order to have a hot shower. I noticed that the family dog had been chained up, and the owner explained that this was because he was a little "enthusiastic" around new guests. Not wanting the poor beast to lose its freedom purely on my account, I said I'd be happy ... read more

I did not have the best night's sleep that was possible, due to a suspected cold that has so far created a permanently running nose, not to mention a (wedding?) party nearby that was rocking until the wee small hours. I was alarmed at the toll in bog roll that this was extracting but I have to have faith that, somewhere in this dry and dusty land, there is some aloe-impregnated 4-ply with my name on it. Though there are direct buses to Bikaner from Nawalgarh, Rajesh had advised me to go via Sikkar instead, a town about 40 minutes away on the bus. I was scammed by being charged 3 times the correct price, but as that still only came to Rs 42 there was no threat of bankruptcy. The journey gave me a completely ... read more