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Published: December 11th 2005
Finally a hotel with unlimited hot water! Unfortunately the shower is another one that is reluctant to emit water in anything other than a dribble, so I got another chance to practise my bucket bath technique.
As I left my room, I bumped into the Canadian guy, who explained conspiratorially that he had already told Jitu that the evening's entertainment had been overpriced. I spoke with Fifu later, and he was very fair about it all. In fact he even asked me to name my price, and I suggested 50% of the cost, which he accepted. This was not the only demonstration of good service that I had during my stay.
I went over to Jaisalmer Fort today. It towers over the rest of the town, and appears to be hewn out of the solid sandstone rock. It's not for nothing that it's known as the "Golden City". Some of the carving is amazing - it's as delicate as filigree but in stone. The best examples of this type of ornamentation were in the Maharawal's Palace, which also possesses the highest point in the Fort, from where you have panoramic views of the surrounding desert (as well as a
large wind farm to the north).
After the palace, I visited a string of Jain temples, which boast an incredible number of carvings of their own. No square inch is left untouched. I was hassled a lot by the temple elders to make donations, despite already having had to pay for admission, plus a punitive camera fee.
I was offered a shoeshine by an enterprising young boy though, in this dusty, sandy environment, I can't think of a less necessary service.
After a morning of sightseeing, I was spent, so I returned to the guest house and spent the rest of the day on the rooftop terrace. There are a lot of very tame and very greedy sparrows who sit expectantly on your table and the surrounding chairs, waiting for a crumb or two of chapati. If you take your eye off your food for a moment, you'll find them on your plate or even perched on the edge of your glass, which can't be hygienic.
The American couple from yesterday (Tammy and Dave) were still around, so we exchanged India experiences so far. Another English guy turned up, causing Dave to comment "Like another wanker
over here" as an introduction to me. I spent an hour on Fifu's computer, wading through a load of e-mails over a slow connection, but eventually gave up because the keyboard must have been German so some of my sentences looked like gibberish (the y and z are exchanged, God knows where the ! was, etc).
Dinner consisted of 2 courses. First Dave, who owns a gourmet pizza restaurant in Idaho, rustled up a few pizzas, of which I had a slice, and then I had some Indian. It's been a long time since I've eaten meat ...
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