Jaisalmer

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The overnight train to Jaisalmer was great, because we again had a 2 berth cabin to ourselves, and a good long sleep. Still not very well, especially Fred, and so took it very very easy in Jaisalmer. I went to the chemist while Fred was asleep and sought advice....was expecting to buy diarolyte or similar...but instead they sold me some antibiotics. I was a bit dubious about over the counter antibiotics like this; having spent years working for the NHS where everything is highly regulated, and antibiotics individually prescribed and packaged with a patient information leaflet. Anyway, my doubts proved unjustified, as the antibiotics worked like magic as a cure. Fred was able to enjoy watching India/Pakistan cricket on TV in bed, and I was able to enjoy a feelgood Bollywood film with english subtitles in the roof restuarant later that day.

Jaisalmer is quite a small town surrounded by desert with sandy looking soil, small scrubby trees and the occasional goats or camel. It has quite a nice unthreatening smalltown feel to it, and less litter than other places we have been to in India. (We saw an old lady collecting old plastic bottles in a sack.....similar to New York where we saw elderly chinese doing this....dont know if she gets money for recycling them). Both girls and boys are out playing hopscotch and bike riding in the small street near the hotel. The hotel has an amazing view of the old sandstone fort from the rooftop, and a bit of a laidback hippy feel to it (hammock and cushions on roof). As the rooms sell out the manager puts 2 person pop up tents, for a cheaper rent, up on the roof!

We were not up to adventurous stuff like camel riding in the desert because of our health, but able to walk around the old town inside the fort and visit the City Palace when feeling better. Here every building has beautiful patterned stonework, but this is especially intricate in the city palace and around the walls of the Jain temple. The sandstone buildings look especially lovely in the late afternoon sun.

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