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Published: October 22nd 2006
Camel trek in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer
Sunrise...and the camels were ready for action!It's been a fun 10 days in India since I arrived in Delhi from Kathmandu on 11th October. I had a good couple of days in Kathmandu too, visiting a few buddhist temples during the day and chilling out in a few bars shooting some pool in the evening. The pool took a bit of getting used to out there - Nepalese rules - two shots don't carry, you can only play up the table if the white goes in, and you can't pot the black in the middle pocket at the end of a game! I got the hang of it though and managed to win a few games!
I met up with a cool Canadian dude at my hotel in Kathmandu called Ken. He gave me a lowdown on Thailand and Cambodia which will come in useful when I get there. The funny thing was he absolutely hated thai people with a passion! I asked him how things were out there and he said "Don't trust the thais man - they are all ****ing scumbags - they smile at you at first and are really polite - then when they have your money they all ***ing scowl and
walk away!". I asked him where he went to when he was there, and he said that he spent 3 months with some Buddhist monks in a remote monastry with a tame tiger in northern Thailand! Brilliant - top man!
The flight from Kathmandu was fine - I was sad to leave Nepal as I'd had a nice time there. I would definitely like to go back for some more trekking at some stage in the future.
I arrived in Delhi in the afternoon after already booking a hotel and also arranging an early morning train to Jaipur the following morning. It felt a bit strange coming back through Delhi again. This time round I felt a lot more prepared for "the onslaught". I still had the beggars, touts and rickshaw drivers coming up to me, but now I felt more able to either ignore them or say "Nahi danyavaad" (no thanks) and "Chello chello" (look - bugger off, I'm not interested) with far more conviction.
Nicer hotel in Delhi this time though - the Prince Polonia in Paharganj if anyone is interested. The manager came up trumps with a nice room, and my train ticket to
Camel trek in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer 7
Sunset in the desert and I seem to have sunk up to my knees in sand! Jaipur ready and waiting when I arrived. My room was on the roof beside an empty swimming pool which had, rather worrying, been closed "on government advice". Oh well - no swimming for me!
The following day I only just got my train after forgetting to put my clock forward 15 minutes from Nepal time (what a daft time difference!). I was leisurely walking down the stairs at 5.30am for my 6.00am train when the guy at reception informed me it was 5.45am! A mad journey in a rickshaw I spent most of which with my hands over my eyes got me to New Delhi station with 5 minutes to spare.
It was nice to go back to the Pearl Palace hotel in Jaipur. Mr Singh, the owner remembered me from last time and gave me a top drawer deluxe room for a good price. The main reason for going back to Jaipur was to take in the England vs India ICC trophy cricket match at the SMS Stadium on 15th October. I toddled off in the direction of the stadium from the hotel to buy my ticket the following morning only to hear a "OI MATE!!" coming
from the hotel reception. This middle-aged skinhead bloke with glasses came sauntering out. Phil was from Bolton and was over to watch the England matches in the ICC trophy in India because "getting tickets for the ashes is a ****ing joke". Anyway, he informed me for some bizarre reason you don't buy cricket tickets at the stadium - you have to buy them from the local bank. I thanked him for the tip and got a rickshaw down the chaotic MI road to the bank.
When I got to the snazzy ICICI bank, the ticket prices were incredible - cheapest 25 quid (about one months salary for the average Indian); 40 quid: 75 quid or.....1,800 quid! For 1,800 quid you sat with the local dignatories, drank and ate as much as you wanted, and....that's it. I said to the man behind the counter that 1,800 quid was slightly steep for a cricket match - "nearly all sold out" he said. Amazing. I went for the "cheap" seats after making sure I was in the shade!
I had two days in Jaipur before the game, so saw a few of the sights I missed first time around, including the
Me and my camel - Johnnie
I'm the one on the right. Do you like my ginger turban by the way? Janter Mantar (huge old observatory with loads of massive sundials) and the Hawa Mahal (an intricate hive of carved pinkstone towering over the main street in the old town). I went to the revolving restaurant called "Om" one night - very posh with great views - but it was my stomach doing the revolving afterwards, so I can't recommend it!
We had a real laugh at the cricket (irrespective of the result). I sat at first with Big Phil, who turned up and said "First things first - where do I put me flag?" He looked around, found a suitable bit of fence behind us and unfurled a union jack with "PHIL BOLTON ENGLAND" scrawled across it in felt tip pen. He had a bit of hassle with some Indian soldiers but they let him put it up in the end.
The cricket itself was dismal from an England perspective - the usual one-day batting collapse. There's an advertising campaign for Pepsi out here at the moment called "The Blue Billion" where Indian cricket fans say what mad things they'd get up to when India won a game of cricket. The chant at the end of the ad
Camel trek in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer 5
The inevitable "shadow pose" had to be done too! is "Ooh aah India!" (not dissimilar to "Oh ah Cantona" - or "Oh ah french w***er" - depending which footy team you support!). Anyway at each time an England batsman committed hari-kari, this song would be played at full volume as they trudged off the pitch. It made for a great atmosphere, with the whole stadium chanting "Oh ah India".
At the halfway point England were all out for 120 something. There wasn't anywhere much to go for food - just a place behind our seats selling dal and chapatis, and pepsi. "Not as good as Pakistan" seasoned overseas cricket watcher Phil moaned, "We had Pizza Hut and KFC in Lahore - I had a margherita for brekky and a zinger burger for me lunch". I personally yearned for the Wolff Blass tent at the Oval.
After 30 minutes of Indian batting hitting English bowling to all parts of the ground (cue more chants of "Oh ah India"), Phil said he had enough and was going for a beer. I almost joined him but I'm pleased I didn't. The floodlights came on, and Catherine and Louise, two girls from Battersea who were staying at my hotel, turned up
Camel trek in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer 3
Taking a well earned breather - it was 40 degrees + in the desert!! soon afterwards to savour the atmosphere. We ended up having a real laugh with the locals.
Kamal was one of around 200 people wearing pepsi tee-shirts. We asked him what the reason was.
"We are part of the blue billion" he said, "We all won a competition to come here to watch the game - free tickets, travel, over-night accomodation and un-limited pepsi".
"What did you have to do?" we asked.
"I said if India win the tournament I will have the shape of three stumps shaved into my head" he smiled, "Everyone here in tee shirts has said they'll do something mad if India win."
"Hmmm...", all three of us looked at each other with smirks on our faces.
"The thing is the amount of pepsi they've given us to drink. I have had 10 bottles already. I really can't drink anymore. I'll explode. Here take some vouchers" Kamal handed us some vouchers for complimentry pepsi from the chapati stand. "I've got another ten bottles waiting for me in my hotel" Kamal groaned, "I'm thinking of having a bath in pepsi when I get back".
I told him he may want to be tested for diabetes when he
Jantar Mantar in Jaipur's Old City
Not so much an observatory - more a home for giant sundials got home!
The rest of the game was taken up with the three of us shouting "Easy Easy" or "You're not very good" everytime England got rid of an Indian batsman, but it was all a bit forlorn and they ended up winning by 4 wickets. We came out of the ground and were approached by an Indian TV crew. They shoved a microphone under my nose and asked what I thought of England's performance. "Pants", I said "Complete pants".
They then asked Louise (who knows nothing about cricket) "the middle order didn't deliver - you must be disappointed?"
"Er..yes very very disappointed.Very....disappointed indeed. We're all really really disappointed"
We were saved by an Indian lady who was talking with Catherine next to us, "It's not the winning - it's the playing that counts anyway!" It sounded really cheesy but we all gave her a round of applause and beated a hasty retreat.
I said goodbye to everyone at the Pearl Palace for the last time that evening (Tom and Unwin, Catherine and Louise - hope we can keep in touch!) and made my way to Jaipur Junction for the 11.40pm train to Jaisalmer....that turned up at 1.45am.
England take the field at the SMS Stadium, Jaipur
"Why are we here again?"
"To play cricket I think" Oh well - I have the patience karma now that you need when you travel here. I sat in the waiting room on my rucksack and had a doze (Angela/Adrian - your rucksack very comfortable for snoozing at waiting rooms by the way - cheers!).
I got to Jaisalmer around 2.00pm the following day. What a strange but beautiful place. In the middle of the Thar Desert, it's the last major town in India you come to before you get to the Pakistan border. As a result there is a large army presence there. The main attraction though is the old fort, that is perched on a hill above the village like a giant sandcastle shimmering in the sun. From a distance it looks like something from a fairytale with it's gold coloured sandstone and ornate bastions. The fort is very much a living museum, with shops, hotels and restaurants all crammed into it's narrow streets. There is a real danger of the place being a victim of it's own success though, as it's old crumbling infratructure and drainage systems are unable to cope with the volume of usage mass tourism places upon it. As a result the fort
is literally sinking into the ground. They are making efforts to rectify the situation (it's one of World Heritage's 100 endangered monuments), but as long as the tourists keep pouring in, it's difficult to see how they can turn things around.
Great place to visit though. While I was there I went on an overnight camel trek into the Thar Desert. I had two camel drivers, Ramdan and Ali with me, who were great company. Ramdan was a great cook and managed to rustle up some great curries and fresh paratha bread very easily on the campfire. Ali tried his best at singing traditional camel-drivers songs but he sounded in pain most of the time. I didn't see another tourist for the whole trip, and it was a very leisurely, chilled out way to spend a couple of days - even if the backside was a bit tender after all that time in a camel saddle! The night I spent in the sand dunes in the open air staring up at the starry sky will stay long in the memory.
I'm now in Jodphur after a six hour train ride from Jaisalmer. Another great place. The is known
View of Jaisalmer Fort from my hotel
See what I mean about a giant sandcastle? as the blue city, and it's not difficult to see why - nearly all the buildings have a blue or indigo wash (used to repel insects and help keep the buildings cool apparently). Another huge fort sits above the city, and the old town below is a maze of alleyways and back streets. It was Diwali here yesterday - otherwise known as the festival of lights. It makes bonfire night back home seem like a pale imitation. You've never seen so many fireworks in your life!Everybody is in party mode - there's loads of decorations everywhere, and it's a great time for friends and families to get together and exchange gifts. My hotel, Singhvi's Haveli, laid on a buffet feast for us all, and a huge firework display from their roof overlooking the whole town. Great fun - even if one firework went horizontally into the guests and went off with a load bang! Luckily no one was hurt - just a few perferated eardrums!
So - almost at the end of my India part of my trip now. Last stop is Udaipur for a few days before making my way to Mumbai and my flight to Bangkok on
29th October. Will try and squeeze in one more blog if I get the chance.
Looking forward to seeing another part of the world though, with hopefully a trip to Laos before Terry and Jill arrive for 2 weeks of Thai island hopping and beaches, then a trip to Cambodia after they leave!
Til the next time....
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brill mate ! you're not related to thomas cook ,are you ?