Jodhpur and Udaipur

Sunday 21st November


The Germans left for Pushkar and i moved my stuff up to the roof where I will sleep tonight. $2. Shaved, which took ages, and looked for my hat put couldn't find it. Disappeared in a puff of exhaust fumes. Well, at least it gave a purpose to my meanderings around the streets of Jodphur.

The hostel is a bit away from the streets so quite peaceful, but as soon as I got down to the street the motorbike and tuk-tuk horns started ringing in my ears,and you think "here we go again".

Walked to the main square and the clock tower where the market was selling winter clothes; maybe the evenings seem cool to the locals? I ate where the Lonely Planet told me to: at the Omelette Shop which is a stall just outside the square. To be fair the cheese masala omelette in white bread was delicious and the owner managed to mention his LP recommendation in every other sentence, and gets everyone to sign a book saying how good the food is, while the omelette stalls nearby look on enviously. After some more walking i got makhania lassi (buttermilk with saffron), as recommended by the LP. That was also very good. So i had to buy a new hat but didnt really like the ones i found so settled for a cheap baseball cap until i can find something better.



Monday 22nd November

Not much sleep last night. So much for the fun of sleeping on the rooftop - mozzie city. I knew there were a few about but they don't normally bother me but i got fairly hammered. It was too hot to hide in my sleeping bag and even my sleep sack was a bit warm. And they were buzzing round my ears. Then there were a few spots of rain and i thought I would have to grab everything and go downstairs. And then of course, after not being able to sleep for ages, I overslept. Got up at 6:20am, packed up and headed down the hill and got a tuk-tuk across town to the bus station. English couple were there as expected. 7 hours on the bus to Udaipur, slept most of the way. Got our bags out of the boot and they are soaked from the rain leaking into the bus. My bag is filthy and some of my stuff is a bit wet but will soon dry out if the sun appears.

Later.............well the sun certainly didn't appear and it got colder and wetter. But there's plenty of people to hang out with here. Seven of us solo travellers went for dinner down by the water which was cool. I am happy travelling by myself but it can be a bit grim having dinner by yourself so it's good to have others to chat and hang out with in the evening. I just try to avoid all the cliche conversations about where you're from, where you have been, where you are going, for how long etc. cos that gets tedious. It rained in the night and the sound is amplified by the corrugated iron roof of my room.


Tuesday 23 November


Still cold and wet this morning, so i paid the rent for tonight and went back to bed until midday. Ventured out to get my bus ticket for tomorrow night, and got a chocolate brownie and overpriced cup of masala tea. Went for a long walk with journalist Will around the town, met the others and got an Indian snack from the roadside. Came back, read my book and had a cat nap. The hot water for the shower is solar powered and there has been no sun so i chickened out of a cold shower.

In the evening we headed to a restaurant heavily-populated by Israelis. As with many restaurants here, they show the Bond film Octopussy every night because alot of it was filmed here in Udaipur. We kind of recognised it although I havent seen much of the sights so far. The film seems very dated and has lots of stereotypes, but it was so bad it was funny. Excellent huge spring role for dinner. Its still freezing and damp, but I am stubbornly still wearing shorts.