Internet speeds in this part of the country leave a lot to be desired which is why its taken me this long to write. This entry is also about Jodhpur as well as Jaisalmer as for some bizarre reasons i cant edit the other entry. Anyway. Jodhpur - absolutely loved it. A blue and brown city with a large fort in the middle overlooking the spectacular desert city. The blue washed buildings and havelis are mostly designed square with a courtyard in the middle to keep out the heat and the mossies, and apparently painting them blue repels mossies too and makes it cool. but i think they just really like blue. we stayed at a beautiful haveli in the old city. and from the rooftop great views of the fort. the fort has been beautifully restored and is pretty magestic as you can see from the photo. got talking to a lady at a restuarant and she offered to teach me how to make rajasthani thali. not knowing what this was i agreed, and the class was fun and totally unique, but the food wasnt really to my taste unfortunately. in india these things hapen though, you never know who you'll meet and offer what. its exciting. did a solo shop and sat on the floor of a fabric shop picking out beautiful fabrics from the masses. bought lots of fruit and got suckered into buying more bangles (they're everywhere!!) from a street stall. so we spent a few chilled days in jodhpur enjoying the serenity - for some reason there's less pollution, less traffic, less hooting and less smell of urine and faeces while you walk down the street here and no beggars or lepers, which was a nice change, even though theres 800,000 people. and its not touristy at all. compared to other places. we decided on the 4th day to head out to the small desert town of Jaisalmer about 100km from the pakistan border. the bus ride was one of the less hectic as the roads are tarred and maintained by the army base out here. as we approached jaislmer you can see the beautiful fort glistening in the desert, it looks more like a giant sandcastle you would biuld at the beach rather than a fort. its a living fort so there are restaurants, shops, guesthouses and the likes. its a world heritage site, so ther govt is trying to crack down on ppl staying within the fort walls as its taking a strain. they are trying to restore parts, but some of it is in pretty bad shape. its got a magical arabian feel to it and is a lot more 'real' than the jodhpur fort in that its not beautifully maintained and not strictly govt run. the only problem with jaislemer is the tourism, altho its what brings in the money for the ppl, its SO touristy. most tourists come here to do a camel safari, but paul and i deiced we'd rather do an elephant one or tiger one later in the trip. it all just seems way too fake. you can walk around the fort in about an hour and there is a palace within you can visit too. its pretty amazing and is seeped in history. the people on the sreet constantly asking "where you from" and "hello, which country" is driving me insane and ive started ignoring them. they just want to make a sale and its irritating beyond belief. all in all jaisalmer is a pretty quaint and sweet desert edged town, and was worth spending a few days here. we have been kept up for 3 nights by hoardes of wild dogs howling outside our window every night, but aside from that we're all healthy and good! especially since we've found a bakery that sells the best cinnamon rolls ever, and a tibetan restaurant selling scrummy momos. this makes me happy. this arvo we;'re getting a sleeper bus(yeah a bed in a bus?) to Udapuir about 300km south east of jaisalmer. sorry about this spelling, this keyboard is crap! hope everyone is well. julia