Namaste! Greetings from Jaisalmer, near the Pakistan border. It's 40
degrees, there's a cow, a goat and two dogs outside the door, and we're in
the land of random.

We started in Delhi, based in Karol Bagh, a shopping district. With the
heat and humidity, plus the long flights in, we were worn out when we got
there, and even more overwhelmed once we got out and about - the begging
children, piles of rubbish, wandering cows, crazy tangles of electricity
cables and beeping of everyone, everywhere at everything took a couple of
days to get used to... but we're loving it.

The biggest thing we've noticed is the contrast between rich and poor - the
underground Metro system is cleaner, cheaper and more efficient than in
London and New York, yet above ground the buildings are so damaged and
unmaintained, and the people so poor that it's hard to work out how they
exist in the same place... it's impossible to describe - I think the photos
(once we find an internet cafe that doesn't work off the slowest dial up
ever) will say so much more.

After an 8 hour, cramped, hot, smelly, bumpy (but fun) bus ride, our next
stop was Mandawa, in the Shakrawati region of Rajhastan, where we stayed in
a beautiful Haveli - again, check out the pictures - every available space
is decorated on the walls inside and out, and they rub shells on the walls
inside the rooms to make it poisonous to mosquitoes. Mandawa was on the old
silk route, but is making its money now through tourism. The children were
all asking for biscuits and pens rather than money like in Delhi - it was a
lot more innocent there.... it was also the place where we both managed to
pick up a touch of the Delhi belly, although we're both recovered now - I
think that curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner would challenge anyone's
digestive system!

We rode by jeep to our next stop, Bikaner - not many tourists here at all,
the kids just stared at us open mouthed! All of the people that we've met
have been so friendly and happy and relaxed - the children just grin and say
hello! Some of them know english, german and french better than they know
Hindi. While Dave was recuperating, I went on a trip to a rat temple - the
rats are fed milk and sweets, the idea being that they will come back as
humans when they die and vice versa - although the implication of this is
that there are a lot of very fat rats running about... there was an
intensive sock-disinfecting session when I got back!

From Bikaner, we got a sleeper coach to Jaisalmer, which is where we are now
- it's in the desert, and because it's so near to the border there are a lot
of military about. All of the buildings here are made from a rich yellow
sandstone - including the huge fort on the hill above us, where a quarter of
the 58,000 population live.

We went on a camel safari into the desert - which was going well until our
guides started running - and the camels started galloping... a big rain
storm was coming in and we needed to get to the camp for safety...the sight
of the toilet tent blowing down just as we got there was ominous!! We sat
it out for a couple of hours, but our guide, (who was once lost in the
Himalayas for 21 days) decided it was too dangerous as the snakes had come
out - we got some emergency accommodation in a hotel near to town. The next
day when the camel boys went to get the rest of the stuff, the whole camp
had been flattened and the desert road flooded, so this was probably a good
move... not as dramatic as it sounds though - our guide knows his stuff!

We've hired a jeep to take us back into the desert tonight, as the weather
looks better, and we were really disappointed to miss out on the stars, so
we're going in after sunset for a few hours - if nothing else we can have a
good game of cards on the sand dunes :)

Right, it's lunchtime, and now our stomachs have settled down we're off to
get a cheese and pea curry and a nap... although don't get too jealous as
the electric's gone down in the hotel, so there's no air conditioning or
fans today... yep, it's still 40 degrees...

hope all is well in the UK, we'll be back on line with some photos soon,
Jemma & Dave xxx