20th Feb
Arrived to a sunny Jaselmere, greeted off the train by a cracking view of the Fort perched above the surrounding Thar desert. Quickly sorted guesthouse within the fort before wandering the ridiculous maze of alleyways. Booked a camel safari for tomorrow, and also found s*** alley.. where literally everything is covered in foeces. Some things dont change.

21st
Made our way our pick up point for camel trekking, meeting up with a german couple who were doing the same. A quick chai before picked up by a jeep. Stopped at an abandoned town in the middle of the desert.. Left for good when a new land tax was implemented.
We then were first introduced to our transport for the next 2 days- a herd of gigantic camels.. some of which seemed quite badly behaved. After hearing an army officer had to have surgery after being bitten by one we, kept our eyes out for a stray camel bite! After commendeering said unruly camels we commenced our trek into the desert. Lunchstop was a hearty potato curry. We were joined by an ancient desert man with an even more ancient rifle used to shoot wild dogs. After trekking some more with our camel train (thats actually what its called) we set up camp on some awesome but very windy sand dunes. Very sandy surprisingly. Eyes ears beards and pockets were filled with sand in a good 10minutes. Even the potato dinnet had a fantastic seasoning of sand.. and more sand. Of paticular delight was the sandy beer to wash it down with. Camp here with a large french family. Slept on rugs under cool night sky. Probably ate a good few bugs in the night seeming as they're everywhere. Woke up bright and early for a cracking view of sunrise over the dunes. Good brekky of eggs and toast and sand, and set off back for Jaselmere. Careful to take all our rubbish back with us too. We saw a camel sneeze
out a 4 inch long grub which was nice.... all over joshes leg.
Nice hot shower when back in hostel.
23rd

Last day in Jaselmere. Bit the bullet and shed out 300rupees for a ticket into the royal palace. Audio tour was definately worth it. Jaselmere claims tp be one of the only forts not defeated when under siege.. but we then learnt that this was only because when in a tight spot the would all commit suicide rather than be taken over. And apparently this somehow doesnt count.?!?!. Strange.
Left Jaselmere for Delhi

24th Feb

Arrived in Delhi, the last place on our 2 month tour of India. Caught the impressively new metro across to Pahargang, a grubby but cool backpacker focused area full of hostels, cheap food and shops selling the usual rubbish. This was a stark contrast to the miles of shanty towns built up along the rail lines. Crazy poverty and stark contrasts here in Delhi. Sorted our Vietnamese visa and had a fantastic chicken curry in the evening.