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Namaste from the beach! Sorry for the highbrow blogging dudes and dudettes (No I am not a hippy). I shall try and control my natural wordsmithering for another time. Also, apologies for the distinct lack of blog but travel out here involves a lot of time, sweat and crucially - immodium. Also, I've been to some places where the tinternet hasn't quite reached and I'm not talking about Essex. Here is the much anticipated blog in all it's bare faced naked bloginess..
Thank you for all the witty comments on the message board. It really cheers me up to hear such sarcasm. (All I can get from the locals is genuine interest combined with deeply personal and incessant questioning. It is very friendly but can get slightly irksome when people ask your salary - not much! - or your Gran's starsign when you've been sat on a bus for 7 hours. Probably can't repond to them all so I'll just say to HC that pantwatch is fairly dull at the moment but if you switch on in 3 weeks a lot might have happened. As a piece of (too much) information I arrived with 5 trusty pairs of boxers. Excessive for 8 months? On a similar subject it should be reported that Beardwatch is also at a mundane stage with little cultivation but that I've shaved my head - with my beardtrimmer! - to remove my scraggy curls. I now look like a true Brit on the beach. Pass me that handkerchief!
Anyway, I digress..
Yes, you'll be pleased to know I'm at the beach. Not sure how long I can last. Admittedly, I'm a bum, just not a beach bum. It looks lovely from first observations and as an ex Portugese colony has a distinct European feel which is comforting. Especially having seen something of the smog and dirt of Indian city life - seriously I've seen people sweep rubbish up into piles in the street and leave it there, akin to me shuffling bits of paper around on my desk probably! Hoping to laze about for the next few days to pysche myself up for a probable 24hr bus ride to Mumbai. I've found a decent internet terminal here so will upload some photos in the next few days I hope.
Last you heard I was on my way to the region (and dry state) of Gujurat - where most Patels come from the Lonely Planet tells me! I wasn't able to leave Rajasthan as quickly as I wanted since trains are incredibly popular and I hadn't reserved a seat in advance. Therefore, after a mere 5 hrs bus journey from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur (the Blue City) I appeared to have arrived in another chaotic and polluted city (I've decided rickshaw drivers are the main culprits of stuff over here and are unfortunately the people backpackers will come into most frequent contact with). I wrestled my way to the front of the 'queue' for a train ticket to Ahmedabad but since I hadn't pre-booked there were none available. Luckily, a fellow traveller took me under their wing and recomended a really cool place to stay - Cosy Guest House - which lived up to it's name. Here I was able to cast off my (mainly rickshaw induced) preconceptions about Jodphur and discover that it was my favourite place in Rajasthan. Think this was mainly due to feeling relaxed in a guesthouse which nestles in the old part of the City under the watchful gaze of the towering fort known as Mehrangarh. It's got to be one of the biggest Castles (let's jettison the fort word from here!) I've ever seen. Seem to remember Caernarvon being quite big so maybe a similar size castle buffs?
2 nights in Jodhpur was plenty and feeling I've been overdoing the history, I arrived in Junagadh a mammoth 19 hrs and 2 bus rides later. Visited the Zoo and was reminded of how moraaly ambiguous those places are. Neglected the challenge of the 7000 - 12,000 steps (depends on which guide book you read) to reach some temples at the top of a nearby mountain and Junagadh's main tourist attraction. Felt bad and a little fat as a result. Junagadh (completely unpronouncable btw) was my stopping off point before embarking on a Lion safari from the village of Sasan Gir. Home of the last 300 Asiatic Lions on the planet, I wasn't lukcy enough to spot one in the wild. I think 'Safari' in Africa and Asia are quite different experiences. Maybe I'm wrong but a trek Beth and I once did in Thailand with pretensions of seeing some snakes, monkeys, elephants etc once yielded just a blackbird. Which I missed incidentally (I'm not bitter!). Hopefully, I'll get to one of the Tiger Reserves near Calcutta before all National Parks close on 15 June for the coming monsoon.
As a footnote, the food here is ok and I've not eaten meat since arriving in India. More to do with hygiene than anything else though. Particularly impressed by the stodgefest an Aloo Nan/Paratha offers. Potato inside bread. Yummy. Very much hankering after a mature cheddar cheese sandwich however. And a nice cup of builders wouldn't go amiss. Also, might be persuaded to part with a limb for a cheeseburger or two.
Anyway, that's all for now folks. Promise to upload photos soon. Hope all is well back in blighty.
Dan
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