Sammy sam's second India blog: Rajisthan

Sammy sam's second India blog (hopefully the electricity won't cut out this time)

State: Rajisthan (the land of kings)

Udaipur
When I left you last I was heading on a overnight train to Udaipur! The first thing that hit me when I arrived in Udaipur was not how beautiful the city was or how picturesque the lake was but how bloody hot the place was. I didn't think it could get hotter than Ahmedebad, I was wrong. I spent my whole first day sitting in a rooftop restaurant dieing of the heat. I couldn't eat anything, all I could do was drink and sweat! Because of the heat it is currently low season in Rajisthan, which was really nice in some ways, there was very little hassle from the hawkers and the rickshaw drivers because they are in hibernation, (to hot to bother ripping of tourists). So that was about it for the first day.

1) A wedding in the place where the lake used to be.

On the second day I was a little more active I made it onto the streets of the city, the old town- where I was staying comprised of hundred of narrow winding alleys and streets, millions of travel agents and billions of souvenir shops. I couldn't help thinking that in high season the place must be a nightmare. Because Rajisthan is close to Delhi it attracts more tourists that the rest of India, lots of package tourists as well as the backpackers. I found my first group of package tourists in the city palace, the palace itself was amazing, it is still the official home of the maharajah and is lavish to the max. Quite a sight.

The thing that Udaipur is really famous for (Lonley planet (I mean the bible) list it as the most impressive (NUMBER 1) thing to see in India) is the lake palace hotel (see picture below). If any of you have seen the Bond film octopussy the lake palace is shown extensively. In reality, unfortunately and like many things in India it has been slightly ruined by a) rubbish in the lake and b) water wastage resulting in... well... a lack of a lake. The (former) lake is now used for many things, package tourists take elephant rides on it, boys play cricket on it and there was even a wedding precession that paraded over it, anyone expecting a lake palace will be dissapointed, it's mose of a- slightly green/ boggy palace hotel.

All in all It was a fun city, I met lots of nice people, saw the sites and then moved on, together with my to new friends -Sam and Jeff. We took a bus (straight out of hell) to Jodpur.
2) Lake place hotal
Jodpur.
3 hours of standing, and 4 hours of shaking, I felt like I had just come out of a washing machine. It was a bumpy ride but Jodpur (the blue city) looked good. It's most predominant feature was a fort which sits majestically 300 feet above the city. Me and the crew arrive and we treat ourselves to the finest food in the city. Honestly, we went to the nicest restaurant in town (and it still only cost 4pounds per head). Then it was a quick night cap and bed.

The following morning we checked out the market and then climbed the very very hot hill to the fort, we were not disappointed, the palace in the fort was in it's way as impressive as Udaipur's and the views of the city were stunning. the city is fairly small and almost every house is painted blue (I never found out why) but past the city and it's 3 palaces we saw the desert- vast and empty for mile after mile.3) The blue city

Jaisalmer
That afternoon we hit the desert (in a bus), on our way to Jaisalmer. By chance there happened to be a sand storm as we crossed the desert, we couldn't see more than 5 meters ahead of us yet the bus still zoomed along at 60mph, scary stuff, but dramatic in it's own way! me, Sam and Jeff came to a unanimous decision that we were going to the hotel listed in the rough guide as 'nice rooms overlooking the swimming pool!'. I genuinely think that is was the best decision I have ever made. It was my refuge, my special place for the 3 days I was in Jaisalmer. It was a rest from the heat- it was actually cool, I had almost forgotten what feeling cool was (not that i'm uncool)!

4) The fort at sunset.

As a city Jaisalmer wasn't all that, there was another fort etc etc, however most people go there to go on a camel safari, but it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap and to be honest nothing could get me away from the pool! So I spent 3 days there with Sam and Jeff before we headed our separate ways. I was leaving Rajisthan and heading north...
5) The coolness of the pool with Sam and Jeff

Via Bikanere.
The less said about Bikanere the better, I booked a train over night to Bikanere and then another train 36hours later to Delhi, so it was just a stopover, I arrived at the undignified hour of 4:15. Sat in the train station for 2 hours and then checked into a hotel. After a little nap I work up had breakfast and had a walk around. I discovered that Bikanere was actually hell on earth. It was the most unpleasant city on earth. Perhaps it is because they live in such a disgusting city, but the people were rude, unfriendly, dishonest and HORRIBLE. After an hour I decided I couldn't possibly spend 36 hours in such a place. so, I went to the bus stand and got the first bus to Delhi thus began 24 hour of (almost) unbroken movement.
6) the horror of Bikanere.
Delhi
I was in Delhi for about 2 hours, I made the trip on the (very posh) metro to the train station and got a train to Amritsar. In the 2 hours in Delhi I counted 7 people try to rip me off, I'm afraid to say I am not a fan, I'll work on it but so far Delhi has never been a friend of mine!

Amristar
On my 9 hour train to Amritsar I worked out that I travelled over 1,000km in 24 hours. so my average speed was more than 40km/hour. After my epic journey I was rewarded with... a bed, a shower, a tv, a temple, free food, many friendly faces and watching Arsenal get beat by Man Utd.
7) The Golden palace of Amritsar
You'll have to wait until the next blog for more on Amritsar. on the next episode of 'Sam in India' you'll read about me in Amritsar, Dharamasala, Minali and Leh!

Lots of love to you all.

And thank you for all of your messages etc. keep the emails coming, it's nice to hear from you all.