Desert Boys ft. The Blue City

Well well well look what we have here. Another diary entry from Mr Worldwide aka your favourite Pom Bear aka Harrogate's finest export after Yorkshire tea.

So, what's been happening with me? I have travelled further north to Jaisalmer and then onto Jodhpur. You may remember last time I was heading to the desert near the Pakistan border, this is Jaisalmer. I had quite frankly a great time there.
Within 2 hours of arriving I met a German, 2x Yanks, a Scot, a Canadian, a Spaniard and an Israeli. Normally this would sound like the start of a bad joke but when you're travelling it's the norm. We all got acquainted, I broke a girls sandle and we went to eat Dossa's and Momo's (Indian streets food answer to savoury crêpes and dumplings). This was followed by rooftop beers, cards and an Indian delicacy known as bhang. Just to clarify Mother it is in fact legal, a major part of Indian culture and good for the soul.

The following day we took a camel ride into the desert and stayed under the stars in sand dunes with some local desert folk. I kid you not when I say my breakfast was; super noodles, biscuits, bananas, toast and green oranges. Apparently green oranges here are known as satsumas, let me tell you they are no easy peels from Waitrose. My camel was called Pineapple and had quite the penchant for shooting snot out of his nose and shitting every 5 steps. I spent around 30 minutes with the assistance of my Scottish friend to explain the UK's plastic bag hierarchy to the collective group (Lakeland are the best i challenge you to show me a more durable bag). Needless to say this conversation fell on deaf ears....

The final chapter of my time in Jasialmer involved a mad rush to sunset in a tuktuk with my new international friends. We made sunset, just about. However we were told we couldn't drink our beers down by the lake by the Tourism Protection Police and were asked to move the party further afield. We took the 8 man deep tuktuk into the desert and it stopped working. After 30 minutes to finish our beers and failed attempts at bump starting the tuktuk we were introduced to a great childhood Canadian game from our buddy Wade. Simply called "rock rock" you don't need much to play. 2 rocks surprisingly is all you need. You throw one rock into the air and attempt to hit it with a second rock. It sounds easier than it is and after 4 extra strong bottles of Kingfisher (the only beer in India except for Tubourg) it took me a few shots to get it. Eventually we got the tuktuk running again and to say thanks our driver took us all back to his house for poppadom's and rice.

Let's move forward onto Jodhpur, known as the blue city. It's got a big fort (like most cities in Rajasthan) and lots of blue houses. I can't be arsed to explain why but feel free to Google it.

Some of you won't believe this but I did a cycling tour of Jodhpur and got up at 7am for the privilege. It was actually quite insightful and great to hear the history from a reputable(ish) source. My attitude thus far on forts has been "they look better from the outside so why should I pay to go inside" however I was informed Jodhpur is worth the money and I dropped some cash to go in. It was far from a disappointment, the audio guide was riveting stuff and I was full of history.

My final day in Jodhpur took me to Mandore Gardens where I was hissed at by monkeys and also got to meet some lovely Chilean friends. They informed me that whilst I'm in Chile they are hosting the largest wine festival of the year and I should go and visit it with them. Only a fool would turn this offer down and so it looks like I've got my first South American friends in the bag! I also got invited to a wedding in Australia with a Mancunian vet and popped my head into an Indian wedding.

As always India is keeping it 100 and stinking of piss and shit. As I only have 6 days left I'm beginning to reflect on my time here. I need more time here.

It is Jaipur next to try and find my Dad the finest rugs India has to offer.

Peace out.