John the Explorer

Today I went to Old Town Bikaner, a good 2 or 3 km (told you I was going metric) walk from the hotel past the fort. I looked at a map in the guide book I have and found my way right to the front gate. The book said it's natural to get lost, because the whole old town is tiny streets and alleys that all look the same, with two story stores and houses lining every street. I took this as a challenge after I got seriously lost yesterday. Today would be different.

Walking around those streets, saying "Hi" to approximately 1,000 people in an hour, was entertaining. I saw lots of camels, cows, dogs (there's stray dogs everywhere in India) and some goats. I also saw everyone stare at me some more, which is always fun. So now I'm in the heart of this Old Town with a vague idea of which way is back. I hike, and hike, and hike, and eventually find a gate out of old town and railroad tracks I crossed on my way in. Not at the same spot, but still promising. I hiked another 15 or so minutes thinking I should be close to the fort. I was beginning to doubt myself. Nothing looked familiar, it was about 35 degrees celsius (sticking with it) and I was running low on water. I went for another 15 minutes, and about to admit defeat, turned a corner and saw the fort (I took a triumphant picture, but this computer doesn't have USB so you don't get to see it. If only my camera had a floppy drive...). So what up, Rough Guide? Not lost after all.

For dinner I went to the same street vendor as last night to get Masala Dosa, a South Indian dish of potato, cilantro, tomato, onion, and hot sauce rolled in a pancake-like shell. Very tasty. I also met an Andy Roddick fan while eating. Good times.

This morning a French guy approached me and asked where I was staying, explaining the man at the hotel told him he overpaid for his tour from a Delhi tour agent. It turns out he paid about 30% more than I did for the same length tour, but he's traveling on the worst class train (no a/c, ouch, those are like a third of the price) and staying in terrible hotels (my hotel is nice, king size bed, good a/c, clean, etc.). Maybe the guy that took me to that travel place did deserve a big tip after all.

Tomorrow morning off to Jaisalmer, home of the most famous camel safaris (yeah right!). It's on the edge of desert with just sand dunes and such. Should be fun.