Hotel Lake View And Resort Jodhpur

... decide to jump ship and ask him to stop and hop out and feel lucky to have survived but have no idea where we are. A few minutes walk and a little chat with a young lad and we find the clock tower, maybe he wasn't lost but he was mad and we make our way for a quiet drink and dinner.

Boy oh boy we tried another lonely planet recommendation and they didn't disappoint, Cafe Indique is a rooftop restaurant above a very smart hotel, with an amazing view of the ...

... its pretty hot down there and I was almost tempted to jump in but its not exactly clean but its no where near as filthy as most of the rivers and lakes in India. On our first night there we witnessed the end of one of the many festivals, it was mental, they have tractors pulling these carts with huge ornamental god effigys in them which they take down to the lake, these tractors are followed by hundereds of people dancing and chanting to the massive boom ...

... fort, the ticket price included an audio tour which i have been told is worth taking, not usually being into audio tours myself..and it was excellent. with pieces by the maharaja and stories and personal accounts of what it was liek to live in the fort, the Jodphur fort i found utterly mesmorising in everyway. plus the fact that it is the set for the final exciting sequences of my favourite film (the FAll) so i was fair gushing most of the ...

... hotel. Before going I picked up a bottle of delicious mango juice and Lays chips in 'India's Magic Masala' flavor. Man, I wish people would export things like that. They were seriously the most amazing chips I have had in a long time. In Taiwan they have Lays in Kyushu Seaweed flavor and other chip companies make spicy Mexican ones. We drove for about 40 minutes and came to this point where our driver told us we had to pay RS$20 tourist tax. We were caught off guard ...

... fear of it toppling. The food once again good, I had Dhal Mhakani with garlic naan. My throat is not too good at the moment and I am struggling to breathe when we have big climbs to do, however surprisingly so the legs are holding up extremely well, and dare I say it are even beginning to acquire some shape. I won't say that I have lost any weight here, because I have been eating like a gannet.. ;-) The food is just so tasty, but ...

... didn't fare so well. At the train station, we were surrounded by rickshaw drivers. We had our hotel name in hand, and stood in one place repeating 20 rupees until we had a taker. By Indian standards, this was the nicest hotel we stayed in under $40USD. We think we were paying for the shower curtain. We spent four relaxing days in Jodhpur, promising not to overdo it. The first day we just ...

... then outside. They served beer and we as this was the first place it was listed on the menu (ie.the first place that was above board) we ordered non-kingfisher. My beer ended up being 8% strength and on a empty stomach really hit a punch....that a lightweight I've become. Still the food came out and it was the best meal we have had in ages.

I tell what it's amazing how it changed our feelings. Suddenly the people became more friendly and the shops more interesting. On ...

... decided to try for today. Of course, I wake up today feeling fine (well close to it) but now my poor father is feeling sick!!! So we're staying another day and hopefully he will feel better tomorrrow. Poor Kacik's! But I am feeling a lot better. I have very little energy, but other than that i'm ok. After all, I did say I really like jodhpur, so staying here an extra couple days could never hurt. I'll report back on the condition of my father and I soon.

... where we had come from). Their next destination was Jaisalmer the next day (hang on.....us too!) we tried to shake them off but it just didn't work. They sent a driver to our guest house and invited us over to the Hotel for dinner. But we turned it down. We keep our fans at arms length. Otherwise it just gets messy....and complicated......(David: You're making this up aren't you? They didn't send a driver, they came in person and we told them where to ...

... India) and handed out nearly all our supply of pens, as there were over 120 kids (all in uniform) who were the right age to accept the pens! We continued on, stopping at a little township en-route to have a cuppa, a lunch snack and to have a look at the road side markets and shops, (no hassles here) and allot of the locals gave us curious looks and big smiles. We also passed and stopped to meet local (non English ...