Please sir - can I have a room?

Trip Start Dec 05, 2004
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Trip End Jan 17, 2005


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Sunday, December 5, 2004

Excuse me whilst I clear my lungs! I'm writing this from Bikaner in Rajasthan on day 6 of my 6 week Indian adventure and my nose is runnng and I feel like I've just inhaled 60 cigarettes and there are a couple of cows lurking outside this internet cafe - hopefully of the hornless variety because those are really scary. Mind you I might get mown down by a camel and cart or an autoricksaw on the way back up to the hotel in the dark (only kidding mum! - they beep their horns really really loudly about 50 times to give you the option of being road kill or not - mind you I could always be reincarnated as an autoricksaw!). But more of Bikaner later...

So my story starts at Heathrow saying goodbye to Laura, Micha and Gila (who is very excited to see the planes taking off) with nothing more than hand luggage (1 small bag of 5kg and a smaller bag weighing 3 kg) - thanks to BA efficiency and the wonders of self check-in, I was wandering around duty free within 20 minutes. Yes I am travelling very light on this trip - 1 change of clothes (I'm buying local dress in India), a pair of trainers and sandals, a few smalls (not forgetting my secret money stashing pocketed bra), small wash bag, some drugs (of the medicating kind) and a sheet sleeping bag (to keep out the bed bugs should I meet them!). The flight is totally booked out and I have 8 hours to figure out how to use my brand new digital camera.

We landed bang on time in the early hours of Monday morning and with only hand luggage and the speedy processing power of Indian bureacracy (ok well maybe this was a one off!), I passed through Visa control quickly and changed some money. Then scanning the hundred or so name placards held by a hundred or so curious Indian men, I discovered that my pre-booked 3 star hotel (2 calls from the UK to double check the original booking that it turned out hadn't been booked by the hotel manager the first time I called) had not sent my pre-booked taxi transfer. At 2am, I managed to procure a 1 ruppee coin (about 1pence) to make a rather irate call to the hotel. No knowledge of my arrival and no room available until 4 am - get a taxi from pre-paid counter and come to hotel anyway - Welcome to India!

Safely at the hotel, the manager was very apologetic (although I still had to pay for the whole night - and not cheap either!) but we had a good chat for an hour until some Aussie's checked out to catch a flight. So after flicking throught the 60 or so TV channels - ranging from several Bollywood movies all with the same plot, songs and dances, some rather raunchy Indian music, the regligous channel, the music channel with Britney Spears playing (a big Indian obsession), BBC World, and several news channels... I went to bed (and of course, being an insomniac, lay awake for the rest of the night..... until.......
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