The Jaislamer Palace was beautiful, but not quite as impressive as the one in Jodhpur. What was spectacular was the views of the fort and city below - it really does look like a giant sandcastle!
After our audio tour, feeling much more civil, we walked through the streets of the fort again, this time knowing exactly what we wanted. We made a couple of small purchases, and were on our way out again, and were admiring some puppies, when a passing cow nudged Karla out of her way with her horns. Alicia thought that she was protecting the puppies, but Karla thought she just wanted to pick a fight.
On our way out of the fort, we stopped to look at another item in a shop. We had been in this store yesterday, without buying anything, and the owner came in saying, 'you come in yesterday, you don't buy. What do you want?!' So Alicia made the mistake of saying 'sir, are you unhappy?'
This launched a 20 minute discussion (and by discussion I mean lecture) about Jainism, inner peace, and accepting fate, as well as chokra, and the physical balance that helps one to achieve peace. Alicia really took it to heart after this morning, and felt (after she extricated herself - he would have talked for another hour!) that she really learned something about patience. And Karla got a great price on an item normally more than two times the amount she got it for. Perfect!
After our lesson, we stopped at a bakery to get snacks for our journey this afternoon, then picked up Alicia's backpack. Unfortunately, the tailor took it upon himself to not replace the zipper, as instructed, and to just 'fix' it. However, we'd gotten it 'fixed' like this 2 times before, and each time when we would put stuff in the pocket, the zipper would break again. But we didn't have time to get it fixed properly, so she'll have to make do until the next stop.
We walked back to the hotel and repacked on the roof while waiting for lunch. The owner of the hotel had procured bus and train tickets for us, and we sat on pins and needles waiting for them to arrive so we could make our bus! As soon as we got them, we paid and took a rickshaw to where we were told the bus would be. It wasn't there, so we had to pay double to be taken to the next place. Luckily our bus was there!
The ride was pleasant enough, and we arrived 6.5 hours later in a town called Bikaner. (At one rest stop, we were standing around waiting to reload the bus, and a cow tried to nudge Alicia out of her way (this time a little more forceful)! Everyone laughed, but karma came around because the same cow started eating a cardboard box (news paper is their main staple but cardboard is a close second) in the truck of the man who laughed at her!)
When we arrived in Bikaner, it was 9:00 pm, and our train wasn't until 2:15 am (although when we bought the tickets we were told the train would be at midnight...), so we went to a restaurant until they closed, then into a sweet shop until it closed, then walked to a local hotel and asked if we could sit on their couches in the lobby until our train.
At first the receptionist said no, but Karla realized that he didn't understand the question, so we simplified and asked again. This time he said yes, thought about it, and then asked if we wanted a room. We asked how much, and he said 'no', so we assumed he meant no charge and went on up. It was blissful to lie down for an hour and a half, and here I will leave you until tomorrow's entry.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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