JAISALMER










I'll admit that whilst I am more than fine with roughing it and staying in less that opulent surroundings when travelling that rail travel so far has been a mixture of the best and middle classes on offer in India: I have been enjoying tea and toast whilst chugging along in the best classes and more than comfortable in the mid range sleepers on the longer journeys where bling class wasn't available.

So then I was a touch apprehensive in Bikaner when examining my ticket to reveal that I was in the basement 'sleeper' class and that the financial expenditure for this 7 hour trip was $3 compared to several multiples of that I've paid so far. It's all good this is what travelling is all about though, right?

Whilst some journeys I've been on here have been an oasis of calm, others resembling a rolling detention cell for troublesome toddlers, the carriage and the train itself looked like a mental ward or prisoner relocation carriage.

Not so much as a result of the antics of the occupants, but more the décor. Someone, at some stage in the last 10 years has seen the fading state of the train carriages and decided that the best way to brighten things is a coat of blue paint: on everything.

Nothing has escaped the swipes of the brush it seems, with plug sockets, plastic handles and everything besides the floor and ceiling either deliberately or accidentally covered in layers upon layers of it.

Painting over rusting parts is only ever a short term look and the results from the pale blue frenzy is a flaking, rusting, dusty carriage that feels like said institutions.

To be fair this is actually fine and no worse than some of the hovels called 'rooms' I've stayed in previously, and considering the cost of the ticket I consider this a minor victory for thrift.

However the feeling of victory was short lived and I began to realise exactly where my 145 Rupees had gone (or not gone) once an old man came to sit on the bunk opposite. Like most people in India he clearly wasn't a wealthy man, meaning that usually in such circumstances you normally purchase only what is required with little luxuries.

So it was a slight surprise perhaps, as we started to roll out of the station that the older man started to pull at contents from his impossibly small bag and begin setting up something that looked like Everest base camp on the opposite bunk. After digging out sleeping bags, cushions, pillows, hats and scarves etc. He gave me a little smile and settled himself in, no doubt looking forward to the morning fry up he'd be knocking up on his stove the concealed further within his bag.

So after 6 hours staring blankly at the ceiling, fidgeting to stay warm and shivering from the cold I must have looked like a was vibrating, it was time to leave and find some accommodation - 5.45 am.
At this stage I was in hostile mood but too tired to fight and after inadvertantly being ripped off on my room I went straight to bed, and the numb feet never left me until mid day the next day - after the conclusion 0f what I was hoping would be my second sleep.

As it turns out I also got ripped off in spectacular fashion on my Camel trek, but all in all the 3 days in Jaisalmer were a welcome break from the monotony of cities and the long frozen detour west from the rest of Rajasthan was well worth it.

Jodphur next, and another carriage awaits - although day time hours guarantee a different experience to the one that got me here, which I am genuinely thrilled about.