Life after Vipassana

The last few days have been a bit of a blur of not doing a lot and avoiding any thoughts of what I’m going to do in the coming weeks.

Friday 30^th January 2015

This morning I left the meditation centre at about 8am after having breakfast and cleaning up my room packing and saying goodbyes to all the friends’ id made in the last 12 hours since talking had recommenced. Mark and I headed back into Jaipur on his bike it was fucking cold but at least there was barely any traffic so the drive only took about 15mins

We had space booked at a guest house and so headed there and chilled out we had chai (well I didn’t since it’s my idea of a sugary milky hell but everyone else seemed to be inhaling the stuff) we sat around for a good few hours before getting our shit together and setting off on a trek up to Nahargarh fort to get some exercise after sitting on the floor for the last ten days.

By the time we hit the bottom of the hill the sun was out and it was quite hot the walk was more of a struggle than it should have been but wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and neither of us had to stop so that was a result. We got to the top and had to pay an entrance fee to the fort despite the fact that we didn’t actually bother to go inside (I did visit it last time I was in India) we climbed a part of the wall and sat on top overlooking the city and enjoying the sunshine for a few hours.

When finally we headed down we were starving and so stopped off for lunch where we went nuts after ten days of eating what was given to us choice was too hard and so we ate everything on the menu.

Back at the guest house we chilled on the roof terrace and ate even more when we were given a free Thali for bringing such good energy into the place from the meditation centre.

Saturday 31^st January 2015

This morning we slept super later taking full advantage of the fact there was no going to wake us up!

I got somewhat productive and called a contact about some volunteering I have been trying to set up the result of the conversation wasn’t overly clear and so I pushed that to the back of my mind and tried to live in the moment

After a lazy morning that included a hot shower and lots of breakfast we headed off on the bike to a mechanic I stood about looking pretty while the men talked shop then went in search of super huge scarf blankets

Shopping was a success and we came out with massive woollen scarfs and celebrated by eating large quantities of naan.

Again we spent most of the afternoon chilling on the roof terrace while I avoided thinking about where to go to next.

Sunday 1^st February 2015

It’s hard to believe that we are already into month two of 2015 time is just flying by!

Since it was a Sunday I decided to take full advantage of the fact and do nothing all day I spent my time reading, writing, catching up on fb and Instagram, taking a walk that lasted about 10mins and resulted in a bag of chocolate and then sitting talking philosophy with a baba while taking opium and smoking a pipe overall it was a pretty good lazy Sunday. After the opium I did get a tad productive and ended up writing a lot and then headed out to meet verity in town.

We met at a café and had a ‘fresh’ lime soda and a massive chat before walking around to her Indian family’s house for dinner. They were such beautiful people so welcoming and kind and the food was amazing! We left later in the evening to get to the shops before they closed typically for me I ended up with a bag full of chocolate and cookies and then it was time to get a rickshaw back to the guesthouse.

The rickshaw said he knew where he was going but we did a little tiki tour of the area before we finally found the place where I felt so spaced out and crashed almost instantly.

Monday 2^nd February 2015

I got up this morning and made a conscious effort to stop being such a smelly bitch and actually have a shower, it’s always hard to get clean when it’s cold and the water is colder.

Once washed mark and I headed off to get some breakfast then walked to the mechanics where he had left his motorbike a few days prior once collected we came back and lounged about for a while trying to figure out somewhere to drive to test the bike a bit in the end we just headed out of town found a big rocky hill and climbed it.

I had my Toms on and they certainly weren’t the greatest shoes to be scrambling up a hill in and so I complained the whole way up (but let’s face it I’m a whinger if it wasn’t the shoes it would be something else) the view from the top was pretty spectacular the only thing ruining it was that we could see what looked like two dead animals laying in a field.

We scrambled down and upon further inspection found that it was a dead calf and then further on a cow both were mostly intact and had been skinned and left in a field it was the weirdest thing ever so we got out of there pretty quick.

Back in the city we lounged about and I was determined to finish the book Maezee gave me way back in Madurai that I have been carrying around but haven’t read. I accomplished this and as a treat we went to the cinema

We saw a Hindi film called baby from what we could gather (which was actually quite a lot) it was an action movie about a special task force that deals with terrorism it was good but super long and so I took a bit of a nap somewhere after intermission

By the time we arrived back at the guesthouse it was pretty much midnight and we were locked out we had to ring for them to open the door and we crashed out.

Why I wouldn't say i'm fearless

A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me he thought I was fearless, he said it because I have a tendency to do crazy things and take risks but I certainly wouldn’t say that those qualities made me fearless in fact there are a lot of things I’m afraid of…

I’m afraid of pumping my own gas at the petrol station, stray dogs, of commitment to almost anything, to intimacy (and I’m equally afraid of ending up alone), I’m terrified of fireworks, of boats, of bees being in my shoes, I’m scared my life will have no meaning or that I will waste my time doing things that will ultimately serve no purpose, (I’m embarrassed to admit it but since I’m being honest) I’m afraid of being fat, of something bad happening to loved ones and I’m not overly happy at height or in small spaces, small sticky children make me nervous, the idea of always having to wear shoes makes me quiver and I’m scared one day I might accidently eat meat.

As you can see I’m not fearless, not at all, not by any means I’m clearly scared of a lot of things but I also understand that living in the moment is important. If we all walk around worrying about what the future holds all the time and never take any risks then we would all be living in a bubble of our own creation in which our lives would be limited to the few things inside our comfort zone.

Obviously the risks we take should be measured, there’s no way I’m endorsing drunk driving or playing chicken in the road but if someone asks if I want to drive a rickshaw across India, go paragliding, bungee jumping, white water rafting or hitch hiking I’m most likely going to say yes. If I want to travel and no one can come with me I’m not going to side line my plans I’ll go on my own, if I’m not happy in the place I live I will get rid of almost everything I own and move across the world. If the job I have isn’t mentally or spiritually fulfilling I will sack it in and take on a menial role rather than compromise my happiness, because in the end, when I’m on my death bed looking back at my life I don’t want to say that I wish I’d taken more chances or opportunities I want to die knowing that I lived life to the fullest because after all life would be boring if it was constantly lived in a box.

(And as a wee after mention, my life line is pretty fucking long so I’m not really too worried about that…)

Keep calm and Vipassana

On the 19^th January I faced a dilemma, everyone I had been travelling with was heading homeward and I still had no idea what I was going to do next. I was beginning to feel a creeping loneliness and wasn’t really sure what to do with myself so on the spur of the moment I decided to head off on a ten day Vipassana meditation course. Mark (the dude from the motorbike that joined our Rickshaw convoy for a day) was doing it and so I piggy backed on his adventure.

It was the morning the course started and the night before when I looked there were still places but the day of applications had closed so I rang them up and asked if I could come along the phone call went a little something like this

Me: “ummm can I join the Vipassana course that starts today?”

Vipassana centre: “yes yes yes, come come come… do you have any physiological issues?”

Me: “no”

Vipassana centre: “yes yes yes, come come come…do you have a smoking addiction?”

Me: “no”

Vippassana centre: “yes yes yes, come come come…have you read the course outline and rules?

Me: “yes of course” (I hadn’t)

Vipassana centre: “do you know its 11 hours a day seated meditation? it’s very strict are you prepared for it?”

Me: (suddenly feeling like maybe this wasn’t a great idea as I defiantly hadn’t read that) “yes of course I’m looking forward to it”

Vipassana centre: “ok then we will see you this afternoon”

And so I had made the commitment. For those of you who don’t know Vipassana is a meditation practice taken its purest form directly from Buddha and is the one true path to enlightenment. A ten day course is designed to put you on the path that you will continue for life to help free you from craving and aversion and lead you to an enlightened state and to true happiness.

The course schedule is rigid and goes like this

• ·         4.00am Wake up bell
• ·         4.30am to 6.30am Meditation
• ·         6.30am breakfast
• ·         8.00am group meditation
• ·         9.00am to 11am meditation
• ·         11am lunch
• ·         1.00 to 2.30pm meditation
• ·         2.30pm to 3.30pm group meditation
• ·         3.30pm to 5.00pm meditation
• ·         5.00pm dinner
• ·         6.00pm to 7.00pm group meditation
• ·         7.00pm to 8.30pm teachers discourse
• ·         8.30pm meditation instructions
• ·         9.00pm bedtime

That’s 11 hours a day of seated meditation with a further 90minutes of seated discourse (dharma talks) it’s also completely silent for almost the entire ten days, contact between meditators is strictly banned (so no gestures , glances or eye contact)  and segregation between the sexes is enforced

The meditation centre is set just outside of the Jaipur and is all pretty stunning with mountains in the back ground and loads of trees and what not all over the place. The accommodation is in single cottages with private bathrooms in each, with bucket showers (but there was hot water!!) the food is simple but tasty and the whole thing is funded on donations of past students, at the end of the course you simply donate whatever you feel you can give.

Although ‘silence’ is enforced burping and farting in the dharma hall was completely normal (and extremely distracting) and the wildlife around the place obviously hadn’t got the memo as there were monkeys screeching constantly and peacocks flapping about making weird noises that sounded as though they came out of video games. And at night just around bed time a local disco started up and there seemed to be fireworks most nights but it was stil pretty weird to have the only voice we heard be the teachers.

In total I spent 12 nights at the centre arriving on the afternoon of the 19^th and leaving the morning of the 30^th meaning I was there for ten full days of course. Mark and I travelled there together on his motorbike and arrived to be fed lunch (in separate male/female dining halls) before registering and handing over all our contraband items. Reading, writing, any electronics and of course drugs and alcohol are strictly prohibited and so as not to have them as temptation they are all handed over for safe keeping until the course ends. We then spent the afternoon chilling out before the course officially started at 8pm that night.

The first morning I failed to wake up on time and missed the first morning meditation session, the wake up gong is over on the boy’s side of the centre and even being the light sleeper I am it failed to wake me up. (For the coming days I set the alarm on my watch) but I made it in time for breakfast (of course I did…) and participated in the rest of the day’s activities.

By the end of the first day my knees hips and spirit was absolutely ruined and I was questioning my sanity in undertaking such a huge task. But then by the end of the second day my focus was intense and I was seeing my life clearer than I ever have.

Midway through the afternoon on the third day a flash came into my mind and I manage to locate in my bag my UK debit card which I hadn’t seen since Singapore after putting it in a ‘safe place ‘and never being able to find it again

By the end of the sixth day I felt amazing and was walking around with a huge smile on my face but by the morning of day seven that had completely changed and I spent most of the day in tears hugging my knees and rocking back and forth like an insane person.

Day eight I woke up feeling fairly indifferent to it all and managed to struggle on the last few days but my focus wasn’t strong and my meditation suffered somewhat.

On day ten after the morning group meditation the vow of noble silence was over and we could resume talking to each other although all other rules still applied suddenly the centre was abuzz with noise and it was almost too much speaking felt weird and it took a while to get used to. The last day was the hardest day as we could talk but the program was still in place and by that stage most people were ready to leave. But I had a personal victory in that for the first time in the entire course I was able to sit cross legged completely still for an hour not once but twice in the day.

On the 30^th which was the 11^th morning we had to be up at 4am for the final discourse session which was a recap on the technique an all the teachings from the past ten days it was the hardest session as freedom was so close but afterwards we had one final group meditation session and I managed to remain focused throughout. We had breakfast and then were free to leave.

Overall Vipassana was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It tested me mentally emotionally and physically but was defiantly an experience I will cherish. Although I found it hard to focus on the meditation itself for such long periods of time I was able to reflect on life and general and gave me an opportunity to think about the future and what I want out of life. I may have had some sort of ‘life changing epiphany’ so watch this space…

The day before Vipasana

Sunday 18^th January 2015

Today was pretty much our last day together we said goodbye to the Canadians and had some breakfast on the roof then moved rooms to a big four person sharesy number. Then headed to the travel agent for Blake Zach and Maezee to get bus tickets to Agra and Delhi once that was done we wanted to head to a market for the guys to pick up gifts but it proved harder than imagined since the rickshaw drivers just wanted to take us to government shops.

A bit later we picked up samosas and then headed to meet Verity we met at the Galta gate and visited the monkey temple which was a massive animal farm there were cows goats dogs cats and of course monkeys all roaming about. I patted a six legged cow for luck which was a tad creepy.

In one of the temples we had a blessing and got good luck bracelets before carrying on. On the far side we stopped for chai and wanted to get a rickshaw but they were all rip off merchants so we had to walk back over the hill and pick one up on the other side.

We got a shaw to the Ganesh temple which is right on the top of the hill and provides views of the entire city which was awesome. We sat in a secluded spot and watched the sun go down, all the kites and the fireworks that are left over from the kit festival last week.

We walked down in the darkening light and got to the bottom to pitch darkness. We jumped in a rickshaw and headed to dinner only we never made it where we were going as the rickshaw couldn’t find it so we got out to walk and we couldn’t find it and no one we asked had ever heard of it. We ended up in this greasy local instead where the food was amazing and we chatted to this old dude who loved that we were travelling in India and kept feeding us naan.

We then waddled into autos and went our separate ways verity home and us back to the hotel. The boys had gone out for drinks with another team just around the corner so we went out to find them which didn’t prove difficult at all. They all drank and I ate a family sized block of caramello then we went back home to bed.

Life after the Rickshaw Run

Thursday 15^th January 2015

I woke up this morning after a weird night’s sleep dreaming about honing around in the dark on rickshaws, pulled myself out of bed and jumped at the breakfast buffet. I continued eating long after I was stuffed and then walked out with my hands full of pastries and muffins to really get my money’s worth.

We had a slow morning with an explore of the hotel grounds and a massive chill out in our room. Maezee and I spent a good wee while in hysterics at our super charged bidet before heading to town to try and get train tickets to Jaipur. The whole expedition took ages longer than planned as we had to get six foreign quota tickets and you can only get four at a tie so we had to leave and come back and there was only one guy serving whilst the rest of the staff stood in plain view talking behind the glass. Then ‘Rachel decided she wanted to get the train as well but finally it was all sorted.

Not wanting to have to sell a kidney in order to buy dinner we opted to grab a bunch of samosas and snacks in town then got a shaw back to the hotel. Maezee and I hit up the gym and I ran so fast I short circuited a treadmill and Maezee snapped a chunk off the cross trainer obviously we are pros at this gym lark.

After that we showered and chilled out some more then wrapped up super warm and walked around the corner to the boys hotel where everyone was a tad subdued but at least Blake had some great music on his iPod to keep us all entertained and we got a bit crazy doing magic tricks!

About 9pm we headed home got into our robes and watched parks and rec on the massive TV whilst stuffing our faces with chocolate.

Friday 16^th January 2015

This morning I got up early and hit up the gym keeping well away from any cardio machines but left after about 30minutes when a bunch of men arrived clearly intending to use the gym but wouldn’t come in while I was there.

The breakfast buffet didn’t know what hit it when we got there. Maezee was dressed as an air hostess and like yesterday we ate all the food before waddling back to our room. We requested a late check out and were able to stay until 2pm so we made the most of the super quick internet and watched Parks and Rec while munging out on the massive bed  then took a million years packing up all our crap that was strewn all over the room.

Once we were packed up we checked out and wrote an essay as the leaving survey but did give props to the few members of staff who brightened our days. We tried to get them to drive us across to the boy’s hotel in the gold golf carts but they were having none of it and so we walked.

Since by this stage it was already close to 3pm we decided to head to the train station with all our gear and then send out a party of troops to gather provisions for the journey. We got a ton of samosas, crisps and chocolate and headed back to the platform where the train was waiting and we could board.

We left about 5mins late which wasn’t too bad for Indian trains! The journey was good fun, most of us were in the same carriage and we had another team next door so whiled away the time sharing tales from the road. When we did hit the hay it was freezing so none of us got a good sleep.

Saturday 17^th January 2015

Happy Birthday Sian!!!

We arrived into Jaipur late at 5.30am and said our goodbyes to Rachel who was staying on the train through to Delhi and flying back home to London. We didn’t have much of a plan so stopped for a chai and then walked aimlessly around for over an hour seemingly for no reason.

Eventually we jumped in a couple of rickshaws and found a guesthouse. We checked in and headed to the roof for some food. Then got showered and ready for the day sorted out our laundry and headed off to explore. Maezee and I wandered about for a bit I got head-butted in the fanny by a goat and hit by two motorbikes (one clipped my elbow the other reversed into me)

At about 1pm we met Verity (form the ashram) who lives in the city and we went and had lunch at some famous restaurant the food was pretty tasty and set us up for an afternoon of chilling and chatting. First up we headed to the lake and sat on the bank. (Maezee had a nap) then we got another rickshaw up past the fort where there is another lake and no tourists whatsoever. It was just us and an Indian couple.  We sat and watched the sun mostly set then headed down before it got too dark to see the path.

We got an auto back to the hotel where we met up with all the boys who had the great idea of heading to the cinema. We went and got tickets and then had a massive thali for dinner across the road. The tickets said 9.30pm and so did the board but when we got there at 9.25pm the movie had already started. We went to see Alone which is a Bollywood horror movie it was great it had thrills, romance, comedy, singing and dancing and exorcist type body contortions. But was super long and by intermission we were already fading.

By the time it finished three hours later we were pooped and headed back to the hotel to sleep.

Rickshaw Run - Part seven - The final installment

Tuesday 13^th January 2015

This morning we woke up and geared up to head out. Maezee was still pretty hammered from last night which was more than a bit hilarious. We went and got the rickshaws from the parking lot and got ripped off when the guy tried to charge us in full when we had already paid half. In the end we only paid an extra 80 rupees but it’s the principle of the matter.

We took the shaws back to the hotel and loaded up the fuel hose we changed yesterday was also leaking so that was a waste of time. Mark (our new friend on the motorbike) was heading right through to Jaisalmer today and Maezee decided to ride with him and meet us there tomorrow, which left me to drive the rest of the way which I was pretty happy with. So we lost Maezee but gained another team (speedbump) to our convoy.

We hit the road and instantly caused a traffic jam as we tried to drive down a one way street and had to all back up turn around and head out the way we came in. our destination point for today was Pokhran which is just over midway between jodhpur and Jaisalmer. The morning was spent honing along the motorway our rickshaw was much faster with just two of us in it.

The Indian army was out in force today and we kept overtaking this massive convoy only to stop and have them go past us again.

At a chai stop we had a bit of a switch up and Rachel went with Blake and Zach came in with me we were cruising down the highway but decided to take a detour down some side roads. The intrepid brothers wanted to push on to Jaisalmer so they headed off and we hit some side roads along the way we stopped and hr boys all climbed some dodgy as old water tower while Rachel and I ate biscuits.

Further on we kept hitting patched of sand and were drifting through in one particularly thick patch tucking disaster flipped and somehow managed to both fall into the gaps and not get pinned at all by the shaw itself! After that we all cooled our jets a bit in the sand.

Not too much further the road re-joined the highway and we cruised into Pokhran not long after 2pm we stopped and ate before trying to find somewhere to stay. We found a place and grabbed some tables and then I headed to the loo to get there I had to walk through the kitchen which seemed to be staffed exclusively with children and there were about six pairs of undies hanging from nails in the wall it was a truly bizarre place but the food was good.

The first few accommodations we checked out were so average for the price so we decided to see if we could find something better and were well rewarded when we drove into the town’s fort and learnt that we could stay there. It was a bit pricey but Rachel and I bunked in with the curry eating kiwis and it worked out not too bad. The fort is huge and has a swimming pool (which we didn’t use since its pretty cold)

We drove the rickshaws up onto the fort walls and took a bunch of photos with the cannons and the fort in the background. Driving up was pretty freaky since it was super steep and driving back down was even scarier but I was pretty pleased with myself for doing it.

After the shaws were parked up for the night we walked around the walls some parts were walled up but that didn’t deter us we just climbed over. At one point a man way down in the market was yelling at us to get down. We watched half a sun set then continued on stopping by the pool to get a bunch of hilarious photos in weird yoga poses.

Once we were all pictured out we had a beer by the pool and then walked into town to find a cheap dinner by which stage a bunch of other teams had also arrived. We found a local place and had an all we could eat thali for 100 rupees each. On the way back I found a tiny shop selling mango bites and bought a huge bag which should last a day or two!

Back in the fort we had a game of spotlight, we split into teams and crept about the fort trying not to be found. Blake and I won after hanging out on a roof top for ages and curling into balls when we saw people (we both were dressed in ninja black) we got bored up there though and went running about the courtyard which is when we were caught but we had already won so were pretty pleased with ourselves.

Then for me it was time for a glorious hot shower and bed while the others chilled with a beer.

Wednesday 13^th January 2015

This morning we were woken up by one of the hotel dudes banging on the doors announcing breakfast at 6.15am when we had asked for brekkie at 7am we got our shit together and loaded up our rickshaws before heading to eat we were still12 minutes early but they acted as though we had kept them waiting.

Before we left the fort the boys drove up on the wall again and got more photos, and then we hit the road for our last 110km to Jaisalmer.  Our first stop was the petrol station where we all guess-timated how much fuel we would need to get to the finish line.

The roads were all smooth tarmac and we were running like a dream being a man down. Along the way we all got a bit crazy, Blake was riding on the roof rack him and Rachel swapped rickshaws and then back whilst on the move and then we picked up one member of speedbump who was riding in the back of a tractor one minute and who was flying into our rickshaw at high speed the next.

We made a few stops along the way for chai and to do some morning calisthenics to warm up then it was back in the shaws to head to the end. About 50km out we messaged Maezee to meet us at the finish line. We pulled into town and made our way to the palace where the finish line was we drove in and up the little podium where we got our picture taken we were short Maezee so will have to Photoshop her in! 

Then we drove down the ramp the other side did a few skids in the sand and then parked up. We posted our finishing time on the bored along with our best story from the road (making up our family song Jay Jay has a semi and we know it)

Not long after that Maezee and Mark arrived and we took our shaw for another spin and re-crossed the finish line with the whole team then hung about for the victory parade. While we were waiting I ate an entire packet of chocolate bourbons, two chocolate bars and a bunch of mango bites so by the time the parade started I was on a sugar high and threatened to cut a team with a razor for cutting us off, apologies were immediately said and they hadn’t even heard me so that was fine.

We hooned around the streets of Jaisalmer and Mark was more than a little bit scared especially when we got back to the lot and I started doing skids and doughnuts all over the sand me and Maezee were having a jolly time while he quietly shat his pants, we did almost have a head on collision with another team but we all laughed about it and carried on.

Before anyone could stop us we took our shaw and went to check into our hotel. Que drama as the hotel had fucked up our reservation and despite us paying a small fortune they wanted us to all share a bed. We packed a massive sad and finally got what we wanted but they effort it took left us needing booze so despite giving up alcohol for 2015 we hit the “child beer store” (it’s a hilarious typo and should read “chilled beer” we also got samosas and a bunch of snacks then had to take our rickshaw back and hand over the keys and paperwork it was a sad moment.

Back at the hotel we cranked the Hindi music videos and were joined for a bit by the bar tender who came to see if we wanted drinks and then wouldn’t leave. We got showered and dressed in our Indian outfits complete with bling, bindis and enough bracelets to dress a small city then headed over to the boys for some more pre drinking.

Sometime later we hit up the party and from there it’s a blur I almost ended up in the fire twice, had my face bitten, danced on tables, danced on chairs, danced on peoples shoulders, climbed on the roof, ate about three plates of food (one of them cold and in Maezees words “cold Paneer is fucking amazing”) a jolly time was had by all and we ended the night with about seven of us crammed in a rickshaw. And this sad anti-climax is the end of the rickshaw Run for 2015.

Rickshaw Run - part six almost the end!!!

Sunday 11^th January 2015

This morning we had a glorious sleep in till almost 8am and then we had the luxury of being able to sit down and eat breakfast. Last night in the bar we met a guy driving a motorbike to Jodhpur and so he joined our convoy for the day.

We ended up leaving a bit later than we had planned but met up with the others just out of town and hit the highway for a day’s driving by the time we started seriously moving it was 10.20am but we only had 220km to go so it wasn’t too bad.

The day was pretty easy going most of the roads were pretty sweet although we did hit some bumpy patches and the welding on our roof rack gave way so we had to duct tape it up for the time being. We drove along past Ranakpur which was pretty hilly the roads were pretty with great views of the valley. We stopped to take pictures of the monkeys and the guys even fed them straight out of their hand not a move I would have made!

Fuelled by breakfast we didn’t stop for lunch but made regular stops throughout the day for the engine to cool down which was good. Late afternoon we stopped just outside of Jodhpur to decide where to stay the guys had looked up a few places and we decided to head to the fort area.

The way in was a bit hairy with the gps taking us to the air force married couples quarter at one point and an angry man turned us around pretty quick smart. Eventually we made it where we wanted to be and by an absolute fluke ended up right outside the place we were looking for.

After a quick scan of the rooms and a haggle we had our luggage inside, we had to move our rickshaws to a secure carpark which we had to pay for but it was cheap and worth it since we are going to spend the day in town tomorrow as we are now less than 300km away from Jaisalmer.

Once the paperwork for the hotel was down we cleaned up and hit up the roof terrace for dinner and then a neighbouring rooftop bar for drinks.

Monday 12^th January 2015

Today we took a day off in Jodhpur we had a bit of a sleep in, I got up and did some yoga and when we were ready for the day we headed out to breakfast.

Everyone else went to the fort but since I’ve already been and Maezee didn’t want to we did our own thing. First off we went and got our roof rack welded and then had our fuel hose changed before taking the shaw back to the car park and heading to the market.

We went shopping for bindis and bracelets got henna on our hands and feet then went for ice-cream and chilled out in the market all afternoon.

Late arvo we had drinks on the roof terrace and then went for a very boozy all you can eat thali where the booze was “secret” and the manager skulled a beer in 11 seconds.

Back at the hotel we disturbed the peace by being rowdy on the rooftop.