The desert continued to get more desolate as we headed towards Jaisamler from Khimsar - the military presence also stepped up as we cruised along the Pakistani border. Eventually we came to the Golden City, which really does look like a giant sand castle coming up from the desert.
We checked in to our seedy hotel and headed straight out to the sandstone fort.
We found ourselves in “ little Italy” for a hit of Indian style brusetta and pizza which was surpisingly good, There was a hindi movie being shot in the court yard beneath, and the crowd swamped the star as she was trying to leave - we didn’t know her from a bar of soap. We wandered aimlessly around the narrow streets of the old city which was great, though smelt a little like the world’s largest public toilet in places. Davinda took us out to the restaurant of his choice which offered good, food annoying music and greedy waiters.
next morning was christmas eve and we all had Christmas shopping to be working on. Possbily one of the funnest christmas shopping experiences ever.
Our guide for the day was called???? apparently from the Ferrari racing team, and from a Brahmin family -this obviously meant a lot to him if not us. It is only now that the Caste system raises it’s head pretty strongly - amongst the Delhi gang they told is that is it pretty well extinct, but it is alive and well in Rajastahn!
Our guide was very fixed on showing us to his favourite shops which was a little trying, as he obviously thought we had a lot more money than we do, and were not really interested in the 8000 rupee pashmina from the neck of the himalayan goat.
But we did managed to see the longest moustache in the world 4 meters, his dad had one 6 m but was sadly assinated - possibly because of the mo, we couldn;t get clarification on that.
After we ditched the guide, when he realised there would be no commissions from us, we headed back to little Italy for re grouping and a massive hit of comfort food - poached eggs on toast, Banana and Nutella pancakes, and banana custard.
"Necessity being the mother of invention" lead to the introduction of the newly adopted family tradition of "Bed Pie" - a fine tradition based on the need not to go out in the evening for another curry, and the discovery of a funky German "Bakery" in the midst of the Jaislamere market. We are looking forward to more Bed Pie opportunities at family festivals.
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