In Which I Arrive in Jodhpur

Ha HA! Finally figured out where the "h" goes in Jodhpur. Applause applause.

Last night was spent on an overnight train from Delhi to here, and it's the only way to ride. We were in a sleeper car, which is much, much nicer than the "unreserved" section, i.e. wooden benches that are crowded at all times, but not quite as nice as the private air-conditioned cars. As it isn't exactly sweltering here at this time of year, the air-conditioning was pretty unnecessary, so we were juuuuust fine where we were. There are basically eight beds to a section, two bunks three tiers high and one bunk with two tiers. Each car has about, erm, 4 sections or so. When no one is sleeping, the middle bunks fold down and create nice little bench seats to enjoy, but I was so damn tired from jet lag I lasted until about 10 minutes before the train left before I crawled up to my top bunk and fell fast asleep, where I remained, drifting in and out, until Evan told me it was time to wake up as the train was pulling into our stop 12 hours later. The fews times I woke up during the night I was pleasantly surprised at how calm and quiet it was, especially as there were at least 32 people within hearing distance. There were no shouters, no screaming babies (though babies there were), and no chainsaw snorers. Gentle, lulling snorers, yes, but nothing that wasn't tolerable and gently soothing.

Now we are staying in the Blue Hotel for a night, which (shock surprise) is BLUE! In fact, the majority of this city is blue, painted so as it's considered to not only be a holy color BUT ALSO an effective mosquito repellent. The family who owns the hotel lives downstairs and insists on the old adage "our home is your home... please, please, when you are here you are family." Speaking of becoming family, we met with Roop (or as I can't seem to stop calling him, Roop a Doop) a few hours back, our camel trek tour guide for the next week. He also insists on our being his family for the duration of the trek (and beyond!), hit home by his answer to almost all our pre-trek questions, i.e. "whatever you want, just ask. We are family, I get you whatever you need, please ask. We take care of you." So basically, he is awesome. And now I have an Uncle Roop. Who knew??? He's also a great believer in Kharma, so always takes good care of his trekkers, and in exchange hopes what goes around comes around. So if anyone wants to take a camel trek through India, have I got a man for YOU!

Tomorrow, off to the desert.