Jaisalmer...the golden city

I think we're about 2 weeks into the trip now, my gastro has finally gone after i called the doctor and got some serious medicine. A little note to any other travellers - Gastro here is bacterial and not viral like in aus, where you just suffer for a day or 2 then its over...i suffered for 5 and that's been plenty. So, these past few days have really only been my first where i have felt 100%. I think it has taken a while to adjust to this country too. I pretty sure I experienced a bit of culture shock...how could you not? The constant stink of cow shit, sewerage & incense, especially when you're ill, is enough to want to board the next flight out of here. At one stage i wanted that. I last wrote on my birthday morning which was all fine but then i pretty much cracked it later on. I felt crap, i wasn't with all my friends and family& our guide was/is a shit. It was just rubbish. We went for a drink at this old fort which was amazing and would have been great to have dinner at but instead we left and had dinner at some crappy place. I was so close to tears, then i was like, fuck it, i can't do anything and if i leave this place and tour i know i'll regret it. It was definitely a turning point for me. Giving up the tantrums at 26. great. So 2 towns later and we are in Jaisalmer. It is called the golden city because of all the yellow sandstone that is used. At the centre of the city is the huge fort dating back to sometime around 1126 and spanning 5km in radius. Inside the walls there is the palace and a labyrinth of alley's full of the most exquisite shops selling miniature paintings on silk and postcards from the early 20's and 30's, camel wool and silk pashmina's embroidered with beads and sequins, maharaja pants that balloon out & silk dresses and skirts made from every single pattern and colour imaginable, intricately beaded wall hangings and throws for your bed, couch, table....its just an endless shopping mecca and for the first time i can understand why people like to come to India. I was just saying to Gemma there's a few great business ventures to be made from this trip...and possibly some buying trips in the future.? Yesterday and today i had a full body ayurvedic massage. The lady who runs the place is stunning. She is like a royal goddess and i couldn't believe that she was 42. I wish i had a picture of her. She was married at 14 to her husband who doesn't work because he has depression. She has 2 sons and 1 daughter, though 1 son and 1 daughter are adopted, all of them work in the massage parlour and because of her sons profession she is finding it hard to marry him off...the local families think that it isn't good enough?! So, instead Baiju is allowing her son to go to Calcutta to find a wife. how sweet! In Calcutta you don't have to have arranged marriages, so hopefully he will find a wife! Reason i know all this is that i had lunch with them today after my massage...another nice surprise :-)

my new skirt...love!