Day 15 - Jaisalmar

Today I spent aaaaalooot of money. I woke up early and had breakfast on the roof with Kay, Anna and Karen.

After we finished we worked our way through the windy streets and keen salesmen ("Good price, very cheap" or "Please come in and give me a chance to rip you off" - yes, one man really said that!) to an ornate Jain temple for the sightseeing part. It was very beautiful, built of sandstone and carved wonderfully by hand. We took lots of pictures of the amazing carved figures that were everywhere and in every size.



Above: The girls outside the temple, and the ornate sandstone inside

Then we went shoooopping. We went directly to a textiles shop recommended to us by Hannah, and proceeded to turn it into a big mess. We sipped chai and chatted away to the salesmen forabout an hour whilst they pulld out every rug, throw and cusion cover imaginable. The throws in particular were amazingly beautiful, made of silk and embroidered by hand. By 11 we had all drunk much tea and our eyes hurt with all the colours, but we had all given in to one thing or other. I bought a huge blue/silver silk throw and asked for it to be shipped home. It cost 6400R (about 80 pounds) but I justified it in the 'if I bought it in England it would cost ten times as much' way. Oops, thats it now, no more crazy spending. We shopped all morning (phew, so exhausting), spent all our money, then collapsed in a Tibetan restaurant at 1 and wolfed down some momos. Afterward we went back to the hotel to recover and relax.



Above left: Outside the main fort area Above right: People dancing at a street ceremony

Tonight we are all having dinner together in the very classy restaurant The Trio, and tommorow we go for a camel safari in the desert. We have been promised sand dune racing and sleep under the stars - very exciting!