Jaisalmer: A New Hotel and a Jain Temple

Things have once again turned for the better; India always has another surprise around the next corner.

Last night I had a small dinner by myself at the Nataj Restaurant, on a roof outside the fort. I met a couple of New Zealanders who now live in Newtown in Sydney; amazingly, one was from Nelson! They recommended the Sai Niwas hotel in Udaipur, so I rang them and booked a room from the 21^st-25^th. Back at the hotel I had a cup of chai on the roof and read my book.

Another very restless night for both of us, and we’re beginning to think the room has bad vibes or something. This, coupled with the bad plumbing and the hard bed, made us decide to find a new hotel.

This morning I checked out the Hotel Suraj, and what an amazing place to stay we have now! The hotel is an ornate old haveli (townhouse) with a central courtyard, and our room is actually a suite of beautiful rooms – an entrance room, a big middle room with table and chairs, a corridor to a shower room and toilet (a hot shower and a brand new toilet), and a brightly painted bedroom. Carved stonework and little niches with wooden shutters that we’ve put candles in. It really is incredibly cosy and beautiful and we can’t believe we’d made such a find. They also put extra mattresses on the bed!

K rested again today and is very slowly on the mend. She even managed to come out for an early dinner at the Hotel Natraj and a short evening walk around the market streets, but she has very little energy.

Today I visited the ornate Jain temples where the priests have such respect for life that they masks over their mouth to avoid breathing in and accidently killing aerial microorganisms! I got a yellow spot placed on my forehead (for a price), and then later looked through the small fort palace.

After dinner I had a cigarette on the rooftop and, coming down, slipped on the timeworn stairs and hit the stone hard with my elbow. A hot flush went right through me. God knows what would happen if you broke a bone here, but luckily, though very sore, it’s OK.