Walking in the Park

A slow start today - waking to the chanting of a group of elderly women walking the narrow alleyways below and ending up at a little temple nearby. I laughed when I saw one of them tap her tambourine on the rump of  a cow getting in the way. I was going to go on a tour to a nearby village but they wont do it for one person - even if you would pay double, so in the end I went for a walk down past the famous clocktower.

I bought two cotton shirts and some food and eventually decided, as it was a particularly hot day, to go to the Mandore Gardens, 11km away -terraced gardens, fountains and pools were described surrounding ancient temples from when the capital was Marwar, just before Jodhpur superceded it in the 16th century. The rickshaw cost 80 rupees, I had my book and some  extra food and water and I decided I would just rest there for the afternoon - faint hope!  Firstly the place was really filthy - I mean the pools were littered with plastic bottles and rubbish, as were the gardens and the lawns, and even the cenotaphs and ancient temples were neglected, covered in pigeon shit and rubbish and falling apart.

All in all it was rather sad as the ancient monuments were quite fantastic. And when I found a shady patch of grass to sit on, I became a magnet for beggars and kids and people playing music wanting money. The monkeys were interesting and there were squirrels everywhere but the heat was stifling. I fell asleep at one point, lying on the dirty rubbish strewn grass but the next round of beggars soon woke me! I got the bus back - Fare 7 rupees - about 20 cents - after looking through the adjacent museum. The Bus driver was a lovly talkative chap, telling me he gets 300rupees per day and he works 30 days a month. He wants to go and live in Canada or New Zealand or America so he can do better. I noticed how patient a driver he was, like it seems to me all Indians are, certainly on the roads where there seems to be no rules, there are very few traffic lights and everyone just seems toweave in and arond everyone else to get where they want with hardly any agro. theres lots of horn tooting but its not done angrily like it would be in NZ and Australia but is just signalling that there is a vehicle squeezing by from behind. I wonder if the presence of cows everywhere is a calming influence? They seem to be everywhere, just watching us! 

Tomorrow I  get the Bus to Udaipur. I've decided not to go to Jaisalmeer though it apparently has a wonderful fort, but there are more forts for me to see round Udaipur and north of there.