Again definately not one in the tourists guide books - and almost not even on the map..
Slow start as a few members of Tuk Norris are rather ill - Mike kept us up all night with all manner of noises rarely heard before (even in Shad's line of work), Real Republicans still looking strong for now..
Some great scenery - the 1st day was very flat and very dry as we emerged from the desert, a lot greener now with some mountains in the distance.
Currently we are working off one meal a day as we have a lot of mileage to cover, so those betting on weight loss may well be seeing a hefty bill come the end.
The cows are unreal - literally chilling on freeways and marching down main streets.
We find a small town half way through the day and decide to give Zebra a short rest and grab a cup of chai tea. Within minutes we are surrounded by a crowd 8 deep of eager faces and beatlenut stained grins - all heads inside the tuk having a good old look around. After repetitive tail pulling, we deicide it's time to move on before we start a riot by getting any more towns folk interested in the Zebra clad trio and their wobbly steed.
Again we arrive late to the one donkey town of Sirohi. Will minimal light and minimal local English, after being refused from what l;ater turns out to be Government accomodation we stumble upon Khan's guest house - more or less another building site. Hot water is promised in buckets for showers..
Dinner is fantastic, still no meat (South Africans growing weary). Beer is shipped in by scooter after much enthusiasm and thirsty gestures by all to convey immediate importance and urgency.
1:45 am - Shad stumbles into the room.
"That was one of the best nights of my life!" Myself and Dave stayed up partying with some of the locals. The beer that we were drinking (as mentioned before) was Haywards 5000 and is a wopping 8% alcohol volume. Needless to say the hangover was pretty severe the next morning. Communication was purely non-verbal, and very entertaining as the locals could not speak a word of english. The mood had been festive most of the night but when the owner of Khans guest house retired for the evening the rest of the staff really let loose. Out came the brandy (which was being drunk very stiff and mixed only with water), some other clear spirit which I am convinced should be illegal and the drugs. In Rajasthan, beetle nuts and 'bang' are apparently legal and can be bought from any local shop. 'Bang' had a remarkably similar appearance to hashish which is marijuana resin back home, which the last time I checked was certainly illegal, and both are supposed to give you a natural high. I was not brave enough to try but one of the locals who they called Danger Man, and who was the smallest and obviously at the bottom of the pecking order in this community was INSTRUCTED to take these drugs. After he had taken 2 or 3 hits he was buzzing! He was then instructed to do all sorts of crazy stuff which included opening beer bottles with his eye sockets and running across a very busy highway to fetch firewood when the fire was dying. The night ended with Hindi dancing which I am not very good at and head massages. The head massages were a little creepy but all the objection in the world couldn't make these guys stop. The next morning Danger Man had promised us hot water at 7am but the water obviously did not arrive and this strange little (more than likely comatose from the gross overdose of 'legal' hash) man could not be roused! I am not suprised.
Slow start as a few members of Tuk Norris are rather ill - Mike kept us up all night with all manner of noises rarely heard before (even in Shad's line of work), Real Republicans still looking strong for now..
Some great scenery - the 1st day was very flat and very dry as we emerged from the desert, a lot greener now with some mountains in the distance.
Currently we are working off one meal a day as we have a lot of mileage to cover, so those betting on weight loss may well be seeing a hefty bill come the end.
The cows are unreal - literally chilling on freeways and marching down main streets.
We find a small town half way through the day and decide to give Zebra a short rest and grab a cup of chai tea. Within minutes we are surrounded by a crowd 8 deep of eager faces and beatlenut stained grins - all heads inside the tuk having a good old look around. After repetitive tail pulling, we deicide it's time to move on before we start a riot by getting any more towns folk interested in the Zebra clad trio and their wobbly steed.
Again we arrive late to the one donkey town of Sirohi. Will minimal light and minimal local English, after being refused from what l;ater turns out to be Government accomodation we stumble upon Khan's guest house - more or less another building site. Hot water is promised in buckets for showers..
Dinner is fantastic, still no meat (South Africans growing weary). Beer is shipped in by scooter after much enthusiasm and thirsty gestures by all to convey immediate importance and urgency.
1:45 am - Shad stumbles into the room.
"That was one of the best nights of my life!" Myself and Dave stayed up partying with some of the locals. The beer that we were drinking (as mentioned before) was Haywards 5000 and is a wopping 8% alcohol volume. Needless to say the hangover was pretty severe the next morning. Communication was purely non-verbal, and very entertaining as the locals could not speak a word of english. The mood had been festive most of the night but when the owner of Khans guest house retired for the evening the rest of the staff really let loose. Out came the brandy (which was being drunk very stiff and mixed only with water), some other clear spirit which I am convinced should be illegal and the drugs. In Rajasthan, beetle nuts and 'bang' are apparently legal and can be bought from any local shop. 'Bang' had a remarkably similar appearance to hashish which is marijuana resin back home, which the last time I checked was certainly illegal, and both are supposed to give you a natural high. I was not brave enough to try but one of the locals who they called Danger Man, and who was the smallest and obviously at the bottom of the pecking order in this community was INSTRUCTED to take these drugs. After he had taken 2 or 3 hits he was buzzing! He was then instructed to do all sorts of crazy stuff which included opening beer bottles with his eye sockets and running across a very busy highway to fetch firewood when the fire was dying. The night ended with Hindi dancing which I am not very good at and head massages. The head massages were a little creepy but all the objection in the world couldn't make these guys stop. The next morning Danger Man had promised us hot water at 7am but the water obviously did not arrive and this strange little (more than likely comatose from the gross overdose of 'legal' hash) man could not be roused! I am not suprised.
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