Rajasthan: into the desert...

And that's "desert" as in sand, folks, not as in ice cream.

I am now in the desert town of Jaiselmer in Rajasthan, north-west India. The town is festooned with sandstone buildings and colourful people. Camels prowl the streets pulling gigantic carts, while their pampered animal cousins the cows doze contentedly in the midday sun. Miles of desert surround us on all sides. 50 kilometres away lies the eastern edge of Pakistan.

Jaiselmer is well-known for its giant sandstone fort, which dominates the skyline, constructed on the crown of a hill that overlooks the town. I've just been for a wander round the fort with my travel buddies Laura and Paul, and next we're off for lunch, followed by an overnight camel safari through the desert! This promises to be an exciting day.

I booked to go on a two-week tour round Rajasthan, paying an oily little man in Delhi a rather large sum of money. I'm travelling with Laura from Holland, who I met working on the volunteer project, and Paul from London, who is travelling round India on his own.

So far the trip has gone well. We visited the towns of Mundawa and Bikener on our way to Jaiselmer, and stayed in swanky mid-range hotels. ('Mid-range' being Lonely Planet speak for 'not an absolute dive, not a penthouse suite, but good enough to show your mother'.)

The 'fortnight' actually lasts 11 days from start to finish - I realised too late that the cheating bastard had conned us! I feel powerless to do anything - getting a refund off a Delhi agent is like getting blood from something which contains no blood inside. Like a stone. Still, this gives me more time to visit other areas, and get ripped off by other people.

After I left off last time, we returned to Delhi from Dharamsala. The return journey on the bus seemed even colder and draughtier than the journey there. The coach's limited supply of blankets were all taken and I shivered my way through the night with the solitary comfort of my music player. It was a definite relief to return to the heat and smog of the city!

And along with a few other people in my group I finally came down with Delhi Belly, aka 'the shits', and earnt my traveller's wings. It was caused by a glass of pomegranite juice in a Korean restaurant we ate in; everyone who had the pomegranite juice has fallen ill. It's never a good idea to have fruit juice in India - there is a big risk it's been topped up with dirty water.

So there was nothing for it but to drink plenty of mineral water and take the Himalayan herbal tablets I bought from a Pahar Ganj pharmacy (which got everything running ship-shape again pretty soon).

There's been a lot of problems with our volunteer project, which was badly organised. In the second week, after protesting very strongly to Daya, we got to change accomodation to a more convenient area of Delhi. This cut our daily travel time and freed up extra time to work with the street children.

After getting to know them we also visited the slum area where they live. Our visit to their cramped and difficult conditions caused a great stir of excitement among the local people. The couple who run the school (under a charitable organisation called Tejas Asia) finally returned from Mumbai to assist us.

It was sad to leave the kids behind on the last Friday, but I was glad it was only a two-week project, otherwise it would have been even tougher to say goodbye.

Anyway, I have to go now as my friends are waiting. Speak to all y'all soon!