Jodhpur & Thoughts on India

Jodhpur
22nd June
Jodhpur is hot! To have a shower of an evening we need to fill a bucket of water from the so called cold tap and let it stand in the A/C room room for a few hours to cool down. Otherwise you would scald yourself. Sightseeing is restricted to the mornings, the afternoon is spent relaxing in our aycee room, as the Indians call air conditioning.
Just to make a point, no, we haven't slept in the van since we started our trip, it has been an impossibility for most of the trip with the heat, the only time it has been cool enough was when Joan was feeling off. However the van has proven invaluable for preparation of non Indian meals whether it's breakfast or lunch. This has given us a break from becoming tired of the local fare and although we love the Indian food eating iddlies and parothas for breakfast becomes a little tedious after a while. The van has travelled on the roads without a problem which cuts back on the time spent at railway stations organising and waiting for trains and also cuts out the need of travelling in some non luxury buses. It has given us the opportunity to visit out of the way places and to vary our route and time structure whenever we chose to.
Our time in India is drawing to a close. After Jaiselmer in the west we will head north fairly quickly and cross into Pakistan about 30th June. Time to let my beard grow and to get the Pakistan & Karakoram Highway LP out and start studying. Sad to leave this place, we always say that India is a country where we could spend 6 months and the trip hasn't changed this. The people are so friendly and helpful to a couple of geriatrics. We have never felt threatened and have to stop ourselves from becoming too lax with security, we just feel that if we were to leave our room or van open nothing would be removed.
There is so much to see that when you look at our route on a map of India it's just a thin line in a vast country. We have visited Delhi, Jaipur and the Taj Mahal on an earlier trip and left it out on purpose but what we have seen is so very memorable. The accommodation we have stayed in is usually excellent and has worked out at an average of under $40 per night.
Maybe it's our attitude that helps make people react the way they do to us. A genuine smile goes such a very long way. But it has to be genuine. It has been mentioned to us by complete strangers whether it's a rickshaw wallah or a bloke in a juice bar just how relaxed we seem to them and how genuine we seem. And that gets them to open up giving you a chance to learn a bit about them and their situation. Motorcyclists leading the way when we have become hopelessly lost in the van. They didn't want or expect money, just to help us out. If I pick someone who can't speak English for directions they find someone who does in an instant. We ended up with 2 key rings as gifts today from the samosa wallah, after spending 60cents on three samosas (see photo), just a spontaneous gift.
It will definitely be hard to leave