Planes, Trains and Auto-rickshaws

We began our northern trip with a transportation medley. At 6am an auto-rickshaw took us from Deepak's place to the bus stop. Then a painfully slow ride to the airport, onto a Spicejet flight to Jaipur by way of Mumbai (our plane was called Dill; Lori was hoping we'd be on Coriander but alas...). From the window we could see the slums surrounding the airport of India's most populous city.

We'd begin our adventure in the far western city of Jaisalmer, but the overnight sleeper train from Jaipur didn't leave until midnight (or so we thought), so we spent a few hours in the central "walled city" area. We roamed the bustling chaotic streets, ignored endless calls for us to come into shops, met our first child beggars (more on that later) and finally escaped the heat and dust by catching a Bollywood movie, the blockbuster My Name is Khan. To ensure we'd used almost every possible form of transportation in one day, we caught a cycle-rickshaw to the theatre. Then on to the train station at 11pm, where we could finally rest on the sleeper train, right? No! It was almost two hours late, leaving at close to 2am. We rented a "deluxe" waiting room at the station, as sleeping on the platform with hundreds of others beneath speakers blaring endless announcements did not look terribly relaxing. Finally the train came, which had last been cleaned back in 1982 (and built in '52, it seemed). But we were on our way!