Bikaner, Rajasthan - Well it has been a hectic week here in India. We arrived in New Delhi on sunday night after meeting Shirley and Kevin in Malaysia for our onward flight. The rest of my time in Thailand was spent on the beach relaxing and doing a bit of shopping. Kuala Lumpur was a big soupy saucy humid hot experience (it was actually a relief to get to Delhi after that weather!) for the day and a half that Lori and I were there waiting for our flight. I did like Malaysia for how easy it was to get around. The Petronus towers were like West Ed, but more levels and swankier stores. To get away from the heat Lori and I saw Collateral (A/C was our friend!) Thankfully, we got picked up at the Delhi airport, so we weren't forced to deal with the multitude of taxi drivers that no doubt would have ripped us off or taken us to a hotel that we didn't want to go to. The van swerved in and out of traffic with skill and we arrived at the hotel in one piece to be introduced to the burocracy that has hounded us ever since. Instead of being taken to a room immediately, we were seated in an office, given water and then had to be persistent with the fact that we wanted aircooled rooms and not A/C. Kevin and Lori got a dousy of a room where they could look out their bathroom window into a dark alley and the neighbourhood cow (probably where the hotel got the milk for Kev and Lori's lassi that they had for breakfast the next morning!) Shirley and I had a clean room, but I think we were next to the kitchen, as it was noisy for a while and early in the morning. Lori and I went for a little walk down the street, but by that time everything was closing. We stopped for a drink in the hotel restaurant and I was reacquainted with my favorite beverage - an ice cold limca (lime flavoured sprite basically). The next morning was the adventure of trying to get our train tickets. A large amount of people have jobs trying to redirect us to personal travel agents, but we finally got to the foreigners office upstairs (that wasn't closed or being painted as the touts had told us). The people upstairs were nice. We hit a bit of a snare when we didn't have the passport numbers of Chris and Jeff, but the manager eventually came in and gave us permission to get their tickets to Varanasi for next week (only after I signed a promisary note to say that they would carry their passports at all times while on the train - man do they love paperwork here! We bought our tickets for the evening Shatabdi express to Amritsar, so had the afternoon to walk around Connaught Circle and look at an emporium of goods from all over India. Our trip to Connaught was an experience not to be repeated - all 4 of us piled into a rickshaw (which should by all rights be only for 2-3 people). We were staying close to the train station, so we walked there to catch the train. We got a few funny looks and lots of offers of taxis and rickshaws on that walk! Once on the train (which left 15 minutes early, which was very shocking for a country where everything seems to be running on its own slow time) we realized the luxury. We got fed a snack and dinner and were in A/C. Kev and Shirley slept for a lot of it, understandably. Once in Amritsar we had to negotiate a taxi to the temple ashram. Surprisingly he took us there and we got a room. The foreigners are kept in one room which consists of about 10 beds out in the open and 3 smaller rooms with 3 beds each. The females took one of these rooms and Kev slept on a cot in the open. We had our own shower there, but had to walk across a courtyard where people were sleeping to get to the toilet. It was a neat experience, to be sure, but it is the most "basic" place I have ever said. I can't complain because it was free and given in good spirit, after night 2 there I was definately ready for a hotel. The next morning we spent at the temple. It was a great honour to be allowed to witness this holy place. Everyone was very friendly and happy to talk to us. We were a walking freakshow (Kevs words). Everyone wanted to take our picture, shake our hand and ask us where we are from. It was an innocent curiosity, so it was harmless, but it did get old when you were trying to get to the dorm to go to bed and 5 people want a pic with you. We decided to stay another night to rest, so we checked out Jalanwalla Bagh, the area where thousands of innocent men, women and children were fired on by the Bristish in 1919. You could still see a wall with bullet holes and the well that people jumped into to try to escape. The next day we took a bus to Jalandar where we connected with our train to Bikaner. The Jat Adi Express was the dirtiest train I have ever been on. We were in third class sleeper, which means the windows were open all of the time. Going through a desert at high speeds leads to a very dirty Jo-Ann and family. We arrived at 12:30 at night. I was feeling ill from the train dinner (warning: NEVER EAT TRAIN FOOD) and lack of sleep and the heat - it was still hot at that time! We walked to our hotel, which was only a block away and had the best cold showers of our life. Shirley and I decided not to go on the camel trek due to stomach aches and heat issues, so Kev and Lori were off the next day and Shirley and I have been staying in Bikaner. I have been hiding in the A/C resting and reading and watching TV and ordering room service. We did adventure out one afternoon to a co-operative of local village women to buy some things and to go to the rat temple - thousands of rats to revulse even the tough stomached! Kev and Lori should be back today from their camel trek and we will head to Delhi sunday night on the train to be there for when Jeff and Chris arrive on monday night. We have booked our train ticket to Varanasi for tuesday night and will be there for a few days to marvel at the holy Ganges and the wonderful people worshipping.