Derelict playground for 3

No internet last night so couldn’t post this – gorgeous day with Naresh in his Marigold tuktuk.  First I had an appointment with the dentist where he found one of my bridge teeth failing – but he patched me up after I’d had an all around x-ray of my jaw and I have to go again on Monday.  Then we sped around trying to find someone to unlock my phone – no luck – so I have bought a cheapie one just for calls and texts. I don’t expect any calls and hope everyone will communicate by email as my own phone is now at the bottom of my suitcase and switched off.  Then we went to the area where there were thousands of happy rats last year – but found they had all had some disease and had to be destroyed.  However I did get a picture of these rather large mice and saw two larger rats. So this is my entry for Derelict Sunday with thanks to Evolybab for hosting. 
 
I also have to thank everyone for super comments and stars again – can’t return favours at the moment – sorry.
 
Well the travel saga was pretty horrific for we left an hour late and then at Delhi there was 200m visibility because of fog so we got stacked – going round and round, lower and lower till eventually we made an instruments landing. By then it was two hours late.
 
In true Indian fashion barely half the desks at visa/passport inspection were manned so that was 2 hours standing in line. Finding the luggage was fine (I hadn’t been able to put my soft holdall in the cabin because even though it squodged up it didn’t conform) but I couldn’t get anything out of them for want of a knife to cut the cable ties that had been administered.
 
Then the search for rupees…ha! the Indian Government took 86% of the currency out of use overnight by removing the 500 and 1000 rupee notes a couple of weeks ago so everyone has been queuing at banks trying to deposit their unused/under the bed notes and withdraw lesser notes and 2000s.  That meant all the ATMs in the airport were dry, so was a bank, and there was another two hour wait in a queue at the remaining exchange with no guarantee there would be money for those at the end of the queue either. 
 
So I hedged my bets and shared a taxi with a gorgeous Cypriot/Chinese couple who gave me 100 rupees to continue the journey to Bikaneer House to catch a bus to Jaipur. Ha! again.  They wouldn’t take a card and sent me off to find cash.  A charming Indian man called Viraat was in the same boat – his previous hotel had insisted on cash not card payment so he hadn’t enough to travel – so off we sped by rickshaw to Khan Market trying every ATM but they had “no cash” written on the door and the two banks refused to change money.  What to do?  I started asking stall holders if they would change a £20 note and got shakes of the head from all but one although his mate said no.  I left and returned without Viraat and waved a twenty pound note under his nose and said I would have to sleep under his stall for the night if I couldn’t get it changed.  That made him quiver so after making a phone call he gave me 1400 rupees – keeping 50 for himself – bless him. It was enough to get both Viraat and me a ticket to Jaipur where he phoned and arranged for his son to meet us at the bus bringing rupees to pay me back although  I should have loved to have paid his fare for he was such a brilliant friend.  When we stopped at the pit stop half way he bought chai for us and a toasted cheese sandwich to share; he phoned my B&B to say I would be very late and he bought us crisps.  When we arrived and he had given me my money he negotiated an Indian, as opposed to tourist fare in a rickshaw and I sped to my lovely B&B where the chowkidar welcomed me, showed me to my room and found me an apple to eat.  I slept incredibly well!

More dereliction in the extras