Jodhpur, Saturday

1124 On verge of leaving hotel. Got up (bit of a sore throat) about 1030ish, been snoozing on alarm since about 10. Bit later than ideal but could be worse. Had some bourbons in room in lieu of wasting time going out for lunch. Think I will have to get a tuktuk over to the fort as I am not 100% sure where the entrance is.

1138 OK, really actually leaving.

1745 At Jain restaurant round corner from hotel (not been back yet) having IIC veg makhani, jeera rice, stuffed naan and a beer. Good day actually, though my lip is rotten (been trying to avoid using Blistex for last few days and it's gone all dry and I have limited success at not biting it) and I've not drunk anything since leaving hotel (still have this weird sore throat on one side feeling) so beer will be welcome. Will write more later.

1749 Beer served in a mug (as you might drink tea out of), bottle is wrapped in newspaper (possibly to keep it cool admittedly) and waiter put it under the table. This isn't quite the 'serving out of a teapot' thing I read in the guide, but I assume this is due to licensing restrictions. (I wasn't going to order beer, though I did fancy one, as I had a hazy notion that might not be a Jain 'thing' and it wasn't on the menu, but the waiter offered.)

1819 Food pretty good, though will probably go to hotel restaurant later. Will get bill when waiter pops over, get some water etc at little shop spotted down the road then back to hotel room for couple of hours. Camera battery nearly dead so need to charge it, also need to think about onward travel - in fact, since I think I fly in two weeks today, I need to be roughing out a complete itinerary for my remaining time - and quite happy to have a bit of a surf etc if wifi permits. Tomorrow morning need to go to station - I think it is walkable - to buy ticket onwards, probably to Bikaner.

1825 Bill 452. Beer shows as 'Khamba" at 140. Making it 500. Goodish value but bit of a pisser as I am becoming chronically short of 100 notes. Let's go to that shop and hope I spend enough that they will change 500.

Place is Jhankar or maybe Jhankar Choti-Haveli. (Looking at sign outside.)

2000 Wifi is still shitty but sort of works. Looks like the best train Jaipur to Bikaner is 14708, leaving 10:00 (arrives 09:50, at which point it has already done 950km from Bandra Terminus), arriving 15:35 (terminus). Modulo changes this is also one of the guide book's recommended trains. I haven't yet looked into an itinerary for the rest of my time in India. booking.com, while not having an insane number of properties, shows good availability for three nights in Bikaner starting Monday so I can go ahead and try to buy the train ticket tomorrow.

2104 At hotel restaurant for second dinner, or maybe the earlier one was tea. Anyway. Not exactly starving but I wouldn't mind something else to eat and what the fuck. Will also have a second beer which is obviously madly debauched and medically unacceptable but I'm such a devil-may-care rebel that I don't mind.

2107 Consider a waiter chap actually waved me onto the upper terrace it seems to be taking a long time to actually come and give me a menu.

2137 Food is here. I get four large spoons and no fork. Frankly I'm not even sure I have a plate to eat off, there is a huge steel thing but that doesn't look massively plate like. I got a fork here yesterday. Fuck knows. For all the fact this is not a classy place the service feels surprisingly sneering. Am I really supposed to eat this with a spoon? Fuck it, not my fucking problem, I don't have to buy into their "what? you don't know how to eat our food and we're not going to tell you" shit. I'm going to ask for a fork. I'm not going to summon a waiter - fat fucking chance up here - I'm going down to ask for one in a loud, clear, steady voice. Cunts.

2159 Possibly an overreaction. Waiter was apologetic when I asked for a fork, but maybe he was faking. Anyway, no matter. Food not that great although maybe I just didn't like the dish - had a mushroom masala, which I wouldn't have expected to surprise me (I wanted something else but the waiter said they couldn't do that and suggested this) but there was a strange sort of component in the taste. OK I guess. Will finish beer, get bill when next see waiter and back to room.

2205 Waiter added bill up in his head (nothing on paper), originally 325 then became 345. But that's with beer so pretty cheap. Tipped about 90, I kept the 100 bill from change (also got some at micro-shop earlier when bought water and some crisps and some bourbons) and added some 10s to the 50 they gave me with my change. There were a few coins I didn't pick up so maybe it was 100. More than generous as a percentage I guess.

0112 Going to bed at last. Oddly hacked off, everything seems like a huge fucking chore. Should write some notes about today but will do it tomorrow.