Christophe asked me earlier:
“What has been worse, do you think:
* The 23 hours train journey from Xi’an to Shanghai with stomach bugs and no toilets except filthy holes in the ground?
* The 14 hour night train from Shanghai to Beijing, sitting up all night with people sleeping under our seats?
* OR this…"
Chris asked me this during the scariest bus ride of my life.
As there is no train service between Udaipur and Jodphur we had to take a 5 hour bus ride, which of course ended up being 7 hours. The bus ride took us first through mountains at crazy speeds, making us believe that the driver didn’t care for his life in the slightest! Following this, we went through desert roads which literally were deserted bar the occasional humongous herd of goats which we swerved off the un-tarmacced, pothole-filled road to avoid. We saw the occasional farmer tending to a very dry crop but apart from that, nothing but gravel and tarmac and a few scarecrows. And cows, of course.
It was a very bumpy ride to say the least. We found out that the usual desert road was closed so we were then having to take an even less-maintained track part way there. Finally, tarmac! We breathed a sigh of relief…until our driver began over-taking trucks at break-neck speed. He’d clearly dreams of being Lewis Hamilton, but seriously… wrong vehicle, mate. We were very unhappy and fearful (!!) at all stages of the journey but we could hardly demand to get off in the middle of the desert! Gosh. Christophe saved the day a little bit by getting his lovely laptop out (Lisbeth, yes - I am now a convert!) so we could watch very bumpy films to keep our minds from thoughts of bus crashes and rolling down mountains until the battery ran out...
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