When our 3 weeks in Himachal Pradesh were over, we headed back to New Delhi (in the less than impressive 3 tier sleeper accompanied by a totally inebriated IDEX guide - since sacked - who sat on our packed dinners during the jeep drive to the station & mashed our bananas & curried potatoes quite gratuitously!!) to meet up again with the other 1/2 of our original volunteer group.
They had the misfortune to have spent 3 weeks in Rajasthan. For starters, some of them were disappointed to find that they were not heading for the Thar Desert as they believed when booking their trip. Instead they ended up in what sounded like a hell hole in the back of beyond. They stayed in an old dilapidated hotel by a busy main road in appalling heat. All but 2 of the group succumbed to terrible sickness & diarrhoea & had to thole lying in airless rooms with no electricity to operate the ceiling fans due to lengthy daily power cuts. 2 of the group had to be admitted to a dire hospital & were put on intravenous drips. Westerners are rarely seen in the area where they found themselves so they were constantly followed & harassed by crowds of local people & the children that they were working with were generally badly behaved & difficult to control.
Apart from that they had a lovely time!
We were so lucky in so many ways to have chosen Himachal Pradesh!
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