I wake up feeling hungover and sick. Not sure how much is alcohol related and how much is the flu/cold. Heading to breakfast Ricky tells us that a panther killed a wild boar next to the pool last night and we all glance at each other nervously - super glad we didn't set up camp to sleep there after all! Erin even more so than the rest of us!
One of the hotel's dogs has had puppies that are 10 days old. We're taken to where she has hidden them, in a den, safely away from reach of the panthers made from sticks that crack as you get close and they are buried into the side of a hill. We have cuddles with one of them - they are adorable!
I'm not the only one who is ill. Johannes and Claus are also not feeling good. Michael, Ricky and Laura seem to be OK now but think the pace and lack of basic food hygiene is taking it's toll on our bodies - certainly mine. We take the jeep to Ranakpur temple, driving past monkeys, over a bridge adorned with stone elephants and eventually arrive at the Jain place of worship, seemingly in the middle of nowhere with a subtle likeness to Angkor Wat. Jainism is a strain of Hinduism and some worshippers prefer to practice entirely naked. The temple is 600 years old and contains 144 uniquely carved pillars depicting various gods and deities. We are shown around by one of the priests who takes us to the highlights of the temple including the 'tree of life' which appears to have a form of the elephant god Ganesh within it. Upon leaving the temple I'm told to cast a wish - I hold my eyes tight and send my wish forwards to the shrine and upwards to the sky.
When we leave we come across a stray puppy and then realise there are a further three awkwardly frolicking in the dust - still gangly and a few weeks old. They try and nibble our trousers, play with Michael's camera strap and these ones look like they shouldn't be petted. They seem to be attracting more attention than the temple.
Johannes has been quickly going down hill and doesn't make it into the temple opting to sit in the shade instead. He's slowly turning 50 Shades of Green (and yes today the blog was nearly titled this). On our drive back we have to pull the jeep over and a scene worthy of the exorcist unfolds before us. Poor Johannes is super sick.
Returning back to Aranyawas we pack up, I order a packed lunch (a dubious looking cheese sandwich) and head to the jeep to pick up our train to Mumbai.
We wait at the platform in Falna for an hour and eventually a long blue train pulls sleepily into the station. We fight with our bags onto the correct carriage and Ricky points us to our beds. Mine is lying parallel to a window and consists of a basic blue plastic bench bed. There are six other beds in the compartment with no doors. Two women sit in the beds opposite and they stare unashamedly at me. After some initial luggage chaos I relax down making myself a pillow using my sealed dirty laundry bag and put on my fleece. When I take out my face wipes they look bemused and stare at me as if I am performing a strange western ritual. Eventually we are given a pillow and blanket. I'm still not feeling too good so I bed down for the 13.5hr journey ahead. I fall asleep quickly, gently being rocked to sleep by the soothing movement of the train.
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