Jaisalmier, touted as the Golden City but this has nothiong to do with gold. It actually involves sand and lots of it.

The next leg of the journey was out further west and towards the reaches of the Thar desert , where were committed to finding a flat surface in the desert and taking the Viru out for another cricket adventure.

We use the Lonely Planet for a little accommodation guidance , with a view that the top pick is likely to be somewhere clean, tidy and affordable , as was suggested in the review. Little did we know that since publishing the Desert Moon had decided on some "home improvements" and upon arrival there was water leaking from upstairs..."don't worry sir...just water please....fix now please...fix now welcoming", was the reassuring remark that the owner, Jenatir gave us.

We quickly settle in and start considering what the following day and a half holds. At this stage there is no room for error with our itinerary, as we are awaiting the final decision on the cricket venues and we need to get booking and fast. Rajastan will be a whistle stop tour, if we're to make it to Chennai for the first Test.Karim (the over-friendly hostel employee who tried to kiss Dan on leaving) , comes along with the sales pitch of a lifetime , a real exclusive tour of the golden sands and a camel ride , with "lux" (this means deluxe accommodation) and jeeps as transfer for a whopping 20 quid. Hold on ...hold on....talks us through the offering , don't try and pull the wool over our eyes and let's hear what's really on offer......negotiations are held and we are at logger heads over the equivalent of 50p. Now we know we should probably back down and get on with it , but we decided to think about it (something that the Indians do NOT enjoy....waiting to close a deal). "We have your number my friend , and we'll call you when we're ready after lunch!!"

We head off for a wonder with a view to taking in the Old City , but are very quickly distracted by the Shanti Sports signage en route. We pop in for a chat with Asif , test out a few of the Kashmir Willows bats in store (Reebok, BAS, SS), which we are told retails at Rs 850 (11 quid) and after 30 mins walk out with two balls....one of them is of the heavy red tennis ball type and the other, a little softer and a more detailed seam impression is know as the Spinner. (One more British pound wisely spent). Asif tells us where we are likely to find some people playing cricket , so we head off in search of our next track.

The "park" is a dirt track , but what were we expecting lush green surfaces with pristine mowed lawns?...no chance. We wander up to a group hanging around and start chatting, with cricket being the topic of conversation. Jatinder (our new friend) pipes up that he has a bat at home and perhaps we should get a game going on , but the only problem is that it's a distance to his an there's a cost involved (quelle surprise)...not to worry we tell him, our guest house is just around the corner and we have the Viru.

The match gets underway , with two teams of 5 on a basketball court , it's a T10 game and light is fading....fast There are some unorthodox bowling / chucking styles going on , big heaves across the line but smiles all round.The light meter comes out but the locals are still steaming in, however we finally decide to call it a day. We have made more friends that want us to meet up first thing in the morning for a rematch!

The following morning and we're up catching a dose of our new favourite channel on TV , Star Cricket. It's the Ashes 97 and and we're looking at a fresh-faced Tubby Taylor and Mark Waugh fronting up to Chris Lewis (before he was arrested for alledged drug running...um...). This is brilliant stuff but we need to get the travel arrangements resolved.

That afternoon we're whisked away by our "Jeep"....oh no , it's not , our driver is Karim and there's a problem with the jeep so he'll take us in the owner's car (first promise broken). We enjoy an hour long Camel ride through some heavy shrubs until we finally come out at a stretch of about 2 km's of clear sand and dunes. The Don (another of our tour guides) , comes cruising up one of the dunes with the VIRU and a tennis ball in hand and we're off to find a flat surface in the sand dunes!

Within 5 mins we have assembled an audience and about 8 people are involved with adults , children and camels as spectators. Nine year old Abbay's mother pops over and politely asks if we don't mind looking after him for the next 20 mins as she's going for a walk...no problem. The crowds are swelling and the desert folk are staring, but they love it and another hour is killed on the dunes , with the sun setting in the background.

We return to the camp as the only tourists , for a night of local entertainment and cuisine (we get our first taste of the desert bean). The tent is "lux" with it's own bathroom attached.

The Safari over, we got back in our 'jeep' (old banger with an oil leak) and headed for the train station. As we were on a tight schedule, we'd bought the tickets the day before and been told to 'shut up' by some German for chatting idly while we 'lined please'; clearly a man who doesn't appreciate the significance of England returning to india for the Tests. There time for a bit of cricket at the train station before we board the Delhi Express, which we do with 15 mins to spare. All the while a street vendor is insistent he can fix some minor damage to our rucksacks for 'very good price, no probelm kindly sir'.. Neatly settled in our seat and bargaining with the vendor, an Indian family suggested we were sitting in their seats. We politely told them they must be mistaken and showed them our tickets. Yes we were wrong, our train departed almost 24 hours previously. We pegged it off the train - the street vendor in tow - with no idea what to do when we bumped in to nine year old Abbay and his mother, who told us Abbay had been missing us. The was about 8 minutes of confusion with Abbay's mother, the TC (everyone knows the TC - most important man at the railway station!) and about 10 other locals... Our booking form was produced and yes we'd written the wrong date. That wasn't really the issue, we just needed to get on that train. Two more tickets were bought and we were on the train to Jodphur with 1 min to spare....