We checked out of Shri Ganesh under a cloud of bad feeling since the owner wasn't pleased about us moving on. We were grateful for the effort he'd made the first night but it was the first time we'd used the guidebook to find accommodation and it was clear that standards had dropped since Lonely Planet had visited.
Without the usual pestering of tuks tuks, we hufted our bags down the hill and around the lake to get the Lake Residency guesthouse - stopping only to refuse the one brave trolley pushing guy who offered to take us. We were immediately so much happier. The guesthouse was nestled amongst the rocks and our room opened out into the pretty garden.
We popped up to the roof terrace, had a chat with the Iranian mother and daughter who lived in Britain and gaped at the story of the daughter's first trip to India. In short, she'd had bed bugs, been ripped off and then got sandwiched on a very long bus journey between 2 old guys who touched her as bits of the bus roof fell on her head. When she challenged them, one of them just started to touch himself - and all within her first 24 hours. She said it was a great story to tell but she went on to fall in love with India and visited it often.
We walked up to Dalpat's to start sorting out the police report but he'd been called out on a last-minute guiding job so we read by the lake for a bit and took a wander through the town.
We stopped for some lunch at a restaurant and then felt bad because the kid that worked there had to wake the owner/chef up because he was sleeping behind the counter. The food was really good but we felt more guilty that we didn't want much. Our stomachs seem to have shrunk quite a lot and neither of us can eat very much any more.
As we walked through the markets we started being followed by a dog. It was the scabbiest thing with a bald-patch around a section of its tail which was almost in the style of a show-poodle and it couldn't walk far before having to stop and have a really good scratch, but it really seemed to like us. We didn't feed it or pet it or anything but it followed us everywhere we went and when it did go in front of us, stopped to let us catch up. I became almost convinced that it was a kind of tatty Lassie and was trying to lead us to the camera.
Just before I got too carried away with my fantasies we bumped into Dalpat, who was trying to help a friend sort out the bank account of his dead mother. He said his guiding was done for the day and so we could meet him back at his house to write the report.
The style of report was quite strange - a combination between the detailed facts of myself and the camera and a letter begging forgiveness for bothering the police. I went with Dalpat to print it out, photocopy my passport and visa at a shop and submit it at the police station. Since his bike was having problems and most of it was uphill, we had to stop to borrow some guys motorbike. The changing of transport on the way to the police station had made me feel like some sort of criminal mastermind so I was feeling a bit giggly by the time we reached the station.
The police soon put a stop to that. Like lots of men in India, they stand around in groups pretending that they're a re really busy and looking quite mean. Every time they spoke to each other they sounded like they were having an argument and I felt my lower status as a woman (and of course, a camera-losing police-bothering moron). Dalpat had suggested that I go instead of Matt because they were generally more respectful with female tourists so I can't imagine what they'd have been like wiith him. After a fair amount of barking, at me and each other, the formalities were completed and we left.
We spent another evening around the campfire at Dalpat's house with ND and a couple of other friends of theirs. We had a real laugh, a few glasses of rum, and food cooked by Dalpat's mum and his air force friend's wife - which was delivered to us by motorbike. We met Dalpat's wife and she was very meek and sweet. Due to the tensions of their marriage, she had agreed to never show her face to his mother so when his mum even stepped outside she but her scarf over her face.
We stayed until we were tired and headed down the street to our nice clean bed.
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