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Published: November 24th 2006
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CK: We get up at 5.45 to go on a 2 day camel trek. After much shopping around we've found a fairly comfortable deal, it seems. Together with a Canadian (joe) and 2 Germans (Claudia and Volker) we zoom in jeep out of town to get to the camel camp. It is still quite chilly and with the wind in the open jeep our thin jumpers are pathetic. When we get to the camp we are greatful for a hott cup of chai and a campfire the camel man has for us. 10 minutes later we watch with ahhs and Ohhs the sunrise. It get warm fairly quickly. We get served a breakfast consisting of toast, boiled eggs and verrry sweet jam. Then the camel man packs up and we mount the beasts for the first time. It was a lot less scary than I thought and the gentle rocking of the camels gait was quite comfortable. (..nothing compared to horses) It is wonderful. One can gaze out into the country without having to watch where to step or go, the camel nknow the way (just in case any of the Germans are picky: they were dromedaires not camels, one hump
not two)
Every hour we walk for a bit so that our legs don't get too stiff.
The desert is surprisingly green, the indians tell us that there had been a lot of rain during the monsoon and therefore it is not quite what we imagined but very peaceful.
For lunch we get freshly cooked indian veg dishes plus rice and chapatis and then we laze in the shade until after 3 o'clock. (TK: A local boy passes with a herd of camels and Ali and his men talk to him, giving an empty water bottle to him; he begins to milk the cows in front of us and then returns the bottle to Ali who is making tea. I've just had goats milk tea!!!. After waking up, I look up and see 8 large birds of prey hanging over us circling thinking we're dead meat -it's time to move on!) Another 2 hours on the camels and we get to some dunes. They look like proper desert. We feel the soft sand between our toes and clamber around in it. The sunset is beautiful too and as it gets dark a magnificent stary sky emerges. It is amazing, like
a sparkly dome over us. We eat dinner in the light of the campfire and retire early. We are all really tired and as soon as my head hits the pillow I fall asleep. Our beds are proper beds with mattresses pillows and blankets. (I said we went for the comfy option)
TK: For me the night under the stars has been the highlight of the trip so far. India is not a quiet place, but it was amazing to completely get lost in the middle of a desert. All you could hear was the wind (both that was blows through the shrubs as well as that from the camels,) birds overheard, and the creaking of the leather saddles. No tuk tuk auto rickshaws tooting away. No screaming music; just (almost) complete peace: I must be getting old. - In passing the tuk tuk drivers toot at everything, even if there is nothing in their way and they are bored; officially they toot as they overtake, to draw attention to themselves or if they have no lights.)
The desert in the main is scrub-land, but a weird small melon seems to grow as a weed, but the nomads
use it as food for camels, sheep and goats. THe dersert is nothing like Lawrence of Arabia; but then I suppose we're not in Arabia! THen we arrive at the sand dunes, and it's like being at a really massive beach with no sea ( a bit like southend when it's really, really hot (not!))
My only regret is that I never managed to get Gaqcho my camel to do anything I wanted to do. It just moved of it's own steam wherever it wanted to go. I tried getting it to go faster than it's walking speed to no avail. At the end of the first day I was about 150 metres behind the others; with 1 word from Ali Baba our camel herder (a weird click, and shh noise at the same time) Gaqcho ran as fast as a racehorse throwing me up and down in the saddle bruising my family jewels.
After dinner we all laid back trying to pick out constellations and see a shooting star. There really are millions of stars up there. I've heard it said before, but when you live in Europe (even where we live in a small village) the
light blocks out all but the brightest - (Claudi tells me "but you could see stars in Yorkshire; yeah but it's bloody cold and I wouldn't stay out overnight there")
I spent ages trying to find a shooting star as I'd not seen one before. All I could find was 2 satellites: Joe reckoned that seeing a sattelite was more cooler than seeing a shooting star but I disagreed. About an hour later I saw my first. The other Claudia said I must make a wish. I had nothing to wish for so I said I'd like to see another! within 10 minutes I did!
CK: OUr second day in the desert was lovely too and our legs didn't hurt as much as we thought they would. We spent one more day in Jaisalmer after that and did some sightseeing. Lots of great carving work in sandstone. Then we took the night-train to Jaipur (which was decisively more comfortable than the bus!).
TK: The night sleeper train led us to sharing an open compartment with a few officers from the Indian Army; a sergeant and a top brass with two pips on his shoulder. There are 3
tiers of cots on the side of the walk. At 9pm a sheet waller turned up giving sheets and blankets to everyone. I jokingly laughed that it was time for bed. When me and Claudi didn't go straight into our bunks he began to talk very animatedly to her - telling her off. The funniest thing was that the sergeant and 2 pips did exactly what this small thin low caste waller told them without hesitation - so did we!!!
The journey was uneventful, but at 2 or 3 am the train driver continually held down his horn for about 40 minutes; what did I saw earlier about not having and lights on, and drawing atention to yourself? I didn't get much sleep although the bunk was comfortable.
CK: Jaipur is shoppers paradise: very tiring for Terry! The palace is impressive but we feel a little over-maharajaed (we've seen a lot of pomp lately.
We are heading for Amritsar this evening to the Golden Temple of the Sikhs.
lots of love T+C
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Wilhelm Ricken
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Jaipur war ich auch schon mal
Hallo ihr Lieben, mit viel Freude lesen wir die Berichte. Wir wünschen Euch weiterhin viel Spaß und Gute Gesundheit. Nikolaustüten werden wir diesmal nicht nachsenden. Steffi hat versucht euch zu schreiben, aber ich kann ihren Kommentar nicht finden. Alles Gute von Steffi und Wilhelm