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From Pushkar, we boarded an overnight sleeper bus to Jaisalmer. The bus was coming from Jaipur, so the bus was already packed by the time we got on - there were already a number of locals sleeping on the floor. We weaved our way to our reserved sleeper compartment (a little coffin like box the size of a double bed and just tall enough to sit up), trying to step on the fewest people on our way....and what do you know when the bus conductor pulled back the glass door about eight people were sleeping in our bed. This is India after all. The conductor promptly woke them all up and banished them to the floor at the back of the bus. We felt bad, especially as we watched moms holding their babies and sleepy children crawling out of bed, but not bad enough to stop the conductor from giving them the boot on this 12 hour overnight bus trip (This country was quickly turning us into a jaded, selfish, miserable people!!)
We arrived in Jaisalmer after a pretty good sleep in our little coffin. Jaisalmer is an old fort and looks like a beautiful sandcastle in the middle of
the desert. We met a nice French couple on the bus, so the four of us headed to the same hotel. When we arrived, we ran into Sean, a guy Chris had partied with in Pushkar for Holi. Sean was with three others he met on his bus. Over breakfast the eight of us started talking about doing a camel safari in the desert. This is one of the main activities in Jaisalmer and Chris and I were keen to do a short journey out with the camels. I got up at one point to use the washroom, and by the time I returned the group had settled on doing a three day safari for 450 rupees each (about $10). Three days?? I wanted to do a safari, but I was thinking more like one day ... and 450 rupees was clearly not going to be bringing any luxury. I sucked up my disappointment and signed on the dotted line. Three days?!
The next morning, the eight of us were driven out by jeep to the desert. We met our camels on the side of the highway under the watch of six camel guides. We got out of the
jeep and the first thing that went through my head was some advice that I had received from another traveler
Make sure the camel has stirrups. Camel riding is incredibly painful if you don't have stirrups. I started sizing up the ten camels and finally found the only one with stirrups. Immediately I made my claim. Like I said, India's not bringing out the generosity in me! The camel guide, Satar, told me her name was Cynthia. I loved that her name was Cynthia because it was such a feminine western name for a dirty Indian camel, but to quote Chris, "judging by the size of Cynthia's dong, I'm guessing Cynthia is a he". Turns out that the camels don't really have names - Satar was just humouring us tourists. His name stuck, though ... Cynthia.
Chris found his camel and it didn't have a name. About thirty minutes into our ride, we stopped for a minute or two. This is when Chris' camel drank the pee straight out of the camel in front of him and then proceeded to gargle it and then swallow it. This, on top of its farting and tick ridden hair won Chris' camel
the name Disgusting. Chris' camel wasn't the only gross camel, though. Camels are all gross. These animals fart every 5 minutes and it's the most incredible smell you've ever had the misfortune of taking in. Riding at the back end of the caravan of ten camels was nauseating!
Before we left our guides gave us bright orange turbans to wear. A cute little Indian safari prop - kinda hokey, but we all accepted the cloth and the turban tying lessons. At that time I didn't realize the value in the turban. As the desert heat began to pound down on me, though, I realized how cool these turbans kept us. I didn't remove mine the entire time! It was just incredibly hot out there. I know, I know. It's the desert. But, I just didn't anticipate how hot the desert would be - even with my turban! It didn't take long before my cold bottled water from Jaisalmer heated up to air temperature ... 45 degree water just isn't that refreshing.
We stopped for lunch under a lovely full tree. The food on the trip was pretty bad. We'd heard from other travelers that their food was really
nice, but at the bargain price of 450 rupees, we wouldn't be eating any delicious meals. It was the same for each meal ... rice, bland vegetable curry and chapati. Stangely enough, though, once we had finished eating, the guides would chop up onions and garlic and mix spices to make a tasty lunch for themselves. We sat in the shade of a low tree chatting and stretching our sore legs for a couple of hours to wait out the midday heat. After lunch we got back on the camels and continued on for the rest of the afternoon towards our final destination. I don't know if it was heat, the food or the camel farts, but an hour into our afternoon camel ride, our friend Veronique was puking off the side of her camel! One down, two to go!
We approached the loveliest rolling sand dunes quite late in the afternoon and perched ourselves on top to watch a beautiful desert sunset. As the sun went down, so did the temperature and my aggravation about being on such a long camel safari. Our guides started cooking us dinner and we broke out the hot Indian whiskey and even
hotter Coca cola. After our bad dinner and a too many drinks we stretched out on the sand, looking up at the stars and started a game of "I Never". The whiskey was terrible and lasted us well into the night. The evening ended fairly late with us knowing far too much about each other and with me and another girl throwing up in the sand (that's two and three down). Getting all that whiskey out of my system, though, allowed me to enjoy sleeping on the sand, under the stars with the fresh desert air.
The second and third days of the safari were very much the same - ride, lunch, ride, dinner, drinks and bed. To pass the time we'd sing songs from the west and our guides would sing us Indian songs that they knew. The only common song that we could all sing together was Frere Jacques, so that was popular tune. Satar knew Country Roads, too. He liked to sing that with his own words and his own tune, so we couldn't really join in.
"Cantee Road, take mee to my home, to dee place whah I beeelon, Wes Veegina, mama in the mountains, take mee to my home, Cantee Road".
We also picked up a few new friends along the way. Lonely dogs and goats with no friends in the desert would join our caravan and hang out with us for hours and sometimes days. We grew quite attached to some of them, particularly our little dog, Milo. Each time we'd pass through villages, the local dogs would chase poor Milo out of town. Sometimes they caught her. Sometimes I thought Milo was a goner. Each and every time, though, about 20 minutes out of town, Milo would catch up with us, a bit beaten, but keen to continue the trip. What a trooper.
At the end of our camel safari, we had to leave our goats, dogs, and camels and head back to the city by jeep. The eight of us talked about food and drinks all the way home and agreed to meet for a nice dinner and some COLD beers after we cleaned up. One of the nicest parts about travelling is getting the opportunity to get to know people from all around the world and our camel safari crew was a terrific bunch.
We hung out
in Jaisalmer for another two days. We toured the sandcastle fort and the Jain temples within. The temples were very impressive; really elaborate but very beautiful. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant highly recommended by a few independent people on the street. When we walked in we found ourselves in someone's home. A little old woman with a hunch back greeted us and kindly guided us to a spot on the floor. She gave us a menu of her specialties and then walked two feet away into the kitchen to prepare our meals. We sat on the floor of her home, sipping cokes, and watching her chop potatoes and mix up masalas (we also watched several mice play amongst the dishes). The food was great ... but the experience of eating in her home was even greater. I was especially excited to support a business owned and run by a woman, since we hadn't seen much of that in India. The rest of our time was spent relaxing on the wall of the fort at the Paradise Hotel, sipping cold drinks with the warm desert wind on our faces, listening to children play cricket in the streets below
(this was Chris' favorite spot in all of India).
We left Jaisalmer and headed to Delhi for a few days. By now we were pretty accustomed to the chaos of India, but even so, Delhi was a shock. Chris' friend Alex, who has family in India, was good enough to put us in contact with his cousin Pinky. After some initial indecision about whether we would follow up on Alex's introduction, we arranged to go to her home for dinner...and we are so glad that we did! It was so fantastic to spend an evening with Pinky, her husband Anil, and their two children in their beautiful home in a suburb of Delhi (we actually ended up spending the night in their home). After some drinks and a lovely dinner, Pinky took us out to a bar. We found ourselves in a very stylish bar where all the young educated kids working in the computer and technology industries met after work. It really felt no different than a bar in Canada. After over a month of exploring India and feeling like it was the most foreign culture possible, it was really interesting to spend an evening that felt so
familiar. It was a side of India that we had not yet even glimpsed. We both would like to thank Alex and especially Pinky and her family for treating us so amazingly.
In order to avoid a sickenly long train/bus trip we booked a flight on Cosmic Air to Kathmandu....saying goodbye to India and hello to Nepal.
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UNDERWAY
Jim & Ann Blanchard
Camel Trip
Hi - we have been enjoying your blogs for some time now and being that we are from Everett, Wash. we feel a certain kinship to our Victoria neighbors. (Victoria is one of our favorite haunts). We really enjoyed your camel trip and was glad we weren't there. Always nice to enjoy things through other peoples eyes. We are presently in Thailand and have been out for two months now. Check out our travel blog if you get a chance. Enjoy. Jim and Ann