Operation desert storm...!!!

Feeling hot...........Saddle sore........yet remarkably satisfied.!

Ok so the next stop took us to Jaisalmer and 2 days and one night in the great 'Thar Desert'this is the no mans land that seperates Indian & Pakistan, at one point we were told that as we were so close to the border we may well be in Pakistan depending on who you ask.......in fact it has only just dawned on us how much of a real question we were asked when our guide ask us as we returned from a walk on our own "Which country are you from" "India or Pakistan".

Nic - We arrived early in Jaisalmer on the overnight train and were whisked straight into the desert via keep, approx 90km West of the city. At which point we met our camel drivers and our very own camels....Mine was called Rocket (apparently because he was a racing camel!) and Dans was called Charlie. Our chaperones were a lovely gentle old man named Ramdraam and a young wannabe named Ali who professed to be 18 but we're sure he was a lot younger!

Seated and ready to go the man made a funny clucking sound and the camel launched first backwards, so that we were staring straight down to the ground and then forwards as its front legs straightened and you felt like you'd be hurled off backwards...a motion that it took a while to get used to!

We found a shaded spot just before mid-day and the boys set about making chai and cooking up an impressive lunch of mixed veg curry with chapattis, over a small wood fire...it all tasted amazing....then of course it was siesta time, too hot to ride so rude not to!

We made it to the dunes just as the sun was beginning to set and another wonderful meal was cooked up for us. As it got dark we set up our blankets on the top of a dune in order to get maximum breeze (all be it roasting hot wind!) and the boys began to sing traditional Rajasthani folk songs...a perfect end to a fantastic day, and the more they sang the more stars began to appear and the sleepier we got!

Dan - Deserts are a harsh place without water or shade your dead, when we bedded down for the night under the stars without cover the wind picked up and we awoke after a couple of hours almost buried in the sand. Nic found it hard to move at first as she had soo much sand up in her trouser legs. In my opinion the highlight was waking up after the moon had disapeared to the most brightest stars i have ever seen and the shear amount of them.

Let me tell you about Jaisalmer itself as we spend a couple of days there, it's a hill with a giant sandcastle (sandstone fort & Palace) and a sleepy desert town attached. it has a lot of character, charm all the usual gems found in Rajasthan. Oh we scored a bottle of red wine for cheap thanks to "the two ronnies of Hindi" me & nic. We've got a good hindi banter going now so bargaining is a piece of cake.!

Nic - The wine's a bit difficult to come across here and when you do it's either vinegar or a bit pricey - or both! - not like living with Mick, gosh I miss a large glass of red being so close to hand!!!

Dan - 'Thought of the day' - Being in western Rajasthan you see first hand the struggle these people can face being in the desert famine, drought etc it's a harsh enviroment. it's funny you know while in the desert you come across people and they stop to talk to the camel drivers and the conversation goes like this..... How are you, how are your goats, are you hoping for good rain this year, conversation totally alien to us westerners, because they're in the desert for days on end and so when they finally come across another human it's a relief to have a chat!

Nic - We were planning to stop at Jaipur after here, had our train booked and everything and we were woken the night before our journey with a panicked text from Mom asking if we were ok because of the bombs there. This was obviously the first we'd heard and so first thing in the morning we headed to the internet caf' to get the details....talk about throwing a spanner in the works!

Anyway, we thought long and hard and took our train, but immediately caught another out to a small town called Pushkar, of which you can read in a mo'! All seems to have settled down - the Indians dont let much get in their way of everyday life and business and the security has been stepped up, so in our opinion we're probably safer than we were to begin with....obviously we'll be on our toes and more aware of things too so try not to worry!

So, that's it for Jaisalmer.
xxxx

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