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Published: January 11th 2009
Well we survived a night in the freezing (bloody freezan as our guide so nicely put it) desert under the stars. What an amazing contrast camels in the desert was to all of our experiences in India so far. It is a huge open space with bugger all going on which you experince at the pace of a camel (not even that fast when running!). We headed out very early (for India) in a jeep into the unknown. We drove about 40 mins and pulled up beside these two camels and a young guy named Ramesh. He introduced us to Rocket (later dubbed clumsy) and Johnny Walker and told us he would get his camel down the track a bit. Rocket was a three year old in training so Arnee was given him while I got Johnny the ex racing/polo playing camel who seemed about five foot taller than rocket (especially when we were standing). With some aprehension Arnee climbed into the saddle and was instructed to lean back as Rocket jerkily (and fairly noisily) lifted him into the air, I was experiencing some vertigo after I got a boost into the saddle and hat was when we were just sitting
Boys at lunch
Arnee taught these boys how to play Jenkins and juggle!down. For the first couple of hours riding a camel seems really easy and relaxing...then you get off and discover your legs are stuck in a slightly squating stance. To add to this clumsy Rocket would frequently skip a step and trip, gradually bruising Arnee's behind. The trip was amazing we had traditional desert food cooked on campfire, visited a few villages and Ramish organised an Indian party in the desert with gypsy nusic, dancing and cold beers (not something we expected behind the middle of nowhere!). We also watched both sunset and sunrise over the dunes. Day two involved a lot more running on camels which reminded us how unfit we were for this kind of bouncing! But we made it back in time for a shower before the sleeper train to Jaipur.
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Ally
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Frog!
I would have been devastated if the frog didn't make it back in one piece. I'm looking forward to seeing him at the Taj.