Advertisement
Published: September 20th 2007
So we're now in Palolem, Goa. Described in the book as "lined with a swaying curtain of coconut palms, the bay forms a perfect curve of golden sand" it wasn't quite what we expected. The book didn't mention the cows ... and where there's cows, there's cowpats.........
Anyway, let's backtrack.
We arrived in Jaisalmer from Jodhpur (where you couldn't even see the station floor due to people sleeping everywhere en route to a religious festival) and had a free bus waiting as we'd booked accommodation and camel safari by email. Jaisalmer is very much a tourist town and there are now restrictions in place so that tourists can't get approached by guys trying to sell their guest houses as soon as they step off the train, so there is a line up of the usual suspects 20m outside the station (see picture of 'the line not to be crossed').
We'd already booked a room at the lovely Shahi Palace Hotel where we had a great room (we splashed out and paid Rs 750) and another great roof top restaurant. Jaisalmer is a lot more laid back than previous cities with less traffic and fewer people hassling you on the street.
Child beer
Contrary to popular belief beer is widely available in India and in fact children are encouraged to drink at an early ageOverall we loved our stay here, despite the sea of litter cascading down the sides of the fort, thrown over the walls by it's inhabitants.
Last Wednesday we set off on our amazing camel trek (thanks to the Goros' who bought this as our wedding gift). We visited a couple of sites by jeep and were then dropped off at our camel driver's village, where we were welcomed and given chai by his family while the camels were loaded with our beds, food, water, beer (in coolbox as requested by you know who).......
After a couple of hours trekking Abahe, our camel man, cooked us a fab dinner from scratch on a couple of little fires - chai, pakoras, deep fried pasta shapes (trust us, it works!), dal, veg curry, rice and chapatis, all wahsed down with Kingfisher. We then made our bed on top of the sand dune under the stars. But before going to sleep Abahe sang to us.....and then told us it was custom for us to each sing a song...........
David, not surprisingly, sang 'swing low sweet chariot' followed by a great version of Elvis' 'devil in disguise'! I did a mediocre version of
'a little help from my friends', with David on backing vocals (do Gash need another singer??).
We trekked for a few hours the next day around stops for breakfast and a huge lunch, all great (if slightly crunchy) desert-made food. We really loved the whole experience and won't forget staring up at the milky way in a hurry.
After Jaisalmer we had a mammoth train journey down to Mumbai (20 hours) and then made a swift exit to Goa by plane. We've now spent the past 5 days on the beach (and under cover thanks to a day of non-stop rain), 4 days in Benaulim and 1 here in Palolem so far. David has loved being in the sea and we've both made the most of the cheap fish and great Goan food. (Plus the beer's got cheaper the further south we've travelled! We're now at RS50, about 60p, for a large bottle).
Next stop Kerala on the 23rd......
Love to all
The Millsys
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0262s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mark van Gils
non-member comment
I'm jalous!
It really looks great, David. Nice to read your stories, when there's 30 GCM's waiting for approvement/rejection. Found already some nice application where we could sell some connectors? Enjoy your trip and be carefull not to damage your golden b*lls when riding these camels... regards, Mark