Sand dunes, Shooting Stars and a couple of Camels.

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Hello Everyone,

So....the overnight train we got from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer (where we are now) actually left 5 minutes early which was a miracle! Obviously nothing is straight forward in India so something had to be wrong (well in our eyes anyway). We had a upper bunk and a lower bunk, Clare decided to take the upper bunk which proved to be a mistake! Turns out she was far too tall for it.

We arrived at Jaisalmer train station at 6am and we made our way to get a rickshaw. When we got to our hostel everyone was asleep so they didn't seem too happy with us waking them up, oops. After a few hours sleep we headed out into the town to find a not too dodgy travel company to take us on a safari.

After 'Dragons Den' style questioning we chose the famous (well in India) 'Mr Desert'- what an absolute comedian! He shared our love of giggling and his office was covered with posters from his male modeling days.
The rest of the day was spent wondering the streets and browsing the shops. Clare and I took the decision to buy a sun hat for the safari (one thing you learn when traveling is sometimes practicality takes over fashion). The first shop we went to tried to charge us an extortionate amount for a somewhat (although hand embroidered) unattractive hat. The shop owner tried to persuade us to buy them with the fact that after we had used them we could give them as presents to our loved ones at home like many tourists do!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont worry the hats were ditched the second we dismounted our camels!

We arrived at Mr Deserts office bright and breezy ready to embark on our camel adventure. We spent the morning traveling to Kuldhara Village by jeep. The village was abandoned over 100 years ago after the Prime Minister threatened to attack them. It was so quiet and eerie but with great views. We then met out guide and camels for the next two days, Rocket and Robert (grew to love these two). Our guide was called Bengali and was 22 (although he looked a lot older- sun damage maybe?). It only took us a few minutes to get used to riding our camels - we must be naturals. We stopped for lunch of rice, chapatis and mixed vegetable curry under the shade of a well placed tree. It's amazing how a good meal can be created in the middle of the desert. After a couple more hours riding through the desert we met Mr Desert and the rest of our camp in the middle of some amazing sand dunes to watch sunset. We spent the evening with an Italian Couple and a English guy from Farnham ( small world for Clare- turns out she has spend Christmas Morning in the same church as him for the last ten years)!!!
Along the way a dog befriended us. This turned out to be lucky for me as i couldn't manage to eat the huge amount of food i was given at lunch and we nicknamed him Chaps as he ran off with my Chapati when our backs were turned- thankfully our guide did not notice this.

After sunset we checked into our rooms for the night (a matress in the middle of the desert- amazing)! Mr Desert then invited us to sit around the campfire while he told us the story of how he became the famous Mr Desert of Jaisalmer. He told it well and it made us all giggle.
He won the Mr Desert competition three times in a row and was given the lifetime title of Mr Desert. After this his friends told him he should not be a lowly truck driver but open a shop or a hotel. He decided to use his talents and open a safari company. After one month he had not had any customers as it was not his way to go to the train station and hassle tourists. His fortune turned around however after he was 'scouted' by a modeling agency. He rocketed to fame by becoming the face of Jaisamler, a type of tobacco.

He then went on to star in two international and two Indian adverts- for Mastercard and Coca Cola- google him- we'll add some photos as well. After this his safari business took off as people recognised him from the posters- he's never looked back.

We spent a couple of hours sat around the campfire keeping warm before retiring for bed. The guides tucked us in so well with hundreds of blankets, to the point where it was difficult to move. We were also given hot water bottles- they kept us nice and toastie through the night.
Our aim for the night was to see some shooting stars- this was achieved. While everyone was going to sleep we got the giggles again- it was like being back on Brownie camp where you have to pretend to be asleep.

We arose to a breakfast of toast and chai in the morning and then quickly left for the rest of our journey. We got back to Jaisalmer at about 4pm that afternoon- very happy and in need of a shower.
We have spend today wandering around inside Jaisalmer fort- it is very old and has narrow windy lanes- we got lost a few times!!!
So we will leave you with the knowledge that we are about to go and get an 18 hour (arrrghh) train back to Delhi- next time we write we shall be in Goa : ) - Not to make you jealous or anything!!


Lots of Love,

Lu + Clare xxxxx

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Photos

The Legend 'Mr Desert'
After he dyed his beard, he was worried people wouldn't recognise him from the adverts if his beard had gone white

Luce at Kuldhara
Abandoned village

Climbing the sand dunes
Me

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Luce

Sunset over the dunes
A beautiful sight

Comments

[Rick]

Cheers for that Lu, I am VERY jealous!!! I also googled Mr Desert, and am very impressed with his facial hair. The first pic I found was indeed him sat beneath a picture of the cigarette advert. Glad you're both enjoying yourselves. Take care XXX