Advertisement
Well then, Jodhpur, named after the horse riding garments, or maybe the other way around, is hot. Very hot. We arrived after a long drive to our hotel, which was called Baba Haveli, which was still swelteringly hot at 4pm. This was the first worrying sign. However, forms filled in and checked in, we had a slight stress out about a possible card fraud, however it turned out that one receipt from an ATM was a factor of 10000 out in its assessment of our remaining balance. A quick tip for this sort of occasion, using skype as a phone, by topping up with credit, is a fantastic way of contacting banks etc, as a call from India to Nationwide cost about 40p! So we went for a wander around the streets of Jodhpur with Mr Singh to unwind. First stop, the spice shop.
Now, in case you are in a similar situation as us at some point, the drivers usually have some deal set up with local tourist shops, hotels, restaurants, that if they take you there and you buy stuff/stay/eat, they'll get some commission. I've no real problem with this, but the problem is that the places they
take you tend to be very expensive/out to fleece you. But nevertheless, some proper (blow your head off) hot curry powder has been purchased.
Back to the hotel, the place was still completely sweltering and we endured the worst night's sleep yet. It was impossible to sleep, totally bathed in sweat, and had to get up every hour to shower in cold water and lie down again, just to get to a bearable temperature. In the morning, after a cumulative 3 hours of rubbish sleep, I went outside to see if the world was still there, or had melted during the night. To my surprise and consternation, it was actually cooler outside by a considerable margin. The builders of that house should get Nobel prizes for defying physics to such a extent.
Then it was to Meherangarh, the fort and palace, with lovely views over the city and out into the mountainous desert beyond. Pretty standard fort fare, but with a lovely cafe which did brownies, heated to give them the same rough properties as nepalm. They were delicious however. From there it was off to Jaisalmer, a journey of around 5 hours on terrible roads through remote
villages.
Upon arrival in Jaisalmer, the first thing I noticed was a huge amount of different army bases, the last thing I was expecting to see this far from anything in the middle of the desert. However, we're only about 60km from the Pakistan border, so I desperately hoped that nothing would kick off! Our hotel was actually inside the old fort in another old haveli. The carvings and paintings on the walls were amazing, but the most surprising thing was the floor. Most of it was covered with threadbare rugs, but from the visible bits, it was actually made from wattle and daub kind of stuff (twigs and dried mud like medieval times). So there was another lovely fort/palace tour in the morning, then we decided to do a desert camel safari. As one does. We were taken 50km out into the desert by jeep at around 4 in the afternoon to meet our guide, Ali. I have never ridden any animal before, so the prospect of riding a camel into the desert was mildly terrifying. However, there was nothing to worry about, as it is spectacularly easy, but here are a few pointers
•
Please
stretch beforehand. Anything to limber up the inner thighs. Lunges would do.
•
Gents, arrange yourself appropriately to avoid crushed testes
•
When going downhill on your steed, lean back slightly to negate the discomfort slightly.
When we got to camp, disappointingly, there was quite a lot of litter in the form of water and beer bottles. But we settled in to playing hangman and cards waiting for the sunset (we're very old people), and attempting to repel the invading army of dung beetles. Ali had gone off somewhere to sort the camels out for the night, as a man appeared from the bushes around the camp with a clinking canvas bag. He asked how we were and offered to sell us some beer. At least this explained the litter, but we accepted his kind offer and sent him on his way. The sunset duly came, and words cannot describe the lovelyness, so I'll put a few pictures up. As the sun sank below the golden waves of sand, Ali started to cook dinner. It wasn't anything too fancy, just rice, potatoes, onions and (freshly made before our eyes) chapatti. However, it was one of the tastiest things
ever to enter my face. The only problem with it was not being able to see it. We had brought head torches, but these attracted flies, so we ate in the pitch dark.
As the last vestiges of light faded, we set up our beds and gazed up at the stars. Without the light pollution that we have near most cities, I beheld more stars than I had thought possible. And as one gazed further into a section of sky, more and more sparkling pinpricks of light appeared. Amelia and I found different significances attached to the vastness. Amelia found a sense of wonder and marvel at the sheer scale of cosmic coincidences that have transpired to bring us to this point. I however, took the position of humanity's insignificance in the universe, as most of those distant points of light had a system of planets and moons and associated paraphernalia, making the blue planet, not particularly remarkable in the grand ballet of the universe. On these thoughts we fell asleep, only to be awoken by the cold at 4am. We put on jumpers and were fine.
May the fourth be with you.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.199s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.1427s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Olly
non-member comment
Like the comments !
I have a strange affinity with camels which I found --like you-simple to ride tho. inner thighs suffer badly.(mine were egyptian).Clydesdale (Shire) horses ridden bareback can be quite dangerous.I fell off as a boy on our farm! Hope you continue to be healthy & enjoying your wonderful trip. Yours aye Olly