We have gone Thar!

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We are enjoying the desert city of Jaisalmer at the moment, though the
incredible dryness of the atmosphere was a shock when we arrived. We spent the first day laying under a fan and wondering where all the moisture in our bodies that we normally take for granted had evaporated to. Throats and eyes are still feeling alien and sticky but we are now walking and talking rather than lying lumpen and moaning so there is some discernable improvement.

We had a very memorable day yesterday - camel trekking in the afternoon into the Thar desert dunes (for some reason seeing Steve ride such a beast gave me a real giggling fit, much to the disdain of my po-faced camel leader) in time to watch the sunset. Forget the thigh ache achieved after weeks of intensive Body Pump, 20 minutes on a camel somehow reduced me to a Dickensian cripple, so much so that when we stopped for a break (us or the camels? Mine looked exhausted!) Steve had to drag me off backwards, with useless limbs trailing behind. Trout featured boy looked on as though I was some unbelievable cretin who had somehow staggered into his path.

On reaching the desert dunes we found such incredible stillness and peace - that was until the hawkers spot you (cunningly disguised as desert dwellers with their chiselled profiles and sun bleached turbans) and try and sell you cold beer (but we are in a desert!) or suddenly produce some radical looking instrument (do you smoke it or play it?) and just as you realise you are about to become an audience (and if they have anything to do with it a paying one at that) you try and make a dash for it before the first note is sounded. Amusing scenes follow with old geezers chasing you whilst still playing flute, yet somehow still asking for money, like some crazy dusty pied piper in reverse. One can be forgiven for wondering how on earth 'deserted' could ever have have orginated from desert! They are suprisingly nimble considering they look about 100, but we did manage to give them the slip and found a spot to gaze with awe at the dying golds as the light slipped from view.

Being out of high season we were the only 2 on our 'tour'. Our driver,
Chandra, expertly conjoured up our dinner from the fresh vegetables he had stopped off to buy at the local market on the way. He sat laughing as what seemed to be every beetle in the desert decided to head for our shoes and attempt to climb our legs to do goodness knows what, a deft flick would have them somersaulting through the air to about 10 foot away (we had lots of practice) only for them to resolutely head back to us at what seemed to be an even scurrier (ok that's not a verb but you get the idea) pace. Now if I was a great zen philosopher I am sure I could draw some grand parallel with the human condition, maybe something about perserverance or determination, but I'm not, so I won't, I just hated those pesky bugs. Dinner was delicious and quickly devoured, though by the time we finished it was
so dark we could no longer see our hands in front of our faces.

Chandra then led us to our bed for the night - and bed it indeed was! Not four poster,but it had a mattress, sheets, and certainly no neighbours. And the canopy above our heads was truly magnificent - as yet moonless but bursting with stars in uninterrupted majesty. Not our most comfortable night sleep (warm winds would provide brief facial sandblasts every half hour), or the cosiest but without doubt the most beautiful and awe-inspiring. When the rose pinks of morning came Chandra was ready with super sweet masala tea, eggs and toast. Magic.

We voted for the jeep rather than camel to take us back to the city. Body Pump watch out, I am bringing a revolutionary thigh firming, butt
steeling aerobic technique back to London, if I can just find me a camel . . .

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Photos

Rush hour, Thar Desert
That MacDonalds is around here somewhere . . .

Breakfast, Thar Desert
The eggs were cooked!

Comments

[helen lord]

without a shadow of a doubt..
What an incredible photo of the camel and steve's shadow. It's the best photo I've ever seen of Steve and a camel. xxx