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Published: February 14th 2006
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We made it to Jaisalmer. The sleeper bus was fine and we transferred to a normal bus in Jodhpur; which, as we've become use to, was late to leave and late to arrive. This happens because the bus stops for approximately 30 minutes every hour and a half without fail (only the private buses, not government buses) and stops to make pick-ups and drop-offs through out. So every bus ride is pretty much twice as long as it should be.
Our connecting bus in Jodhpur started with an argument between all the tourists and the Indian bus guy; this included myself the American (Jill somehow slept through this), a German guy, a French family and an Isreali couple (there were Koreans up in there, but they stayed out of it). The details of the argument are not really very interesting. But the result was everyone of the tourists occupying the last 4 rows of the bus (even though our tickets had numbers up front) and, in case you're guessing, the Koreans got the last row.
We arrived in Jaisalmer in the morning and were picked up by our hotel in a rickshaw. The city is a desert town (Great
Thar Desert) and the location of the essential camel safari. As Jill and I weren't planning to visit the city originally, we thought we would do go out on the camel for the day to see a sunset but were quickly talked into an overnight. Out of laziness, we accepted our hotel's safari which they market as an up-scale (non-touristic) safari. We paid about 4000 Rs ($100) for two days/two people; going rates at most places are about half that and although I am usually negotiating over 10 Rs, I was very soft on this day. It ended being a great time and worth the money (even though I'm sure we overpaid).
We left the hotel in the afternoon by jeep and drove to a couple local sights including a Muslim village where we were attacked by the kids, of course. They think that every foreigner is a confectionary and always ask for chocolate. Anyway, we took pictures and headed to another village (mud-huts) where the camel drivers and camels were awaiting. After strolling through the village (with all the children following us), we got on the camels and rode off. So Jill and I had a camel each
and there was a third camel carrying additional provisions. The third camel was yound and untrained so when the pulled him to the sand so they could load the goods on his back, he (for some reason they are all males) would let out the most distrubing groan/moan imaginable. I wish I had taken some video of this because I could not do it any justice trying to express that sound.
Anyway, we were on the road for an hour or so (atop these smelly, extremely gassy animals) and arrived at huge sand dunes. This is where we disembarked and the two camel drivers got ready to prepare dinner. I'm still not sure if the camel driver understood me (only one spoke English) but I quizzed him for about ten minutes on sand surfing and how it might be a nice added feature for foreigners. Nonetheless, there was no sand surfing. Jill and I grabbed a couple masala chais (milk tea) and sat on the dune watching the sunset and then joined Mr. Singh and the other guy. We drank beer, Jill helped make the Chapati breads and I kept looking for shooting stars which everyone saw except for
me. These two cooked up a ridiculous amount of food which happened to be our best meal of our trip. After we ate, Mr. Singh sang us some songs and I did my best to sing Piano Man to him (Jill was unusually quiet during the singing). Once I broke out my iPod and played some Bhangra (Punjabi) music, these guys were amazed and there was no more singing. Oh, and all the while huge, huge dung beetles were attacking us from all sides. Headlamps were used to flick and deflect the suckers all night. Good thing they were vegetarians (or else, we might have found some of those beetles in our dishes).
And, I think that as part of our up-scale safari, was the inclusion of a tent which was very welcomed given the beetle situation.
The next day we woke to see the sunrise, ate breakfast and jumped on our camels and rode two hours to the highway. All in all, our safari was awesome, we didn't encounter any other foreigners, thus "non-touristic" (and, yes, it's touristic and not touristy) and the camel drivers made us feel comfortable while showing us a great time. My ass
Big Papa
I can't get enought of these and thighs took a few days to recover but it was worth it.
Back at the hotel, I got picked up on a motorcyle by the local barber for a shave. The ride, shave and a chai - all for $1 and I think I was generous.
Since it was brought up...the cows, camels, goats, pigs, sheep, donkeys, monkeys and dogs make alot of poops. The result is a great amount of shit, everywhere. So as it's hard enough to avoid the moving vehicles (usually with the lack of sidewalks), you must constantly be looking down to see where you are stepping. The locals have somehow mastered this as they manuver the streets effortlessly. This is my goal.
And, finally, Mr. Singh says that camels with two humps are only in the movies. I think that's what he said...
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Dave
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You look like a well trained camel jockey!