i survived the 12 hour train journey to jaisalmer! i took the bottom bunk in case of vomit emergency, although i realised that i was putting myself at risk for some groping and disturbance throughout the night! thank you julia for telling the story of how she was woken by a finger nail scraping the back of her leg as she slet on the train it really helped mnake me feel entirely uncomfortable! we got on the train at midnight and found our bunks easy enough, they were much smaller than they looked in the other train and we on the side which we though was the best option (the jury is still out on that front!) so wally took the top and i the bottom and we promptly passed out !! thank god for small mercies, i didnt puke throughout the journey and slept quite well considering! although some dude dide poke his head into my bunk at some godforsaken hour to just check me out (although if i had reacted he prob would have gone with the escuse that he was lost ..yeah right!@) so we arrived in jaisalmer, were promptly attacked by a tout and for 10 rupees let him take us to his hotle which was grotty and then to our own hotel.. hotel swastika! the guy in our hotel was laid back to the point of indifference, i think the write up in the lonely planet has done him a booming business so he no longer tries! although he didnt take it too badly when we didnt take his camel safari option. on recommendation of stef and steve from the tiger safari we headed to thar safari, the poor guy ther was up to his eye balls in wedding prep (he was to be married in 2 days!) so i think that was the start of our interesting camel safari experience. we were due to head out the next morning at 8.30am so we had the afternoon to wander jaisalmer etc. i loved that place! sure everyone tried to sell you something but it was a welcome relief from the stress of the capital city.it is small cosy, and the locals do try to engage you and are very friendly.. but ... what they dont do is service! getting food in jaisalmer was an extremly tough thing to do, mainly we waited 40 minutes for simple meals to appear and when they did come they were ice cold! its no wonder people here are forever eating of the street stalls.. atleast the food arrives hot (if toxic and tummy destroying) but i think all round wally and i loved jaisalmer especially since its wedding season in india right now and the small town went mental for one weding we witnessed just as we were leaving, fireworks, thje groom terrified on an adorned horse, loud pumping music,dancing.. and this was jut the procession to the wedding area!.... but wait..what about the camel safari???
so the next morning we headed off with our driver (who spoke really little or no english) to a few sights before meeting up with our faithful steeds. we went through the cenotaphs (given me some idea sfor how i would like to be remembered..) and then on to the jain temple (ladies who are menstrating are not allowed in... but how can they tell...) then it was off to meet rocket and simon the 2 camels who took us across the scrub desert.. poor rocket was my man and true to form was shooting poop rockets at simon and wally for most of the journey! so we headed out and immediatley i realised that the little minutes i spent on a camel in dubai had NOT prepared me for this! it was the wierdest gait ever but just as i was getting into it we stopped to wate rthe camels and then headede into the shade of a nearby tree for lunch.. all prepared infront of us by our guie, chapati and curry (what i was to live on for the next few days!) and then about 3 hours later (they dont do things fast in the desert!) we headed off to the desert. at this point my arse was SORE and i was happy for the trotting to start and then we were at our destination an hour later... but where was this destination??? well our guide dumped us at his brothers wife's place... shack.. in the middle of the scrub desert whlst he headed to town for some "camel food" yeah right.. he left us there with his family who hadnt great english for 4 hours! well after sundown! there were 2 girls and this other woman with a baby adn all hese boys, not to mention the goats and the baby goats and the cows and other camels,... it was like the desert version of animal farm! we headed into the dunes for the sunset which was rosemantic (but with me and cuz not so much) we battle dung beatles and fell about thge place trying to take artistic shots.. mainly trying to whittle away the hours until we could head to bed! so we headed back in the hear dark to the family shack place where we were plyed with more chai (i hate the stuff now) and amusaed by the baby goats (the kids) and generally sat silently staring at the star studded sky getting morte and more annoyed that we were stranded. when he finally returned he ignored us for a while and then about 8.30 fed us (more of the same from lunch) and finally set about heading into another dune to prepare our beds for the night. we opted for 2 campbed things (the dung beatles are HIUGE so i didnt want to be on the sand) and he left us be. i would love to say we stayed up all night chatting and seeing shooting stars, i saw one and then passed out, was wonken a couple of times what with the freezen temperatures and everything! but then we awoke to the dawn breaking over the sand dune and soon we were off to the desert again and then for another drawn out lunch and finally home that afternoon... dont know if my ass will ever be the same! i did love rocket and poor wally got landed with the slowest of the bunch simon. i just feel that if the guy frm thar had warned us about the amount of time we were to spend with the family i dont know if we would have gone./.. that and it was just us, no one else, i wanted to meet some other travellers but it ws not to be.
that night we returned we made it to our train for jodhpur (where this blog is coming frm) that trin arrived in on time!! remarkable! and as for the story of jodhpur.. at the moment im heading for the bus to udaipur so i'll have to share another time..but let me say this.. im happy to be out of here!
xx
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