Jaisalmer- "Aram Bambari, Camel Safari"

The night train to Jaisalmer was pretty straight forward as I slept through most of it, but we both woke with sand all over the seats and our bags-this was the unofficial welcome to the desert. We left the station and were greeted/hassled by 30-40 guys holding banners for their hotels, but we already arranged with Manu, the guy who owns Pol Haveli who we met on our boat trip In Udaipur. We nearly sold him out as we were approached by another guy offering us cheaper on the train but we decided to keep to our word. The hotel was really nice, probably the best one we've been to for our budget. After a welcome chai, he showed us the rooms including the honeymoon suite, which has a bath and a king size bed but me end Danny are not at that level yet-lol (We got the room for 700 rupees for 2 nights). We visitied the notorious Jaisalmer fort, which is on top of this huge rock overseeing the town but the fort itself was not that great. The markets, hotels, restaurants etc inside took the edge away but the fort from the outside looked amazing.

We got up early the next morning, had breakfast and headed out for our 2 day camel safari (1050 rupees each per day). We were in the jeep for 30 minutes, which took us deep into the desert to meet our camels, Lulu, Takabar and Kirachi and our guides, Hukum and Latib. Kirachi was Danny's camel and Takabar was mine but getting on them was a struggle for me with limited flexibility in my hips. I eventually got on with a big swing of the leg before Danny got the camera out and we were on our way. We rode for about 2 hours before we stopped off for lunch. I was walking around like a penguin for 15 minutes because i was in that much pain with my legs being forcefully stretched. Lunch was very basic, chapati, rice and mix vegetables made by the guides while we rested. We ate and rested a little bit longer before we carried on for another hour to a small desert village, where the camels supped on some water and we walked around getting hassled by kids. Danny offered them to listen to his ipod, which was a bad idea because they were all snatching and hogging the ear phones but the music made them bust a groove. We even had a 6 year old girl offering us to take a pic for 40 rupees, might as well start them young ey!! On the camels we went for another 45 minutes to the Sand Dunes, our final destination and our camping spot for the night. You would imagine the desert would be full of sand Dunes but the desert was sandy, dry and full of shrubs and the only bit of Sand Dunes was only a small stretch. While Hukum and Latib cooked our dinner, we were posing for our photos with Kirachi the camel waiting for the sunset. Again, dinner was very basic, as we sat around the camp fire singing our camp songs. Danny trading his best one for one of theirs, it was a gruelling encounter but our favourite was "Aram Bambari, Camel-a Safari." He also told us some of Jaislamer favourite lyrics that rhymed but didn't make sense:

1) No hurry, No worry, No Chicken, No Curry"

2) No Chapati, No Chai, No Woman, No Cry"

Sleeping under the moon and stars in the desert was our once in a lifetime opportunity and we took it well. We were well wrapped up and I slept pretty well, except the time when Danny poked me right in the ear hole to show me the desert fox sitting right near us, eyes brightly watching us through the reflection of the torch. Once he moved, we carried on sleeping and woke up around 8.30 am with our breakfast ready and the camels ready to go. We jumped on to our camels and started trekking back. Hookum asked if we wanted them to run and without any hesitation we said YES! They ran for abour 30 minutes in total and we were both in so much pain. After about an hour, I had to get off with cramp, walking around like Pingu and felt like I've just given birth (I'm presuming this is how it would feel) so i walked for about 20 minutes for the camels to rehydrate themselves. I didn't feel too well after that and Danny had an upset stomach, so lunch was a brief encounter. We felt pretty bad because they cooked for us but we hardly touched their food. Our last stretch was about 30 minutes up a dried up river where we met our jeep driver who took us back. We tipped them both 100 rupees and they were delighted, I mean they only get a 1000 rupees a month (approx 12-13 pound) and they looked after us so it was the right thing to do.

Getting back to the hotel was a relief, as we could rest, grab a shower etc. but the camel safari was definately worth the experience although we are both aching in weird areas. Our last evening was spent on the rooftop restaurant, which has a really chilled out vibe. We bought some indian sweets, which Manu, who has a real sweet tooth, smelt from a mile off and asked "What is this Majid?". We met a couple who were really nice and helped us plan our next destination, which has got us both excited. They had a Nepal trekking book and kindly borrowed it us for the night, which helped us a great deal. For the rest of the evening we played cards with Manu and his associates, the funniest of moments both coming from Manu, who repeated one of the Jaisalmer phrases mentioned earlier, only Manu has a stutter, so it came it out like this 'No hurry, no worry, no chicken, no c.c.c.c.c.c.c.c.c..ccurry', we were trying so hard not to laugh, but it was hysterical. The second moment was when he randomly asked everyone on the rooftop ' I think we should dance now actually!' To which no-one replied. What a great last night to end our stay at Jaisalmer!

Jaisalmer Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.in/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1909365011/a=2264773011_2264773011/