The Golden City

I arrived into Jaisalmer at 8am on the overnight train from Jodhpur, which was late. However the hotel staff were ready and waiting to pick me up, as I had made a provisional booking. I was diven to the hotel and given a room to use to freshen up. I was then shown various rooms and given different rates. I chose one and haggled down the price. All the rooms were very nicely decorated and the sandstone gave it a nice warm feeling. From the rooftop garden the view of the fort was amazing. The fort rises up above the city and dominates the skyline.

After breakfast I didn't fancy doing much as it was just too hot (Jaisalmer is close to the Thar desert). So I walked to the train station to sort out  ticket for Bikaner. On the way back I went to a lake with a temple sitting on the edge and also visited a small folk museum.

Back at the hotel I went to have a cuppa and not long after I had sat down along came Josh, Sel & Nalin, who I had met in Jodhpur. We all ordered some food and chatted. We discussed about doing a camel safari and about spending a night in the desert. We agreed we would only camp out for one night in the desert. I t would be interesting to ride a camel. It started getting dark and it was nice to see the sun going down on the fort. After dinner we again played cards (Scrub). It kept us entertained well into the night.

The next morning I arose early, checked out and went to visit the fort. I walked up fromt he hotel and already it was really hot. At the entrane I bumped into Josh, Sel & Nalin so we all walked round together. People actually live in the fort. It's like a little village community. There are little alleyways and lanes and various houses, shops, restaurants & temples within the walls. One of the main attractions in the fort is the Jain temples.We had a look at one of the main ones inside. There are so many carvings of gods and goddesses and Buddha.

After wandering arond for a few hours we had a look at some shops. The others all bought some camel hats for the safari. They were trying to persuade me to buy one, but I was happy with my cloth one. We then went to get some lunch and had Tibetan cuisine. I had some kind of soup with lots of veg but spicy. The food was very nice.

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the  safari. We were driven in a jeep along with 3 others to a Rajasthan village approx 40 km away. We chatted with the locals and saw what kind of work they did and how they lived. The woman mainly made duvets and bedding. The men had goats or cows and farmed. The chidren were all very excited to see us and gathered around us saying hello and asking for money, sweets, pens and asking to have their photos taken. 

We were then driven to the desert where we met the camels we would be riding. I was a little nervous at this point. I was asked to get on first. The camel was sitting with all legs bent so he was close to the ground. I had a padded saddle (placed n the camels hump) to sit on and just a wooden peg thing part of the saddle to hold on. Soon after getting into the saddle the camel stood up. First his back legs went up ten his front legs. I was quite high up. It was scary! When the camel began walking I was being bounced up and down. It took me a while to get used to the motion. After a while I relaxed I just went with it. We were on the camels for 90 minutes or so. For me to get off the camel had to sit down again. I nearly fell off him at this point as he put his front legs down first. The guide was there to hold me to prevent me from falling. I was glad to get off. The sun was just about to set as we got off our camels. We found a high sand dune, sat down and watched the sun go down. It was amazing. The desert was great, all that golden sand. I walked on the sand barefoot and it felt so soft and warm. 

The annoying thing was there were loads of dung beetles everywhere and they can fly. They make so much noise when they are flying and are quite big as well. Sel was scared of them and screamed everytime one came near her. We set up our duvets all in a line next to each other as we were not given tents to sleep in. We were told it would be too hot for a tent and we had to sleep under the stars. We were all a bit freaked at that as we knew there would be other things lurking in the night, such as snakes, sand flies and mosquitoes. Sal was not happy about it at all.  I was scared too but we didn't have much of a choice so decided not to think about it too much.

While dinner was being cooked up by the guides we played charades and had some nibbles. We all got our torches ready as well. After dinner we stayed up chatting and looked at the stars. We eventually got ready for bed. I covered myself up with a sheet and my sarong even though it was hot. I didn't want anything crawling over me in the night. We all fell asleep eventually, but it took ages cos we could hear all the bugs. I don't think I'll opt to camp out in the desert again, its too scary!

In the morning it was great to wake up to the sunrise. We had breakfast packed up and got ready to get back on the camels. I was ok with the camel now as I kind of knew what to expect. We rode again for 90 mins and waited for the jeep to come collect us. We stopped by a lake that had lots of tiny frogs jumping around. A village was nearby and women kept coming to the lake for the water. These people do not have running water in their homes and have to rely on the lake for all their washing and cooking needs. They would fill a pot and carry it back on their heads. Even the little girls were doing it. The children don't go to school as their families are too poor to send them. The children gathered around us again and were being curious.

Finally the jeep arrived about 2 hours later. We were glad to get back to the hotel to shower and to eat. I had lunch with Valerie who had also gone on the camel safari. We didn't have a room in the hotel as we had checked out, but as we had gone on safari with them they let us use a room until the evening as we both had sleeper trains to catch. I was going to Bikaner and Val to Jaipur. We both just chilled out and chatted. Later we weretaken to a high point to see the sunset and then went to the lake. In the lake there were loads of fish and they were all gathered round the edges cos people were feeding them. The fishes were going mad trying to grab the food. I've never seen anything like it. The fish were like eels all wriggling like mad with their mouths open wanting to get as much food. They were quite big. We fed them some bread. We then took a pedal boat out for 1/2 hour, but it was such a hot evening that we drifted.

Back at the hotel we had dinner and relaxed until it was time to go to the train station. I spoke to my folks as after Bikaner I will be off to see family in Punjab. Looking forward to it. I got dropped off at the station by the hotel people. My train was waiting at the platform so I climbed aboard. On the berth across from me was a lady called Sidney from Korea. We got talking and she didn't have a room booked in Bikaner so decided to come with me upon arrival. Soon after the train set off we got ready to sleep. It was just so hot & noisy on the train and I found it difficult to sleep.