Jaisalmer and the Camel Safari

Well I have returned to this desert town this afternoon after an epic 28 or so hours roughing it in the most sparsely populated part of India, about 45Km from the Indo-Pak boarder. ButI'm getting ahead of myself. First I must tell of this wonderful, yet mysterious town of Jaislmer.

Jaislmer is probably the closest thing in the world to Jerusalem, and not only do the two ancient walled cities built on hills having very similar names, they are also built in very similar golden coloured sandstones (both cities also enforced that all new development must use the original stone). Maybe there's a new Da Vinci Code in the making.

Here is a photo inside the fort (basically in the city square). As you can see the golden stone, and of course the rickshores. It wouldn't be India without them. It was great wondering around the old fort, the only one remaining in Rajasthan that is still occupies by people, restaurants and hotels. It really does allow you to get a more dynamic feel for what life might have been like during the time of the Maharaja.














After touring around the fort and its two Jain Temples it was off to the two beautifully restored Havelis (private mansions) outside the forts walls. The craftsmanship is amazing, with every surface treated in one way or another. No two screens have the same pattern.

















After a roof top dinner overlooking the fort we headed off to bed awaiting the camel safari. Leaving early in the morning via the Royal Cenotaphs and another ancient Jain temple we son arrived at the drop off point and met our camels and their masters. My camel was a large beige beast by the name of Babalu, although I really don't think he responded to the name at all. His master was Gaji, a fifteen year old boy with more hair on his chest than me, believe it or not. The first five minutes introduced me to a lot of spitting and burping, and that was just Gaji. The next few hours were spent covering the three key speeds of a camel:

Comfortable (also known as stationary)
Scrambled Eggs
The Nutcracker

So camel riding really wasn't my thing, but there was plenty more to come. I tried many things to make the ride easier, lowering my pants to provide more room, sitting on my jacket and jumper, these helped - slightly. That afternoon we went for another ride into the sand dunes, that's where I took this photo.

For those keeping score at home the beard is still growing, now 11 days strong, I also haven't taken the fakakte green bandana off.

After the camel safari came to an end we headed back to Jaisalmer where I proceeded to get lost, and lost again and lost again. My lack of direction still leaving a lot to be desired. But around every corner were interesting people all wanting to tell me their life story, from the teacher at the coffee stand, the internet provider who cant get a girlfriend, or the kid that keep asking me for pens.

Tomorrow off to another fort, who would have guessed it.