Gorbandh Palace Jaisalmer

... and things to do but its good fun although very tiring! It was maddy&#8217;s birthday yesterday. (One of the volunteers) so we ordered a cake and found balloons and candles and decorated the &#8216;party&#8217; room for her!! <br><br>The weather is good, it&#8217;s quite cool at night but that&#8217;s probably good as we don&#8217;t have things like air con! The afternoons are nice and warm, so we tend to do out planning for school outside. This week we are ...

... Were we wrong. The fortress itself is crawling with tourists, every shop selling the same stuff and all you hear is "Very nice material my friend". You literally cannot go 10 feet without being accosted by someone trying to sell you their wares. It is so bad, we spend our days outside of the fort just to avoid the tourists. Yesterday, for example, some French manatee woman was making an Indian woman and her baby pose in the middle of the ...

Hello. I'm a few days behind on the blog so I'm going to to write a few entries here. When I was writing about my day in Delhi with Anuj I forgot to mention that I broke probably the biggest travel rule of all time, don't drink the water. While we were walking into the Qutb Minar he asked if I had had their lime juice yet. There was a stand/cart outside where a guy was making the real deal. I was having such a good time and I wanted to try it so I just ...

... Pilu?" "He not have many girlfriends" he replied. I failed to see the link between the two statements. "Come again?" "He like to eat Rocket. He very frustrated." I couldn't see what his salad eating preferences could possibly have to do with this. "He get excited and eat rocket so keep his rope tight." Pilu persisted. After a little more confused back and forth I managed to ascertain that the camel in front of me that Thevelvetunderground was sat on was ...

... Indian (which is for me, a turnoff to see other cuisines). I had a lassi (sweet) and an eggplant dish; the table shared Jaisalmer sweets for dessert. It's a nice group and more mixed than the first week (another American from New Mexico, two women from New Zealand). Tomorrow is the camel safari. I washed a couple clothing items, but realized that I'll be riding a camel in the hot sun, and don't really care if I'm clean to that extent. :)

... and us! On the way we stopped off at some some dessert villages to find families living in these harsh conditions. Seeing these people and the surroundings was a real 'appreciate what you have' moments. Our destination for Saturday evening were some fantastic sand dunes which seemed right in the middle of the desert. From there we watched the amazingly quick sun set and experienced the sudden drop in temperature as ...

... for another 2-3hr safari. We travelled through dunes, plains and rural villages. A one point we were a bit behind, so the driver made some vocal instruction to the camel and the camel was in a trot. While travelling somewhat faster it was strangely more comfortable we at least for me, the driver had to jog. It was sad when the camel ride came to an end. Now back in town drying out my gear and soothing my inner thighs.

<br>I've moved on...no longer the colonial memsahib, in my new fantasy I'm Lisa the veiled lady, hidden within the shady walls of my luxurious haveli in this desert fortress town of Jaisalmer, looking out through the delicately carved sandstone window shields but remaining a mysterious figure to the masses down in the dusty streets... Well it's hard not to fantasise in such a setting! I feel like I ...