Hotel Star Haveli Jaisalmer

... By the way we have been totally muched by bed bugs its minging, Em counted her bites this morning and she has 80 bites and they are all in trails its horrible. Chris has been attacked by mosquitos, his whole leg and ankle were completely covered, its not good. Em has stopped taking her anti malarials a week after we started back in Nepal as they made her feel really sick but Chris is still going with his even though they are making him ill as well. Insects Grrrr!

... west, and we had been on top of these beasts for about two hours. Mercifully, Ali pulled the Caravan to a halt at the base of a large set of sand dunes. Ali again approached and looked at me very seriously. He told me to hang on and believe me, the descent was as thrilling and dangerous as the takeoff. We were all thrilled to get off the animals, and were all ready for a break. Ali came by and made a point to speak to each of us. He told us we were were ...

... enjoyed our time in Rajasthan, the people, although a little pervy (that surely goes without saying?!) are so friendly, the architecture so magnificent and the history so rich that it is only with fond memories that we will look back on this first leg of our Indian adventure. And of course our camels, Mr Raj and Mr Aloo are good friends for life! ... Oh my the pain! I cannot begin to explain what 2 days on top of a camel feels like!

Approaching the Jaisalmer express (no. 4810) on platform 2, I discovered I was an hour early. Having located my berth and dumped my bag, I set off in search of a cup of chai to pass the time. As I loitered outside the cabin, I saw a young oriental gentleman standing outside and looking quizzically at his train ticket. I approached him and informed him that this was indeed carriage 2 and that his no.74 sleeper berth happened to be next to mine. He introduced ...

... vibe from him. He also had these amazing blue eyes...which is rare for Indians and dark skinned/haired people in general. We got to chatting and ended up hearing all about how he became 'Mr. Desert'. He won the 'Mr. Desert' pageant (for males) in 1988 and 1989. His friends convinced him to open a travel agency and use the name to garner business. He opened the agency but didn't have much business and was about to close shop before he got discovered and ...

... the stars. Deliah and Seru sang us some songs and we tried to teach them some new ones but the language barrier seemed to be a problem. The temperature kept dropping through the night, It was like an evening in September in the UK, cold but not uncomfortable. In the desert there was an eerie quite with nothing for miles around, the stars were so bright they appeared like they were really close and we could make out all the constellations (the ones that we know anyway ...

... for the same $. It's still worth the visit, 30 stops with 3 on the rooftop which gives a very good view around from the fort built on the triangular Trikuta hilltop. You can see Gadisar lake from here too. We took 3 hours to finish at a very leisurely pace and walked back to hotel to rest before dinner, telling the driver we'll skip Gadisar. Apparently internet was not working the whole day in jaisalmer. There is a common PC ...

... many people. This is why I was so happy to meet Mr. India. Mr. India had his flaws...he sounded like Chewy Chewbacca and had quite the odour, but he was very strong, friendly, never tried to sell me anything AND he wasn't human. Mr. India is a camel who takes tourists for trips in the Thar Desert. The daily price for a camel safari in India is roughly equal to a generic veggie burger at a generic ...

... We sat on a blanket on the floor in the "living room" of their home...(at the center of the house with no roof)...there was a bed next to us with 2 children lying on it and their mama watching over them closely. To our left was a woman sitting on the floor in front of a pile of blankets, under which we later discovered her own little boy. The entire household was sick. Really, really sick. Fevers, chest colds, snotty noses. I took a close look at my chai before sipping. The ...

... them over the third eye area. I was too much in awe to talk to him. The namaste gesture means something along the lines of - "the spirit in me recognizes the spirit in you" or "the light in me honors the light in you" or "i bow to you" which all seem quite appropriate. I remained in a bit of a high for a couple of days after the event and i think the boy has given me a wonderful blessing. He's the highlight of India so far. Also in Jaisalmer i thought it very ...