Rajasthan Desert Safari Jaisalmer

... in the fort called little Italy for the whole 3 days so we were all craving lasagne so we met Ken for dinner and all had lasagne which was fantastic after living on dal for 3 days. Ken was telling us about a place called 'bhang' which is a tiny cafe which serves drinks and cookies with natural cannabis in which is legal. So we headed there and tried a mango juice with bhang. It tasted pretty good but probably just because we love mango juice. The place was ...

... nearly threw me off. I should have expected this, but it was my first camel mounting (pardon the expression) , and I was still leaning back. I damn near fell off the beast rolling backwards, and down onto the ground below. I managed to hang on, with great difficulty. (once I got stabilized, I thought "Thanks alot, Ali, for all the pointers! "<br> <br>Our two French friends and Barb then followed my example, much more gracefully I might add. The French couple ...

... million years ago. This area was submerged by the sea and the trees were preserved in fossilized form...petrified wood!! As we explored the forest...well not really a forest..just a desert with remnants of the forest scattered throughout and a few preserved trees in wire displays. Wondering around the old forest I was able to spot some petrified wood roaming free for me to pocket!! now I am the proud owner of 180 million year old fossilized wood!!<br><br>Apparently poor ...

... only logical thing...We split a beer and hit the town. I neglected to mention that Hooper arrived with a pretty cool speaker package for our Ipods that actually booms pretty loud.... this is of particular relevance to the story because drunk Ben and Dave...armed with speakers and a private rickshaw in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night....well you get the idea...<br><br> Also, since we have ...

... a jeep that would take us to 85km towards Pakistan taking in a few sights along the way. It's not pure desert it's a mixture of dusty plains with a few sand dunes, there is a lot more vegetation and wildlife than I was expecting too, with herds of goats, camels and wild dogs. After an hours ride in the jeep we met our guide for the evening Deliah, who introduced us to our camels Rocket &amp; ATM (yes they named a camel after a cash machine!), and we set of over the ...

... or less the same things. The amazing carvings out of sandstones which you discovered as you start wandering among the alleys, and there are several Jain temples within. After Ranakapur, we did not bother with the hassle of removing shoes to enter, you can heard the chanting from outisde. There are "priests" of questionable motive of offering blessings for a donation as we seen in Ranakapur. The main temple requires entry and ...

... Keeping in your seat as the camel raises or lowers itself to the ground, can appear at first to be a losing battle. Which it is! Mom seemed to be doing great ("better than riding a horse"), Dad was a little sore (not as smooth as he had hoped), and Latha was fine. I, on the other hand, was not doing well and my behind as well as other parts were very sore. After arriving at the large dunes our guides set ...

... through the Great Thar desert for 2 hours before making camp on some sand dunes. I doubt I'll continue this or any other entry before our return home, as with power cuts and slow connections it's impossible to keep this blog flowing...today another 45 hours wasted on failed picture uploads and 3 repeat attempts at writing the blog, this kills any hint at inspiration says the disgrundtled author. Have a great New Year, I'll let you know when there's more to follow.

... The boy was helping in the kitchen. There was something different about him, not only was he beautiful like Lord Krishna or the Buddha but he had a huge illuminated presence that filled the whole restaurant and my heart as though he had the power of an enlightened saint and i felt a weird urge to fall at his feet and touch them. Strange. I guess this is what people feel around their gurus or around a spiritual saint like Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), the ...