Days 9, 10 and 11 - Jaisalmer

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  Jaisalmer, India
Tuesday, October 18, 2005

First impressions of Jaisalmer were not good but after spending 3 days here, I think its a fantastic place. Its a city, but a smallish one, nowhere near the size of Delhi and not half as crowded or polluted. It does have a huge poo problem though - it is everywhere. There are cows, pigs, goats, dogs and pigeons everywhere you look and the streets are covered in their poo. That was the biggest problem with this place - it was impossible to look up to look at anything in case I stepped in a cow pat. Not nice! Fortunately I am currently suffering from a stinking cold, so I had the excuse that I could keep a tissue to my nose without looking rude :-)

Anyway, as I said, it was a good 3 days. Wasn't happy when I arrived - we'd had a 6 hour journey from Bikaner that started at 4:30am so I wasn't in the best of moods at all. But my hotel room put me in a better frame of mind, it was like a room in a castle with interesting paintings and fabrics everywhere

Camel train

. Thats the thing with Indian hotels, you would never steal the towels in a million years (they were white about 3 years ago probably) but I was tempted to put most of the trinkets in my bag.

Jaisalmer has a fort that dominates the whole city, and inside the walls are loads of interesting cobbled streets with shops (and poo). The shopkeepers don't call out and hassle like in anywhere else we have been - a simple polite "no thank you" would keep them away. Had a wander round there for most of the three days - I had an ayurvedic massage in one of the salons as its quite famous round here. I didn't realise however that ayurvedic is Hindi for "torture" and the masseuse was going to inflict great pain on me for 45 minutes. I needed spinal realignment when she was done. I can recommend a facial massage though - after she'd slapped me about a bit she covered my face in ice which was lush and kept me cool for hours after.

The best bit of the trip was on Monday night though. We went out in to the desert on camels - we rode them for about an hour so we were 25km from Jaisalmer, right out through sand dunes to a small camp. My camel was called Lalo, and he was a beauty. He groaned heavily when he stood up with me on his back - I've had too many curries recently - but carried me carefully and gracefully, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (after I'd got over the initial terror)

Jaisalmer fort

. We spent the evening chatting, eating, drinking, smoking some funny herbal cigarettes that our guide had, and listening to traditional music under the stars and a full moon, and it was so great. The guide laid blankets out for us, and we had the option to sleep on the dunes or on a platform that was there - I was all for the dunes til someone spotted a scorpion then I was on that platform, concrete or not! Totally fantastic night, made even better the next morning when we saw the sun rise over the dunes then got the camels back again. The owner of the camels was after me - pretty good catch, he's 24, single, has his own business, and lives in Pakistan (that put me off a bit). Dad, he'd give you two camels for me apparently - what do you think? It was a totally memorable trip, definitely the highlight so far. There are ways it can be done in luxury, staying in beduoin style tents etc, but that wouldn't have been half as much fun as sleeping under the stars. Highly recommend it if you ever get the chance!

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Jaisalmer fort from our hotel	Jaisalmer Haveli	Lalo	Like a princess at the window!
Making sweets	Me and Lalo, my trusty steed!	Me at sunrise	Resting
Rudi, Chester and Alex	Sunrise over the dunes	Sunset in Jaisalmer Lake	Sunset in the desert
Taking a rest	The handsome man I spent the night with

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