SANDCASTLE IN THE DESERT

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Trip Start Sep 26, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 22, 2008

  Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

We experienced our first overnight train trip from Jaipur to Jaisalmer - 13 hours in total :) We boarded at midnight from Jaipur and arrived in Jaisalmer at 1 pm the next day. We travelled on AC 3-tier, I had the middle berth and Andrew lower, which meant someone was sleeping above me! I had the best sleep I'd had in ages, mind you my sleeping tablet probably helped with, even so I enjoyed the whole experience. We arrived in the heat of the day at Jaisalmer and were ushered into a beautiful room at our hotel which looked like a scene out of  Arabian Nights! We had a magnificent view over the fort which dominated the whole city. Within an hour we were whisked off in a jeep out into the desert to catch a sunset camel ride - what an unreal experience! We went with another kiwi couple, a couple from London and 2 Dutch women - we had a blast and enjoyed comparing stories of India with other foreigners. We were taken to a small village where Mr Singh (in his orange turban) greeted us. He showed us around his home, gave us a drink of chai, then helped us get up on our camels! It was rather scary being up so high, it was not at all comfortable! Nevertheless, it was a great experience to wander thru the sand dunes and take in the peace and quiet which we hadn't experienced since leaving NZ! The sunset was magificent and we didn't want to leave this serene place. One of the couples stayed in the desert overnight with another group of tourists, but time did not allow us to do this - and to be honest, while sleeping outside under the stars may sound romantic, the thought of snakes and creepy crawlies didn't do much for me! We got back to the hotel around 8 pm and enjoyed dinner under the stars at the restaurant on the hotel rooftop - the fort was lit up and looked spectacular, we felt like we were in another world, it was truly a magical experience.

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