At 100km from the Pakistan border this is as far West as you can get without riding a camel (see post post-this post when I've written it). It's oppressively hot - 41 degrees C to be exact. The sandstone fort looms up above the rest of the city below and the desert further out. The streets in the fort are so thin, full of flies, extremely smelly and still have motorbikes honking their way down them. Despite all this, and rumours of the fort sinking, we stay at hotel desert. I luck out, getting a nice breezy room in the fort wall with a view down to the city because of a sick girl wallowing for an extra day in the cheap room I was due to have.
When we arrive we're taken to the roof to see the beautiful view and the camel safari bonanza sale begins. The hotel staff lay it on pretty thick telling us about the family run business, their own camels, how they're desert people etc. We duck out after an hour saying that we'd like to shop around a little - there are hundereds of people offering these in Jaisalmer. The next few days are spent getting deeper and deeper into the world of the Jaisalmer camel safari. The hotels charge varying rates from extortionate to reasonable, with a free room when you get back - it's incredibly confusing trying to decide who to go for. In the end the deciding factor was that we probably wouldn't want to ride a camel for more than 1.5 days, and one constantly well-rated company (Ganesh) provided this at a good price - not that I would know how much it costs to run a 1.5 day camel safari!
During this time Greta got particularly ill. This seems down to a papaya flavoured lassi, which is odd as the girl in the room I was supposed to have had a whole papaya, then became violently sick 2 hours later. With another girl also ill in the hotel it became more of a hospital - but the hotel owners and staff were incredibly sympathetic. Between me and them we made several trips to the chemist for drugs for the patients.
We met a (stunning) girl from Israel who was learning to play the sitar. From her sitar class in Varinasi she'd heard of a famous Rajasthan musician who was on a break from travelling the world with his band (Rajasthani Josh). He'd literally just flown in from Indonesia. They were at an artists colony just outside the city. We travelled out and sat on their rooftop drinking whiskey, eating nuts and listening to a wonderful impromptu gig from some incredibly talented and famous artists. Check this!
Alongside being incredibly hot, gaining a doctorate and planning a camel safari, most of the daytime was spent in shade, sleeping and reading - it was nice to take time out for a few days before riding, legs akimbo, into the desert!
A quick mention must go to the catfish of the lake. Sprinkle some food into the lake and hundreds (thousands?) of 50cm + catfish writhe to the surface to feed. Freaky shit!
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| View down to the city from the fort |
During this time Greta got particularly ill. This seems down to a papaya flavoured lassi, which is odd as the girl in the room I was supposed to have had a whole papaya, then became violently sick 2 hours later. With another girl also ill in the hotel it became more of a hospital - but the hotel owners and staff were incredibly sympathetic. Between me and them we made several trips to the chemist for drugs for the patients.
We met a (stunning) girl from Israel who was learning to play the sitar. From her sitar class in Varinasi she'd heard of a famous Rajasthan musician who was on a break from travelling the world with his band (Rajasthani Josh). He'd literally just flown in from Indonesia. They were at an artists colony just outside the city. We travelled out and sat on their rooftop drinking whiskey, eating nuts and listening to a wonderful impromptu gig from some incredibly talented and famous artists. Check this!
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| Rooftop gig |
A quick mention must go to the catfish of the lake. Sprinkle some food into the lake and hundreds (thousands?) of 50cm + catfish writhe to the surface to feed. Freaky shit!
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