Surfin' Safari or a Canadian, A Belgian, and an Argentinean walk into the desert one day...

Jaisalmer - The Wall City of the Khuri

Today marks my first week here in India, and my first day back in Jaisalmer.

I arrived earlier yesterday. For those who don't know, Jaisalmer is about 5 hours North of Jodphur by bus, and is most famous for the Kuri Desert around it.

A pretty standard morning - got here early, checked into my hotel and then went to see the local fort (there's always a fort). The old city is located in the fort, and the minute you cross the first gate, you're assaulted by all the shops in the main square. In fact, walking around it seems like there was Nothing but shops and hotels inside. It was a pleasant enough afternoon, but I still say Jophur was better for this kind of thing.

The highlight was having lunch on a roof top at a restaurant called Free Tibet (no political affiliation to my knowledge). Rooftop dinning is really popular in this part of India, and it's definitely something to be experienced. Enjoying a meal while the whole city is laid out in front of you: it's fantastic. This was also my first time trying tibetian food. In this case cheese and onion momos - a kind of steamed dumplings that comes in a marinara sauce. Absolutely delicious and tres filling!

The rooftops of the city

Afterwards I came back to my hotel, the roop mahal, went to bed early as the following day I had to be up early for my next activity.

The desert may be what Jaisalmer is known for, but it's the camel safaris that draw the tourists, and the main reason why I took such an out of the way detour here. You can book tours from 1,2,3 up to 20 days almost anywhere, but the owner of the hotel offered me his tour when I got here. I'm normally wary of this; lots of hotels have shady deals and your normally overcharged for what you get, but this guy was saying all the right things; 2 days/1 night, private camel, lots of blankets, food, and water, and most importantly- NOT the Sam dune ( the place where all the tourists go). Price was good, too, so I signed up.

I left the next morning in a jeep along with 9 other people, of which I was the only one to whom English was a first language. We drove 40km out of the city to the middle of no where where our camels and guides were waiting for us.

With only a small pamphlet that was given to us the night before, and gave us brief instructions on how to ride, we mounted our camels and were off!

I WAY more confident then I felt

Camel riding is ... An experience. You're mounted in a saddle like a horse, but about 3 or 4 feet further off the ground. While the first hour is bearable, soon the saddle is essentially raping you every step. By early today I was almost in tears getting out of the saddle.

For anyone who wants to try one, two words: Icy hot. You'll need it.

That aside, the safari was fantastic. The drivers took us about 20km through the desert. On the way we passed two villages, which were full of kids not afraid to ask for rupees or school pens, and lots of sand.

The Desert

The desert was just amazing. Totally quiet except for the camel bells that ring as they walk, and a surprising amount of wild deer and foxes.

At about 1, when it was the hottest, we took a break in a local sheep pasture and the drivers made us a lovely daal lunch - I'm actually surprised by how well they cooked. Every meal was great and no bad side effects after!

When we finished lunch there was a short siesta, and then we made our way to camp: a beautiful set of sand dunes. Here we got to watch the sun set and then have another great curry. After, just before bed, there was some singing and then camping out under the stars.

The next morning we woke up to chai tea and the sun rising over the hills. After a breakfast of porridge, eggs, and toast we mounted the camels again and made our way back home. 3 excruiating hours later we were under a tree having another dinner, and waiting for the jeep back.

SOOOO CUTE!

I had originally planned on doing a 3 day safari, but after one night it was enough. Saddle sores are very real and there's only so much adventure one can have in a day.

Now I'm back at the hotel, killing time til 5pm tomorrow where I catch a 12 hour bus to Jaipur, the pink city. 12 hours... With a sore ass... Can't wait.