A Sacred Journey

Namaste my fellow Northern Hemisphere creatures.
So there was a power outage and I lost my previous post, so here I will try and re-create it.
Moving onwards from Bikaner into Jaisalmer, we’re getting deeper into the Thar Desert, one of the driest in the world. Jaisalmer was a stop on the old silk/spice route and definitely still holds a reputation as a major shopping center. First thing we did was attempt to visit a the Jaisalmer Fort or the Golden fort (because it is all build out of local yellow sandstone) Jaisalmer is often referred to as the Golden City due to all the sandstone. The fort sits high on a hill and would have been impenetrable in battles. It did not see many battles though because it is only 400 years old; build by a relatively recent maharaj. Interestingly, people actually live in the fort and merchants are a-plenty. Having already seen a retardedly elaborate fort in Bikaner (which I somehow forgot to write about) Logan and I were more distracted by all the shops. We found a great one with lots of Pakistan-style clothing and went crazy. Rs.2500 later we got ourselves 4 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, 1 skirt, 3 scarves, 1 purse, 1 headband and 1 water bottle carrier. When we left the shop it was dark so we said farewell to the fort.
But the next day, we went on a camel trek!!!!!! Oh I love Camels! At about 4pm we got into a jeep with a older, wealthy German couple, drove one hour West and were greeted by our camel guides who did not know much more English than “camel” and “water”. We boarded our camels (I got the little cute one) and headed out on a 4-hour journey, stopping only once to take pictures. The heat wasn’t too bad at all, probably due to my new light garb and head scarf, really helps keep cool. Being atop a camel is wonderful, they are so harmless and delicate, yet strong and intimidating all at once. They made strange noises and they’re farts are even stranger, yet not overly unpleasant. They were well behaved, well, mine anyway and had very furry ears!! We came across some huge sand dunes with very soft yellow sand and saw some crazy flora. Oh and bugs too!!
Eventually we arrived to a small flat clearing with a few small huts. From there the guides proceeded to make us a wonderful desert dinner with rice, chapatti (bread) and curried vegetables. It was delicious. Logan and I watched the sunset from a nearby sand hilltop and even had a Pepsi (crazy times huh?) Then we slept on cots right out in the open under the stars. You’d be surprised how many stars there are out there when there’s no light on. We saw the Milky Way, Gemini and many other constellations I’ve never seen before. Oh Glorious Heavens!
After a great night’s sleep we had a quick breakfast of bananas, tea and bread and departed. The trek back was about 2 hours. (We took the long way around before). I said good-bye to my wonderful camel and hello to some nasty soreness in my inner thighs, worse than ridding a horse. (but all worth it)

From Jaisalmer we headed to Jodhpur, back East.
At this point I’d like to say I’m still feeling great. I did have a few not-so-enjoyable trips to the washroom, but nothing worth complaining about as it passes very fast. I’ve used by first beday (fancy butt wash) as well as my first hole in the ground. Not so bad I say. I’ve also sat on a rock on the Thar Desert to do my business…who else can say that?
So now I shall be going…
But first, let me say we are now in Jodhpur, the so-called blue city, about to enjoy dinner. (I always look forward to food here!!) Earlier we visited the Jodhpur fort and saw great views of the city, it is actually blue.
Alrighty…good day to all and as our driver Kumar would say;
“OHM OHM OHM, very relaxing”

Posted by Dominique on 21 September 2006 at 5:06:00 AM | Permalink