I often get that 1990s song "Miss You" by Everything But the Girl in my head and quote from it obnoxiously. You know the one: "and I miss you...like the desert missed the rain..." Well, just so the world could prove me wrong, the Indian desert did not miss the rain! Leave it to me to get rained on in the desert during the dry season. According to my camel guide who has lived in the desert for all 32 years of his life, it has never rained in April. So I guess I'm pretty lucky (or unlucky depending on how you see it) to have seen that.
Anyway, a few days ago I left jodhpur and took a god awful boiling hot bus out to Jaisalmer. Note: Alex, I had someone put their hand on my head to balance themselves on the bus just like in NYC! I talked to this nice Indian guy who said he could arrange a hotel for me in Jaisalmer so I took him up on his offer. I should have known better, but overheating and annoyance will make you agree to almost anything. When I arrived, there was not one, but two different men holding signs with my name on it, both claiming to be the person to take me to the hotel. What I am desperate to know is, whoever the "fake" person was, how on earth did they manage to get my name? It's not like it's a popular one. Anyway, the scene got so ridiculous that I just hopped into some guy's rickshaw and let him take me to a shitty hotel. I almost let him book me on a camel safari as well, but I thought I should check out some other prices and places first.
I ended up going with a place called Thar safari which is in the guide book and seemed a little more legit. The only crappy thing was that b/c it's low tourist season, I had to go on my own instead of with a group, which I wasn't too sure about at first. I asked the man who runs the safari company if he knew a good place for textiles, and of course he had an uncle who owns a shop-everybody and their mother here has an uncle who owns a shop! But in all honesty, the shop was great and the service I got was wonderful. The shop is a cooperative and they work with women who live out in the tiny villages in the desert. All the embroidery is done by hand and a lot of the material is reclaimed from old wedding saris. I ended up spending A LOT of money that I blatantly don't have on a few wedding presents for people. If you guys are reading this, I hope you like what i got you! The man in the shop also gave me a free turban for my camel safari and we had chai together on the roof so I could take some pics of the jaisalmer fort.
The next morning, I left for the safari. I was driven out to the desert and met my guide, Buddia, and our two camels, David and Jessul, and started the trek. I discovered over the next three days all the wonderfully bizarre things about camels. I actually feel quite a kinship with them because like me, they have totally disastrous digestive systems. They spend almost all their time farting, pooping, and regurgitating their food. They also make the strangest sounds when they see other camels. Male camels are apparently very competitive with each other. Riding on a camel feels sort of like being on a mechanical bull in slow motion. I remember my brother Soren telling me once that it feels like having sex, and despite that bring too much information for me, and now for you too, he's totally right.
We rode for about two hours before stopping under a shady tree for lunch. My guide Buddia cooked up some veggies and chapati and we ate, sharing our food with a shepard who was walking by. Then we just lay around and waited for it to get cooler. Obviously the desert is hot, but the level of heat is so intense that you can't do anything. I dumped water over my head and clothes about five times, but each time it dried in two minutes. It's so hot that you don't even really sweat. It just feels like someone pre-heated the oven for 350 and put you in to bake. Even the camels are hot.
We finally got going again around 4:30 as the sun was coming down and rode until we reached the sand dunes. That's where I slept the first night, right in the middle of a sand dune, under a full moon and loads of stars. The wind gets so intense in the middle of the night that you actually get cold and need a thick blanket. I found it really difficult to sleep that first night and suffered some sort if anxiety induced panic/paranoia attack. I don't know why. Maybe just the strangeness of being in the middle of nowhere by myself, with only a camel driver I don't know and absolutely no lights or sound. I never felt unsafe. Just a little uncomfortable if that makes sense. All I can say (again) is, thank god for my iPod and especially the musical stylings of Neil young b/c I think that's the only thing that kept me sort of okay.
The next morning, I woke up with a desert dog curled up and sleeping beside me. I decided to share my breakfast with him and we then made fast friends. He ended up staying with me more or less for the rest of he trip. I called him DD (for desert dog). I had serious day dreams about how I could adopt him and send him home. My brothers were quick to point out that spike doesn't make friends though, and unfortunately they're right.
Despite the desert being so barren, there is lots of life around, if you look for it: sheep and goats, some cows and camels, dogs, desert mice, dung beetles, birds, lizards, and even some deer. We ended up going to my camel guide's village and I got to meet his family. He has five sisters, and the youngest one is four which means his mother had her in her late 50s-crazy!! They just don't stop having babies here- it's awful. We then set off to find a shady tree for lunch and this is when the weather got crazy. I experienced a total wind/sand/rain storm and Buddia and I had to sit under a tarp for a while and wait for it to calm down. We rode off in the rain back to some sand dunes where there was a little grass hut for shelter and this is where we, and DD of course, spent the night. I slept in the little grass shack and woke up a few times in the night to DD hopping onto my little cot. When I woke up in the morning a little bit cold, I realized it was because DD had snuck most of the blanket off me and created his own little nest of a bed on the sand next to me. This makes me think him and spike might get along after all! I love how no matter where you go in the world, animals are the same. They just want food and affection and comfort. This makes me so happy.
I was happy to see day 3 come (and so were my groin and bum muscles). The desert was so cool, but not as much fun as it would have been with a friend or a group. Oh well. My guide was a good sport and took pictures for about an hour while I tried to perfect a handstand on the dunes. Right before we got back to where I was getting picked up, I spotted a whole bunch of peacocks hanging around in the shade of some bushes. I tried to steal a few pictures which proved to be very difficult. I think they are very weary of people, and fair enough if someone is always coming after your feathers. Anyway, it made what I can imagine a very funny scene as I was sneaking from bush to bush like a total idiot trying to chase a bird who was more clever than I am.
After I got back to Jaisalmer, I took the overnight bus (shudder) to Udaipur and that's where I am now, totally exhausted with a bad case of the crankypants. The bus was pretty brutal but I managed to book a "sleeper" seat which meant that I got my own coffin sized compartment that shut with curtains for privacy so that I could avoid all the stares from the men. I will stay here until tomorrow night when I'll grab the overnight train (double shudder) to Mumbai. The train was all booked so I'm in the shitty class car again which is going to be terrible. Until then, I'll take in some of the sights here. Udaipur is supposed to be the most romantic city in India. I don't know about that, but it does have a nice lake and I'll probably get to watch Octopussy a bunch of times (it was filmed here and is apparently the only movie that plays in all the restaurants and guesthouses.)
Three and a half weeks and then I'll be in Kenya. Is it bad that the countdown has already begun???
Will be posting all my pictures of India and Nepal later today once I've taken a much needed nap! Tata!
Anyway, a few days ago I left jodhpur and took a god awful boiling hot bus out to Jaisalmer. Note: Alex, I had someone put their hand on my head to balance themselves on the bus just like in NYC! I talked to this nice Indian guy who said he could arrange a hotel for me in Jaisalmer so I took him up on his offer. I should have known better, but overheating and annoyance will make you agree to almost anything. When I arrived, there was not one, but two different men holding signs with my name on it, both claiming to be the person to take me to the hotel. What I am desperate to know is, whoever the "fake" person was, how on earth did they manage to get my name? It's not like it's a popular one. Anyway, the scene got so ridiculous that I just hopped into some guy's rickshaw and let him take me to a shitty hotel. I almost let him book me on a camel safari as well, but I thought I should check out some other prices and places first.
I ended up going with a place called Thar safari which is in the guide book and seemed a little more legit. The only crappy thing was that b/c it's low tourist season, I had to go on my own instead of with a group, which I wasn't too sure about at first. I asked the man who runs the safari company if he knew a good place for textiles, and of course he had an uncle who owns a shop-everybody and their mother here has an uncle who owns a shop! But in all honesty, the shop was great and the service I got was wonderful. The shop is a cooperative and they work with women who live out in the tiny villages in the desert. All the embroidery is done by hand and a lot of the material is reclaimed from old wedding saris. I ended up spending A LOT of money that I blatantly don't have on a few wedding presents for people. If you guys are reading this, I hope you like what i got you! The man in the shop also gave me a free turban for my camel safari and we had chai together on the roof so I could take some pics of the jaisalmer fort.
The next morning, I left for the safari. I was driven out to the desert and met my guide, Buddia, and our two camels, David and Jessul, and started the trek. I discovered over the next three days all the wonderfully bizarre things about camels. I actually feel quite a kinship with them because like me, they have totally disastrous digestive systems. They spend almost all their time farting, pooping, and regurgitating their food. They also make the strangest sounds when they see other camels. Male camels are apparently very competitive with each other. Riding on a camel feels sort of like being on a mechanical bull in slow motion. I remember my brother Soren telling me once that it feels like having sex, and despite that bring too much information for me, and now for you too, he's totally right.
We rode for about two hours before stopping under a shady tree for lunch. My guide Buddia cooked up some veggies and chapati and we ate, sharing our food with a shepard who was walking by. Then we just lay around and waited for it to get cooler. Obviously the desert is hot, but the level of heat is so intense that you can't do anything. I dumped water over my head and clothes about five times, but each time it dried in two minutes. It's so hot that you don't even really sweat. It just feels like someone pre-heated the oven for 350 and put you in to bake. Even the camels are hot.
We finally got going again around 4:30 as the sun was coming down and rode until we reached the sand dunes. That's where I slept the first night, right in the middle of a sand dune, under a full moon and loads of stars. The wind gets so intense in the middle of the night that you actually get cold and need a thick blanket. I found it really difficult to sleep that first night and suffered some sort if anxiety induced panic/paranoia attack. I don't know why. Maybe just the strangeness of being in the middle of nowhere by myself, with only a camel driver I don't know and absolutely no lights or sound. I never felt unsafe. Just a little uncomfortable if that makes sense. All I can say (again) is, thank god for my iPod and especially the musical stylings of Neil young b/c I think that's the only thing that kept me sort of okay.
The next morning, I woke up with a desert dog curled up and sleeping beside me. I decided to share my breakfast with him and we then made fast friends. He ended up staying with me more or less for the rest of he trip. I called him DD (for desert dog). I had serious day dreams about how I could adopt him and send him home. My brothers were quick to point out that spike doesn't make friends though, and unfortunately they're right.
Despite the desert being so barren, there is lots of life around, if you look for it: sheep and goats, some cows and camels, dogs, desert mice, dung beetles, birds, lizards, and even some deer. We ended up going to my camel guide's village and I got to meet his family. He has five sisters, and the youngest one is four which means his mother had her in her late 50s-crazy!! They just don't stop having babies here- it's awful. We then set off to find a shady tree for lunch and this is when the weather got crazy. I experienced a total wind/sand/rain storm and Buddia and I had to sit under a tarp for a while and wait for it to calm down. We rode off in the rain back to some sand dunes where there was a little grass hut for shelter and this is where we, and DD of course, spent the night. I slept in the little grass shack and woke up a few times in the night to DD hopping onto my little cot. When I woke up in the morning a little bit cold, I realized it was because DD had snuck most of the blanket off me and created his own little nest of a bed on the sand next to me. This makes me think him and spike might get along after all! I love how no matter where you go in the world, animals are the same. They just want food and affection and comfort. This makes me so happy.
I was happy to see day 3 come (and so were my groin and bum muscles). The desert was so cool, but not as much fun as it would have been with a friend or a group. Oh well. My guide was a good sport and took pictures for about an hour while I tried to perfect a handstand on the dunes. Right before we got back to where I was getting picked up, I spotted a whole bunch of peacocks hanging around in the shade of some bushes. I tried to steal a few pictures which proved to be very difficult. I think they are very weary of people, and fair enough if someone is always coming after your feathers. Anyway, it made what I can imagine a very funny scene as I was sneaking from bush to bush like a total idiot trying to chase a bird who was more clever than I am.
After I got back to Jaisalmer, I took the overnight bus (shudder) to Udaipur and that's where I am now, totally exhausted with a bad case of the crankypants. The bus was pretty brutal but I managed to book a "sleeper" seat which meant that I got my own coffin sized compartment that shut with curtains for privacy so that I could avoid all the stares from the men. I will stay here until tomorrow night when I'll grab the overnight train (double shudder) to Mumbai. The train was all booked so I'm in the shitty class car again which is going to be terrible. Until then, I'll take in some of the sights here. Udaipur is supposed to be the most romantic city in India. I don't know about that, but it does have a nice lake and I'll probably get to watch Octopussy a bunch of times (it was filmed here and is apparently the only movie that plays in all the restaurants and guesthouses.)
Three and a half weeks and then I'll be in Kenya. Is it bad that the countdown has already begun???
Will be posting all my pictures of India and Nepal later today once I've taken a much needed nap! Tata!
No comments:
Post a Comment