Jaisalmer, India (Apr. 13-17)
When I say the bus ride was insane, I mean that my friend's description of the bus drivers on his blog is really hardly an exagerration: http://travelswithmyshrink.tumblr.com/post/45252945461/indian-public-busses
When I say the bus ride was insane, I mean that my friend's description of the bus drivers on his blog is really hardly an exagerration: http://travelswithmyshrink.tumblr.com/post/45252945461/indian-public-busses
I spent about 10 percent of the trip entirely airborne and bouncing around in my tiny coffin sized bed, while I was constantly closing the windows as they would gradually work their way open. As if that wasn't enough to ensure I didn't get any sleep the driver literally BLASTED hindi music the entire way and, as usual, frequently banged his horn, which in Rajisthan is this musical piece that sounds like the horn from a clown car.
I had called ahead to my hotel and they were going to pick me up, but by the time I got to Jaisalmer I was exhausted and unprepared for the eminem-style battle with the lying tuk tuk drivers to figure out who was the real Ba. I stepped off the bus without making eye contact, walked over to a curb, and sat down. I was going to let him find me. A man walked over with a sign that said, "Tathy, Canada": close enough.
When I got to my hotel, I immediately went to bed. When I woke up a few hours later and went downstairs to have breakfast, I met Lily. One of the few other solo female travellers I have met while travelling, I immediately liked her. There is a strength and uniqueness that I seem to find with all other female travelers; they are always the most interesting people. She pulled me out of my room in my still apparent post-travel daze and took me to meet Thomas and Charlie Beckett, the guy with the most English sounding name I have ever heard.
They were all staying at Ba's house so we went and bought beers and hung out on his rooftop all day. Before we knew it, it was 5:00 and we only had a little time left to watch the women's festival that Ba had been talking up. We went to the house of the royal family, which we got into for free since Ba knew someone. I had been excited for the women's festival since for all of the other festivals, the women just watch from the sidelines while the men have fun. I wanted to see the women enjoy themselves for a change. Thank god I didn't pay 300 rupees to get in there. All the women just dressed up, did a round around the house and prayed to a statue in the middle and left. That was it apparently. That was the women's festival. Fucking India sometimes.
We went back to the hotel to relax and Ba brought up this desert man to play and sing for us. He was actually incredible. He was a beautiful player and he just put so much emotion into his songs they were amazing. He told us he had been on BBC before. I believe it. The unbelievable part was that he was only 55 years old. Seriously look at this picture and be happy about how good you look.
We all went out for dinner and talked about economics, politics, conspiracy theories, and most interestingly, Ba. It isn't my story to tell so I won't go into detail on the internet, but there is some seriously weird and creepy stuff going on there. He owns a hotel, but has a full house of people staying in his house for free...during low season. I'm sorry no one is that nice. The room was nice and cheap and my only experience with him was him buying me icecream and mango smoothies, taking me to sunset spots, and teaching me about Indian gods. All this despite the fact that I kept brushing him off after what I had heard. Regardless, there was no way I was going off into the desert on a camel safari with him.
I spent the next day just relaxing and writing in my journal while Ba hovered over me buying me icecream and telling me about Hindu gods. In the evening, he offerred to take me to a sunset spot and I said we should go grab the guys first. The sunset spot was actually really beautiful and Thomas was grateful for the invite since, despite how long they had been there for, the guys had never gotten an invite to the sunset spot. When you can keep down the creep factor, it really pays to be a girl sometimes.
Thomas and I went out to find Charlie and get dinner and we ended up meeting a photographer named Henry who was also writing this hilarious blog called "Travels with my shrink". Dark humour, but actually hilarious.
It was day 3 in Jaisalmer and I was determined to finally get my camel safari figured out, since I now knew I wasn't doing it with Ba. I had three different recommendations so I set out into the hot desert heat to check them all out. The first two were ok: one was a bit expensive and the other I got kind of a sketchy vibe from. The last place on my list was Nomads, the place Henry had told me about, but no one seemed to know where it was. When I finally found three different people that seemed to know it and said it was in the same direction, I figured I was going the right way, but majority rules isn't always reliable in India. When I got to the point where no one recognized the name and the directions evolved into, "yes, it might be that way," I figured it was a good time to turn back. When I got back to the fort, I found a guy that knew it and found out it was in the complete opposite direction. He said he was heading that way and would give me a lift for 20 rupees. I told him I wanted to walk. "Ok free," he said.
On the way, he started talking to me about his camel safari and I thanked him and said I would consider it after I looked at Nomads. When he stopped the bike, we were not in front of Nomads. "This is my hotel," he said. "Well I was going to check out your camel safari, but now that you have mislead me I have no interest," I said as I got ready to storm off. He drove me to Nomads.
I wandered up to the roof of Nomads trying to find this Aladin guy, and ended up finding Henry there as well. There was no aggressive sales pitch, Aladin was just himself. He was a big goof and I immediately liked him; there was no competition. The temperature hit 41 that day so the three of us spent the entire day lying out on the roof and basically not moving. That was my first time experiencing heat like that.
Henry was leaving that night to head to Varanasi, but Aladin was trying to convince him to stay and do a camel safari by telling him there would be gipsy dancing on the dunes if he went. "I want that!" I said. He said that was his safari and since I needed to go with other people, he was sending me with his brother's company, which was a different safari. I know it sounds incredibly stupid to head into the desert alone with a man I had known for less that 24 hours, but, I can't explain how, I just knew I would be safe with him, and that safari sounded so amazing. I booked it for the following morning and finally headed back to Mirage Hotel when Henry left to catch his train.
After dinner on the rooftop with Ba, I told him I wanted to settle my bill since I was leaving in the morning. I wasn't exactly gunning to tell him that I was doing my camel safari with someone else, but he just asked so many questions and I wasn't going to lie to him. He and Jay (this other guy that worked there) took the news calmly, but I could hear them screaming below me when I went upstairs to bed. I think they thought that Aladin had poached their sale...not quite.
I woke up early and ordered breakfast from Jay before I headed out. Jay starting asking me incessant questions about my camel safari, which I would have appreciated if I thought it was from a place of genuine concern rather than him trying to stick it to me for not going on a safari with them. At one point, he said "Well you just meet someone for five minutes and think he is a nice guy." Irritated, I finally said "Well I definitely have standards. For instance, I wouldn't go into the desert with you." He chose to ignore this comment and continue on his rant. He was clearly bitter that I hadn't fallen for he and Ba's little show, so I let him give his speech and left to meet Aladin.
While I was sitting on a ledge and waiting for Aladin, this old man came over a crouched in front of me and looked at me in a way I had never seen in India before. It wasn't an asking-for-something look, or an undressing-you-with-my-eyes look, or even a curious I-have-never-seen-one-of-these-before look. It was like the half-smiling stare that Kelly or Annie do to me when they are trying to make me feel awkward. Anyways it worked; I moved.
After a 15 minute Jeep ride through into the desert, I got on my first camel. They are much bigger than I realized; this is no horse. They have to sit down so you can mount them and then they stand up while you are on. I really felt like I was going to fall off the first time they did it.
They are definitely more uncomfortable than a bus, but I don't think they are quite the torture device that people make them out to be. We headed out into the desert, stopping for a few hours for lunch, and made it to the dunes before dinner.
On my way back from going to the washroom, I saw one of the camels didn't have his legs tied and he was getting away. After hearing Carolyn's story about having to take the Jeep back because Ba and Jay lost the camels, there was no way I was letting that happen to me. I looked the camel in the eye and we both started running. It was a real chase. Rocket had smelled the sweet smell of freedom and wasn't going to let it slip through his hooves without a fight, but he didn't know who he was messing with.
With Rocket safely back at the hut with his legs tied, Aladin and I headed out into the dunes to watch the sunset.
The dunes, with their perfect curling golden waves, were perfectly set against the soft blue sky with the misty, golden setting sun. There was something other-worldly about them. Climbing them was like running up the down escalator as the soft sand releases into an avalanche below you. As we sat and watched the sun set, I played with the beetles and tried to pick them up. I knew we were sleeping on the dunes and getting comfortable with the bugs that covered them seemed like a valid priority to avoid a panic attack at bed time.
After dinner in the pitch black (I literally had no idea what I was even eating), we headed back to the dunes to meet the gipsies. And there I sat, on the almost mystical sand dunes, under hundreds of stars, watching their silhouettes sing and dance Khalbelia under only the light from the shining crescent moon.
I am not entirely sure whether to comment on how amazing and beautiful the music was, or how the flute player kept letting his instrument go in the middle of songs to text, or how the girls kept horking in between their singing. I guess you have to appreciate the in-your-face realness of it all, but there is something a bit awkward about being set up in a position so that you have to sit there and watch the texting and horking like it is part of the show.
After a while, the girls started pulling me up to dance with them and, since our styles were a bit different, we exchanged moves. The music was mesmerizing and fit perfectly with the surroundings. We listened to it and fed off of eachother as we circled and stamped in the sand under the stars. I couldn't speak one word to them, but we felt like friends by the end.
After the gipsies left, I settled under my blankets and went to sleep. It must have been 2 in the morning when I woke up to go to the washroom. After I managed to make it down the dunes half-asleep in the pitch black, I finally noticed the sky. The moon had gone and there were just the stars. Thousands of them. I don't think even the Serengeti or Kilimanjaro were that amazing. I was so tired, but I just sat there for a while and stared at them. I couldn't close my eyes.
I woke up at sunrise and headed out into the dunes by myself until I couldn't see any evidence that there were any other people in the world. I could hear the whole desert waking up; I never knew they were so full of life. I just sat out there by myself for a while and tried to save that peacefulness in my head forever.
I met Aladin for breakfast and I sat next to the camels, one of whom was pissing and shitting at the same time, followed by them both peeing in unison and ate my sandy eggs, my sogging sun-melted banana, and my charcoaly toast on my dirty and prickly blanket. The realities of paradise.
While I was eating breakfast, I realized that after I washed them, I had left my underwear drying in the window of my hotel room at Mirage. The idea of Jay and Ba with my underwear wasn't the most pleasant thought. Aladin thought it was funny. I didn't.
That day didn't have the insane wind of the day before which had very successfully masked the horrendous heat of the open desert. I felt like I had sun stroke by the time I got back to Nomads and ended up drinking 2 1/2 litres of water in about an hour.
After an embarassing stop at Mirage to pick up my underwear, Aladin drove me to the bus station to catch my bus. Next stop... Udaipur.
I had called ahead to my hotel and they were going to pick me up, but by the time I got to Jaisalmer I was exhausted and unprepared for the eminem-style battle with the lying tuk tuk drivers to figure out who was the real Ba. I stepped off the bus without making eye contact, walked over to a curb, and sat down. I was going to let him find me. A man walked over with a sign that said, "Tathy, Canada": close enough.
When I got to my hotel, I immediately went to bed. When I woke up a few hours later and went downstairs to have breakfast, I met Lily. One of the few other solo female travellers I have met while travelling, I immediately liked her. There is a strength and uniqueness that I seem to find with all other female travelers; they are always the most interesting people. She pulled me out of my room in my still apparent post-travel daze and took me to meet Thomas and Charlie Beckett, the guy with the most English sounding name I have ever heard.
They were all staying at Ba's house so we went and bought beers and hung out on his rooftop all day. Before we knew it, it was 5:00 and we only had a little time left to watch the women's festival that Ba had been talking up. We went to the house of the royal family, which we got into for free since Ba knew someone. I had been excited for the women's festival since for all of the other festivals, the women just watch from the sidelines while the men have fun. I wanted to see the women enjoy themselves for a change. Thank god I didn't pay 300 rupees to get in there. All the women just dressed up, did a round around the house and prayed to a statue in the middle and left. That was it apparently. That was the women's festival. Fucking India sometimes.
We went back to the hotel to relax and Ba brought up this desert man to play and sing for us. He was actually incredible. He was a beautiful player and he just put so much emotion into his songs they were amazing. He told us he had been on BBC before. I believe it. The unbelievable part was that he was only 55 years old. Seriously look at this picture and be happy about how good you look.
We all went out for dinner and talked about economics, politics, conspiracy theories, and most interestingly, Ba. It isn't my story to tell so I won't go into detail on the internet, but there is some seriously weird and creepy stuff going on there. He owns a hotel, but has a full house of people staying in his house for free...during low season. I'm sorry no one is that nice. The room was nice and cheap and my only experience with him was him buying me icecream and mango smoothies, taking me to sunset spots, and teaching me about Indian gods. All this despite the fact that I kept brushing him off after what I had heard. Regardless, there was no way I was going off into the desert on a camel safari with him.
I spent the next day just relaxing and writing in my journal while Ba hovered over me buying me icecream and telling me about Hindu gods. In the evening, he offerred to take me to a sunset spot and I said we should go grab the guys first. The sunset spot was actually really beautiful and Thomas was grateful for the invite since, despite how long they had been there for, the guys had never gotten an invite to the sunset spot. When you can keep down the creep factor, it really pays to be a girl sometimes.
Thomas and I went out to find Charlie and get dinner and we ended up meeting a photographer named Henry who was also writing this hilarious blog called "Travels with my shrink". Dark humour, but actually hilarious.
It was day 3 in Jaisalmer and I was determined to finally get my camel safari figured out, since I now knew I wasn't doing it with Ba. I had three different recommendations so I set out into the hot desert heat to check them all out. The first two were ok: one was a bit expensive and the other I got kind of a sketchy vibe from. The last place on my list was Nomads, the place Henry had told me about, but no one seemed to know where it was. When I finally found three different people that seemed to know it and said it was in the same direction, I figured I was going the right way, but majority rules isn't always reliable in India. When I got to the point where no one recognized the name and the directions evolved into, "yes, it might be that way," I figured it was a good time to turn back. When I got back to the fort, I found a guy that knew it and found out it was in the complete opposite direction. He said he was heading that way and would give me a lift for 20 rupees. I told him I wanted to walk. "Ok free," he said.
On the way, he started talking to me about his camel safari and I thanked him and said I would consider it after I looked at Nomads. When he stopped the bike, we were not in front of Nomads. "This is my hotel," he said. "Well I was going to check out your camel safari, but now that you have mislead me I have no interest," I said as I got ready to storm off. He drove me to Nomads.
I wandered up to the roof of Nomads trying to find this Aladin guy, and ended up finding Henry there as well. There was no aggressive sales pitch, Aladin was just himself. He was a big goof and I immediately liked him; there was no competition. The temperature hit 41 that day so the three of us spent the entire day lying out on the roof and basically not moving. That was my first time experiencing heat like that.
Henry was leaving that night to head to Varanasi, but Aladin was trying to convince him to stay and do a camel safari by telling him there would be gipsy dancing on the dunes if he went. "I want that!" I said. He said that was his safari and since I needed to go with other people, he was sending me with his brother's company, which was a different safari. I know it sounds incredibly stupid to head into the desert alone with a man I had known for less that 24 hours, but, I can't explain how, I just knew I would be safe with him, and that safari sounded so amazing. I booked it for the following morning and finally headed back to Mirage Hotel when Henry left to catch his train.
After dinner on the rooftop with Ba, I told him I wanted to settle my bill since I was leaving in the morning. I wasn't exactly gunning to tell him that I was doing my camel safari with someone else, but he just asked so many questions and I wasn't going to lie to him. He and Jay (this other guy that worked there) took the news calmly, but I could hear them screaming below me when I went upstairs to bed. I think they thought that Aladin had poached their sale...not quite.
I woke up early and ordered breakfast from Jay before I headed out. Jay starting asking me incessant questions about my camel safari, which I would have appreciated if I thought it was from a place of genuine concern rather than him trying to stick it to me for not going on a safari with them. At one point, he said "Well you just meet someone for five minutes and think he is a nice guy." Irritated, I finally said "Well I definitely have standards. For instance, I wouldn't go into the desert with you." He chose to ignore this comment and continue on his rant. He was clearly bitter that I hadn't fallen for he and Ba's little show, so I let him give his speech and left to meet Aladin.
While I was sitting on a ledge and waiting for Aladin, this old man came over a crouched in front of me and looked at me in a way I had never seen in India before. It wasn't an asking-for-something look, or an undressing-you-with-my-eyes look, or even a curious I-have-never-seen-one-of-these-before look. It was like the half-smiling stare that Kelly or Annie do to me when they are trying to make me feel awkward. Anyways it worked; I moved.
After a 15 minute Jeep ride through into the desert, I got on my first camel. They are much bigger than I realized; this is no horse. They have to sit down so you can mount them and then they stand up while you are on. I really felt like I was going to fall off the first time they did it.
They are definitely more uncomfortable than a bus, but I don't think they are quite the torture device that people make them out to be. We headed out into the desert, stopping for a few hours for lunch, and made it to the dunes before dinner.
On my way back from going to the washroom, I saw one of the camels didn't have his legs tied and he was getting away. After hearing Carolyn's story about having to take the Jeep back because Ba and Jay lost the camels, there was no way I was letting that happen to me. I looked the camel in the eye and we both started running. It was a real chase. Rocket had smelled the sweet smell of freedom and wasn't going to let it slip through his hooves without a fight, but he didn't know who he was messing with.
With Rocket safely back at the hut with his legs tied, Aladin and I headed out into the dunes to watch the sunset.
The dunes, with their perfect curling golden waves, were perfectly set against the soft blue sky with the misty, golden setting sun. There was something other-worldly about them. Climbing them was like running up the down escalator as the soft sand releases into an avalanche below you. As we sat and watched the sun set, I played with the beetles and tried to pick them up. I knew we were sleeping on the dunes and getting comfortable with the bugs that covered them seemed like a valid priority to avoid a panic attack at bed time.
After dinner in the pitch black (I literally had no idea what I was even eating), we headed back to the dunes to meet the gipsies. And there I sat, on the almost mystical sand dunes, under hundreds of stars, watching their silhouettes sing and dance Khalbelia under only the light from the shining crescent moon.
I am not entirely sure whether to comment on how amazing and beautiful the music was, or how the flute player kept letting his instrument go in the middle of songs to text, or how the girls kept horking in between their singing. I guess you have to appreciate the in-your-face realness of it all, but there is something a bit awkward about being set up in a position so that you have to sit there and watch the texting and horking like it is part of the show.
After a while, the girls started pulling me up to dance with them and, since our styles were a bit different, we exchanged moves. The music was mesmerizing and fit perfectly with the surroundings. We listened to it and fed off of eachother as we circled and stamped in the sand under the stars. I couldn't speak one word to them, but we felt like friends by the end.
After the gipsies left, I settled under my blankets and went to sleep. It must have been 2 in the morning when I woke up to go to the washroom. After I managed to make it down the dunes half-asleep in the pitch black, I finally noticed the sky. The moon had gone and there were just the stars. Thousands of them. I don't think even the Serengeti or Kilimanjaro were that amazing. I was so tired, but I just sat there for a while and stared at them. I couldn't close my eyes.
I woke up at sunrise and headed out into the dunes by myself until I couldn't see any evidence that there were any other people in the world. I could hear the whole desert waking up; I never knew they were so full of life. I just sat out there by myself for a while and tried to save that peacefulness in my head forever.
I met Aladin for breakfast and I sat next to the camels, one of whom was pissing and shitting at the same time, followed by them both peeing in unison and ate my sandy eggs, my sogging sun-melted banana, and my charcoaly toast on my dirty and prickly blanket. The realities of paradise.
While I was eating breakfast, I realized that after I washed them, I had left my underwear drying in the window of my hotel room at Mirage. The idea of Jay and Ba with my underwear wasn't the most pleasant thought. Aladin thought it was funny. I didn't.
That day didn't have the insane wind of the day before which had very successfully masked the horrendous heat of the open desert. I felt like I had sun stroke by the time I got back to Nomads and ended up drinking 2 1/2 litres of water in about an hour.
After an embarassing stop at Mirage to pick up my underwear, Aladin drove me to the bus station to catch my bus. Next stop... Udaipur.
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