Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Camels

Eager to press on and see what else Rajasthan had to offer we visited Jodhpur, aka the blue city, because of the colour of its old town houses. Once bitten, twice shy, our expectations were low as we had been previously unimpressed by the amount of pink at the ‘pink city’ (Jaipur). It turns out this was a good thing as we weren’t disappointed as there wasn’t that much blue! Perhaps it was our view, and maybe you need a higher vantage point to get the full effect... here is someone elses photo.

Jodhpurs main attraction is the mighty Mehrangarh Fort. Suffering from a fort overload we didn’t venture inside but it looked impregnable from our guest house.


We didn’t stay long in Jodhpur as the wide open spaces of the nearby desert were calling, so we set sail for the outpost of Jaisalmer. On the way we passed through mostly barren waste land which probably explains why the Indian government has tested nuclear weapons in the area, it’s also very close to Pakistan... Being close to India’s misunderstood brother means that the pride of the Indian Air Force conduct regular fly-overs. It wouldn’t surprise us if India has installed horns in their jets, such is the Indian love for this device.

Jaisalmer is made up of winding narrow streets. The town is small so it’s easy to get around and hard to get lost which is great for exploring. Once again the pride of the town is its fort, which looks especially cool at night time.


It was finally time to escape the mass of humanity which is India and go somewhere quiet where we could sit and think - the Thar Desert. We signed on for a “non touristic” camel safari that surprisingly came with very “touristic” turbans. After driving out of town we were promptly introduced to our new best friends for the next two days: John (Clint), Desert Boy (Kerry) and ATM (Dan).

Camels are great fun, if you haven’t ridden them before you should definitely try it. Getting them to stand up is cool as they unfold themselves and it’s sure to catch you off guard the first time. Camels are tall brutes and afford you a great view of what’s going on.

We wish we could say that we broke camp and headed to the most remote corner of India. Instead we spent the first 30 minutes following the highway while the guides used their cell phones – even the camel sherpa guys have busy social lives these days!

Things got better when we turned west and headed further into the desert. After passing a village containing children that wanted 40 rupees per photo we entered the desert proper.


After mastering the basics it was time to pick up the pace. The guides encouraged this by hurling encouragement/abuse at the camels and giving them a bit of a whipping with sticks. This did the trick and before we knew it we were amongst some great sand dunes and at our camp for the night.

Seeing the sand dunes up close gave us a burst of energy. We spent the next hour running and jumping about the place frolicking in the sand. It was just like being at the beach and we had to keep reminding ourselves we couldn’t go swimming afterwards!


Being away from the cities and the pollution meant we got to watch a superb sunset and had a magnificent view of the stars later that night. Below is a photo of the first three stars to emerge that night.


After a night under the stars it was time to get back into it. We were a bit sore from riding the day before, no stirrups means that you flop about ungainly and you have to keep your wits to keep yourself intact.

We were picked up in the afternoon and taken back into town. It was an assault to the senses to be back amongst the horn honking and crowded streets of Jaisalmer – welcome back to India. On the upside a warm bed and hot shower were just what the doctor ordered.

Random Fact: the economies of scale are amazing over here. 1.2 billion Indians means that cell phone coverage is literally everywhere and you can send a txt for as little as $0.004 NZD while calls aren’t much more - $0.04 NZD per minute... remind us again which country is third world?

Highlights:
- Hearing an explanation of how our main guide learnt English as a boy. Being illiterate and with no previous exposure to foreigners it meant he learnt one word at a time, often with hilarious results which left us in stitches
- The first five minutes of riding a running camel. It’s an enormous novelty as you balance precariously and watch the others trying to do the same
- Sipping a semi cold beer in the desert after running up a storm in the sand dunes

Lessons Learned:
- If a male camel froths at the mouth and makes disturbingly primal noises then it’s probably winter, the camel season of love
- When you’re in the desert with men whose primary interest is camels you quickly learn a lot about them. The cheapest price you can buy a camel for is 15,000 rupees - $600 NZD. If you buy during winter (tourist season) you’ll have to shell out almost double - 25,000.
- The men of the desert are very poor. They allege to see precious little of the money that we shell out in town for the trip. It’s actually quite sad that most of the guides, who are grown men, can’t afford their own camel
- Some people are brave (is that the right word?) enough to try and setup farms in the desert. Of all the crops they could pick from they chose watermelon and cucumber. To top it off it hasn’t rained for three years!
- Two days and one night on a camel is enough. Anymore and you’re just asking for trouble