Before leaving Pushkar we had some post to send. It
took a LOT longer to send than we thought and so I went to wait outside
because I had left my passport in the car. Waiting outside anywhere in India is
always an experience and after five minutes a skinny Indian dressed in a toga
with a lot of white hair came up to me and played a weird kind of recorder in
my face. I let this go on a little longer than I should have because I was
hoping Gwend would come out and see so it took quite a lot to get rid of him in
the end. When Gwend did come out we also got surrounded by cows because a man
came and scattered grass around us (he kept putting it on my feet even when I
moved).
When we finally left Pushkar we were heading
on another long journey towards Khuri, near Jaisalmer which is in the
desert and borders Pakistan. As soon as we got out of the car I could feel the heat
difference; it was forty five degrees and I could barely breathe. Luckily it
cooled down a lot at night which was good because we were off on our camel
trek. We arrived at our accommodation which was two huts in the middle of the
desert; although our driver had told us that we could sleep outside for a more
authentic desert experience if we would like.
We got ready for our camel trek and were all a bit
unsure about how it would go; we named our camels Gerard (renamed Geri aka Gez,
upon discovery that she was female), Gilbert, Gary and Jasper (renamed
Jasmine). Luce and I had nice well behaved camels; Gwends- Gilb was a bit more
weird; foaming at the mouth. Sophie's camel, on the other hand, was insane. For
some reason, my guide decided he wouldn't lead me but attached me to Gary who
had his tail tied out of the way of his rear end which was not in a good way.
For quite some time I thought Gary had a lump of shit hanging from his tail
until I realised that it was actually the biggest, shittiest ball I have ever
seen. This earned Soph's camel the name, Gary shitty balls.
After a fantastic time camel trekking we got back to
our charming huts. Gwenda and I decided to go for the authentic approach and
slept outside. This was a nice idea but the reality wasn't quite so lovely. As
soon as we had settled down we heard a voice saying 'Goonda, you want to go for
a walk with me?' This was the voice of our driver, Karam, who was no
longer sweet but had turned out to be massively annoying and in love with
Gwenda. In the morning we also realised that he had been lying when he told us
we wouldn't get bitten in the desert as 'Goonda' was absolutely covered in
bites. The next morning when Karam asked his regular question 'good
sleeping'? He was met by more than one scowl.
Our next two destinations weren't particularly
exciting because they were stop off points on the way to our final destination
in north India, Haridwar. This was quite a low time in India as we stayed in
two of the hottest rooms imaginable and spent the next two nights tossing and
turning drenched in sweat. We did, however go to see a miniature artist who
drew a whole picture on Gwend’s nail along with all our names.
No comments:
Post a Comment