Jaisalmer

This past weekend I went on a trip with 8 other FSD interns.  We went to the nearby city of Jaisalmer, known for it’s spectacular fort and also the starting point for camel safaris in the Thar Desert.  In just two days we were able to experience both…

The trip started with an eventful overnight train ride from Jodhpur.  We opted for Sleeper Class having heard from others that it, “wasn’t that bad.”  Maybe this is true if you don’t go through a sand storm in the middle of the night.  Sleeper Class means no AC, windows only.  So basically we woke up covered in sand… and I mean covered!

 Me before the sand storm!

Luckily I had some wet wipes and we all cleaned ourselves up as much as possible.  We headed into town and walked through the fort and then watched the sunrise over the city.  Built in 1156, the fort has 99 bastions around its circumference, and many of city’s residents still reside within the walls. 

  

After breakfast we located our safari agent and worked out a nice deal.  Then we wandered the city until 3:30 and then headed back for our jeep ride out of town.

They drove us about 50km outside of the city (at that point we were about 80km from the Pakistani border) and dropped us off with 9 camels and 5 guides.  I named my camel Marlboro, but later learned his real name was Babalu. He was a lazy little bugger, who stopped to eat often, but he didn’t try to bite me, so it’s an improvement from my last camel ride.

We rode for about 2 hours and then the guides dropped us off at some amazing dunes and left us to watch the sunset while they set up camp. Unfortunately the sunset wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was amazingly quiet and the air was clean, so we were happy.

The guides whipped up dinner and we ate while the stars started to come out.  Then we climbed onto our beds, turned on some music, watched the stars and fell asleep.

 Just after wake-up call...

The guides woke us at sunrise, which we all opted to watch from our beds, and then made us a breakfast of toast, eggs and bananas. They packed up our camp, and we climbed back on our camels… Inherently less fun the second day. Today, it hurts just to sit down!

 Ready for Day 2

We rode for a little over an hour, into a town where our jeep met us and took us back to Jaisalmer. Z, D and I opted out of more exploring and instead took showers and got massages… $10 well spent!

A few of us managed to get upgraded on the return train. 3AC, which means 3-tier sleeper with AC.  Still a lot of people in a small space, but infinitely better!  Definitely the way to get around India.