On the road again to Jaisalmer via Pokran Fort which only required a 30 minute walk around to stretch our legs.  On arrival in Jaisalmer Santosh dropped us a little way from the entrance which gave us a short uphill walk into the Fort. The fort dominates the town and is quite stunning as it stands out in contrast to the flat desert surroundings.  It’s the golden city as most buildings are made of carved honey coloured sandstone.  The narrow streets within the fort are quite charming and atmospheric especially at night. 

Our accommodation was inside the fort itself, which houses a small community and is dotted with hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and shops mainly aimed at tourists. After an initial confusion as the place we booked had changed location, we eventually found the new ‘Desert Boys’ guesthouse and were pleased to find we had another very stylish room.

We all had rooms close together with a little outside seating area and after visiting the nearby English Wine Shop, we enjoyed basking in the afternoon sunshine sipping chilled Sauvignon Blanc and beers. For dinner we took the others to the original Desert Boys, which is now a hostel, but still retained a rooftop restaurant with a fabulous view across to the desert beyond the fort.

Overnight we discovered that our room was over the access road into the fort so once again we were blighted by the noise of honking vehicles entering the fort and the barking dogs during the night.  Hey, this is India! 

Our stay in Jaisalmer included a one night camel safari in the desert. Unfortunately, it was John and Suz’s turn to be ill so they missed the experience and stayed in bed.  Brenda also had one of those ‘I can’t do this’ moments when she first got on her camel but she stayed calm, gathered herself and made it….well done Brenda, you are a star! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We rode across the scrubby desert for a couple of hours before stopping for a long lunch under the shade of a large tree.  The saddles came off the camels, they were hobbled to make sure they didn’t run off and were allowed to wander off to nibble at the trees and have a rest. Our camel men, Mr Khan and his two helpers quickly lit a small fire, made us some chai and then started preparing lunch.  Pakoras and finger chips were dished up while we watched them make veg curry and chappatis.  It was delicious and there was enough to share with two young goat herders who also appeared with their long eared goats.   

We rode again for another couple of hours and finally got to the dunes where we played like kids in the sand before watching the sunset.  The two largest camels had been making the strangest noises throwing out their tongues, blowing raspberries and foaming at the mouth.  Mr Khan explained it was getting towards the end of mating season and these two were getting horny if they could sniff any females nearby.  Neil noticed that they peed backwards so asked the camel men how they were able to shag whilst thrusting his hips forward to demonstrate.  They giggled like girls at his question and his mime! He was then taken to a camel by the eldest one who explained by pointing closely and touching, they had a lot of dangling skin which directed the pee backwards but when they got excited they would be able to thrust forward.  He then grinned and rushed off quiclkly to wash his hands. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We had another tasty dinner, accompanied by a few beers and had a large campfire to sit around while we sang silly songs.  It was also surprising just how cold it got and how quickly the temperature dropped but we were snug under our thick blankets just gazing up at the stars sipping whisky and chatting and laughing.  We had also forgotten just how uncomfortable riding a camel can be and we were all walking like John Wayne next day.

One last night back at the fort and we flew on to Delhi for us to take our flight home and for the other guys to head back to the warmth of Goa.  The last evening in Delhi was spent in a restaurant called Heaven & Hell, with one white room, Heaven, and one dark room, Hell.  It was a great laugh as the waiter Prem, AKA Manuel, was great value and had us laughing at his attempts to master our orders.  He took it all in his stride and laughed along with us. 

Thanks Brenda, Tony, John & Suz. We had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed our adventures in Rajasthan.

Now London awaits with temperatures at night close to zero……yuk!