Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is probably my favourite place outside of Mumbai so far, very small, very pretty, relatively clean and quiet and hassle free, right in the desert on the border of Pakistan. Most people live in the fort area, the buildings in the fort are amazing and the whole thing gets lit up at night, but my damn camera will not zoom out enough to do it justice. So here's a random one stolen from the web:


And some of my own:


The Jain temple in Jaisalmer:




Part 3 of my on-going statuephilia:


After the safari I took a shower on a rooftop, here was my view:



I'm only a week or so behind now, once I catch up will provide more than just a photo show, I have musings ready to go.

Camel college.

In Jodhpur I met a German guy who wanted to go to Jaisalmer too, so we caught a bus together. He really wanted to go on a camel safari and persuaded me to go too. Then the morning of the safari his grandfather died and he couldn't go. So I was stuck on an unwanted-but-paid-for 3 day camel safari. Let me tell you about camels. They are not made to be ridden. But you do get to feel like Lawrence of Arabia when you are up the front.

The camel drivers were very funny, sharing all sorts of Camel College Knowledge, such as:

"No chapatti no chai, no woman no cry"
"24 hours of power, no toilet no shower"
"Why not coconut" (rhymes in Indian),

and suddenly singing "I'm a camel man, in the bloody sand" to the tune of Aqua's Barbie Girl.

Some pics. Indian mud and shit hut. Really. Made out of sand and dried cow dung. Have to be rebuilt after every monsoon, but very cool:




Marcello on the dunes.


Looks like the last camel didn't make it.


Ruby, our dog. She followed us the whole way.



We didn't have enough people to do YMCA or early Beatles covers, unfortunately.


There was another Aussie on the safari, Chris. A la Dale Kerrigan and his hole, we built a cairn.


In case anyone doesn't know what a camel looks like: