Hello!
I know it has been ages since the last entry, but we have been busy soaking up the sun and being absorbed in the moment! We hope that 2011 is treating everyone wonderfully--we are having the time of our lives! We are currently in Goa and have been since Dec.21st--but I'll get to that later. I must fill you all in on the brilliant camel trek we did in the Thar desert in Jaisalmer prior to coming here!
We took a 10-12 hour overnight bus to Jaisalmer where we had a little upstairs cupboard to sleep in--most comfortable journey yet! We were awoken very early in the morning to a man knocking on our closed window and offering to take us to his guesthouse and on a camel safari. He was offering a good price and the guesthouse was literally inside the huge old fort in the heart of the city so we jumped at the opportunity. Our bedroom had a little window-sill with shutter windows that we could sit upon and gaze out into an amazing view of the desert, wind turbines, fort and city--all the colour of sand with a pink sky as the sun set. It was magical. We took a jeep out into the Thar desert--along the border of Pakistan--apparently less touristy and spoiled by people. There were 6 others with us and once we got to our destination, we were each given our camel that would be our transportation for the next 2 days! I got the leader of the pack, "Marco," by far the biggest of the lot. Everytime I was handed the reigns ( which were attached through their nostrils) to lead him myself he turned to sniff me in an untrusting manner as if he knew I was an untrained and inadequate camel-rider, causing me to call upon the lovely guides to "take the reigns back please!"
In single file we made our way through the brush, cacti, random trees, sand, abandoned bones (I am hoping they were the remnants of animals)--Des played a "practical joke" on me and wrapped a goat's skull in my hoody and passed it to me without me knowing...I nearly fainted when I opened it up and it dropped out! We saw every animal you could imagine including camels,cows, goats, deer, horses etc. There were around 5 guides walking and leading us---their fitness was incredibly respectable!
At lunchtime as the sun heated up and so did we, the guides found a very large and shady tree to take a break under. They would untie the camels and they would have a stretch, rest and feed in the nearby bushes while our feast was being cooked! We chilled out in the sun and listened to music one of the Israelis had with them and smelt the beautiful and spicy aromas of what was to come. The guides cooked gourmet meals for us over an open fire made from scratch. They took their time and we were served chapatis, rice, noodles, vegetable curries, and chai. It was amazing what they could accomplish with such basic utensils out in the blazing desert! They would then clean the cups and plates using nothing but sand--getting everything sparkling clean once again (I hope!)
As time went on we got further into the heart of the desert. We stopped at a well where ladies from the nearby village gathered water into large blue bottles for us and the cooking. They then returned with water a-top their heads back to their village which was in view with huts made of mud and cow dung and straw roofs. Camel heards passed us as this was happening, it was quite surreal. Throughout the day, we stopped in little villages where houses made of the same materials were everywhere with little shops that sold cold drinks and children ran up and wanted "pen! pen!"- I wish that I had brought some, when we didn't have a pen, they wanted the ring off my finger or the bracelet on my wrist.
Finally, arriving at the great dunes, we stopped for the day. We unleashed our camels once again and climbed the dunes to find the perfect spot to watch the sunset. Needless to say, it was extremely beautiful and romantic. The guides were brilliant--during sunset, they climbed up to us on the dune and brought us chai--ofcourse we tipped well in the end---greatly deserved! They then cooked us a beautiful dinner around the fire and as the stars were coming out, sang Indian songs and played the bongo on an empty water bottle. We turned in early as the sand turned from unbearably hot to unbearably cold and layed out under the open stars with a simple blanket under us and one over. As the moon disappeared, the stars turned even more vivid and astonishing than you could imagine--the whole sky was illuminated with twinkling polka dots and shooting stars! (The next night back in our room at the fort, we saw the most crazy shooting star---it was literally a red ball of fire coming quickly towards the city but as it hit the earth's atmosphere, we saw it disintegrate).
We fell asleep to the sound of camels crunching (they wouldn't eat for hours and still they would be crunching on things--as gross as it might sound, they regurgitate their food and eat it endlessly...I just don't understand how it remained to be crunchy). Thank goodness that the time of year was un-inhabitable for snakes and scorpions!
Des and I awoke at the break of dawn and climbed the dunes once again to watch the pink sun rise over the desert and drank our chai. We then went back down to camp and had Indian sweet porridge, fruit, and toast with jam that tasted like the inside jelly of Turkish Delight. We then set off for the day ahead of us where we made our way back.(Des was very sore by this stage from the camel hump and my fingers were slightly cut up from the millions of little burrs that kept sticking to me during the night which I had to pluck out one by one). We learnt to make chapatis that lunch-time--helping out with the cooking a little---my hands were throbbing by the end of it as it involves slapping the wheat flour, water and salt balls into thin patties over and over until their suitable to throw on the hot rocks! Des and I sampled some of what our guides were eating...it was our vegetable curry but 30 times as hot as we were eating---still delicious but the enjoyment is a bit lost at that heat level when you can hardly taste the flavours! I would love to post my photos of this incredible experience but unfortunately my camera was lost/stolen in Goa :( Thank goodness I made a copy on disc and have sent it home---now hopefully the package makes it there safe and sound! Instead I will be using Des's photos (hence, the ones in this blog will be more of me--it's not out of conceit!) from now on. The rest of our time in Jaisalmer was spent wandering the commercial fort streets, playing badminton on the streets with a local and getting henna painted by a lovely girl who did a beautiful job.
After our camel trek we made our way to Jodpur where we spent time in the BLUE CITY where literally most of the buildings and houses are painted a beautiful light blue--gorgeous against the desert sand background. On our way on the bus we saw 2 camels that had been struck down by a truck---they were roadkill--I can't imagine what shape the vehicle that hit them was in! Very sad timing as we had just made friends with the camels on our trek :(
We saw another amazing fort and wandered the colourful blue streets. The Rajisthani food is delicious although as they are limited for fresh vegetables as it's desert land, they use a lot of butter---I couldn't eat the traditional meal I ordered out one night and of course Des turned his nose up at the butter part from the start! Following this, we went to amazing Udaipur where we stayed in another beautiful guesthouse with a rooftop restaurant. (Most of the guesthouses in Rajisthan and Mcleod had these). We had a gorgeous view overlooking the lake where a palace resides in the middle. We could have taken a boat out to eat in the middle of it for a very pricey expense but instead chose another gorgeous garden restaruant where we had a cocktail and watched the sunset over the lake--it is another very romantic place. Udaipur is where "OCTOPUSSY" the James Bond movie was filmed and every guesthouse plays it every night. We had a good time watching it and picking out all the spots we had visited.
A couple days later we caught our flight to Goa---at the airport Des went through the "he" security check while I went through the "she" check. And this folks, brings us to Goa...
I know it has been ages since the last entry, but we have been busy soaking up the sun and being absorbed in the moment! We hope that 2011 is treating everyone wonderfully--we are having the time of our lives! We are currently in Goa and have been since Dec.21st--but I'll get to that later. I must fill you all in on the brilliant camel trek we did in the Thar desert in Jaisalmer prior to coming here!
We took a 10-12 hour overnight bus to Jaisalmer where we had a little upstairs cupboard to sleep in--most comfortable journey yet! We were awoken very early in the morning to a man knocking on our closed window and offering to take us to his guesthouse and on a camel safari. He was offering a good price and the guesthouse was literally inside the huge old fort in the heart of the city so we jumped at the opportunity. Our bedroom had a little window-sill with shutter windows that we could sit upon and gaze out into an amazing view of the desert, wind turbines, fort and city--all the colour of sand with a pink sky as the sun set. It was magical. We took a jeep out into the Thar desert--along the border of Pakistan--apparently less touristy and spoiled by people. There were 6 others with us and once we got to our destination, we were each given our camel that would be our transportation for the next 2 days! I got the leader of the pack, "Marco," by far the biggest of the lot. Everytime I was handed the reigns ( which were attached through their nostrils) to lead him myself he turned to sniff me in an untrusting manner as if he knew I was an untrained and inadequate camel-rider, causing me to call upon the lovely guides to "take the reigns back please!"
In single file we made our way through the brush, cacti, random trees, sand, abandoned bones (I am hoping they were the remnants of animals)--Des played a "practical joke" on me and wrapped a goat's skull in my hoody and passed it to me without me knowing...I nearly fainted when I opened it up and it dropped out! We saw every animal you could imagine including camels,cows, goats, deer, horses etc. There were around 5 guides walking and leading us---their fitness was incredibly respectable!
At lunchtime as the sun heated up and so did we, the guides found a very large and shady tree to take a break under. They would untie the camels and they would have a stretch, rest and feed in the nearby bushes while our feast was being cooked! We chilled out in the sun and listened to music one of the Israelis had with them and smelt the beautiful and spicy aromas of what was to come. The guides cooked gourmet meals for us over an open fire made from scratch. They took their time and we were served chapatis, rice, noodles, vegetable curries, and chai. It was amazing what they could accomplish with such basic utensils out in the blazing desert! They would then clean the cups and plates using nothing but sand--getting everything sparkling clean once again (I hope!)
As time went on we got further into the heart of the desert. We stopped at a well where ladies from the nearby village gathered water into large blue bottles for us and the cooking. They then returned with water a-top their heads back to their village which was in view with huts made of mud and cow dung and straw roofs. Camel heards passed us as this was happening, it was quite surreal. Throughout the day, we stopped in little villages where houses made of the same materials were everywhere with little shops that sold cold drinks and children ran up and wanted "pen! pen!"- I wish that I had brought some, when we didn't have a pen, they wanted the ring off my finger or the bracelet on my wrist.
Finally, arriving at the great dunes, we stopped for the day. We unleashed our camels once again and climbed the dunes to find the perfect spot to watch the sunset. Needless to say, it was extremely beautiful and romantic. The guides were brilliant--during sunset, they climbed up to us on the dune and brought us chai--ofcourse we tipped well in the end---greatly deserved! They then cooked us a beautiful dinner around the fire and as the stars were coming out, sang Indian songs and played the bongo on an empty water bottle. We turned in early as the sand turned from unbearably hot to unbearably cold and layed out under the open stars with a simple blanket under us and one over. As the moon disappeared, the stars turned even more vivid and astonishing than you could imagine--the whole sky was illuminated with twinkling polka dots and shooting stars! (The next night back in our room at the fort, we saw the most crazy shooting star---it was literally a red ball of fire coming quickly towards the city but as it hit the earth's atmosphere, we saw it disintegrate).
We fell asleep to the sound of camels crunching (they wouldn't eat for hours and still they would be crunching on things--as gross as it might sound, they regurgitate their food and eat it endlessly...I just don't understand how it remained to be crunchy). Thank goodness that the time of year was un-inhabitable for snakes and scorpions!
Des and I awoke at the break of dawn and climbed the dunes once again to watch the pink sun rise over the desert and drank our chai. We then went back down to camp and had Indian sweet porridge, fruit, and toast with jam that tasted like the inside jelly of Turkish Delight. We then set off for the day ahead of us where we made our way back.(Des was very sore by this stage from the camel hump and my fingers were slightly cut up from the millions of little burrs that kept sticking to me during the night which I had to pluck out one by one). We learnt to make chapatis that lunch-time--helping out with the cooking a little---my hands were throbbing by the end of it as it involves slapping the wheat flour, water and salt balls into thin patties over and over until their suitable to throw on the hot rocks! Des and I sampled some of what our guides were eating...it was our vegetable curry but 30 times as hot as we were eating---still delicious but the enjoyment is a bit lost at that heat level when you can hardly taste the flavours! I would love to post my photos of this incredible experience but unfortunately my camera was lost/stolen in Goa :( Thank goodness I made a copy on disc and have sent it home---now hopefully the package makes it there safe and sound! Instead I will be using Des's photos (hence, the ones in this blog will be more of me--it's not out of conceit!) from now on. The rest of our time in Jaisalmer was spent wandering the commercial fort streets, playing badminton on the streets with a local and getting henna painted by a lovely girl who did a beautiful job.
After our camel trek we made our way to Jodpur where we spent time in the BLUE CITY where literally most of the buildings and houses are painted a beautiful light blue--gorgeous against the desert sand background. On our way on the bus we saw 2 camels that had been struck down by a truck---they were roadkill--I can't imagine what shape the vehicle that hit them was in! Very sad timing as we had just made friends with the camels on our trek :(
We saw another amazing fort and wandered the colourful blue streets. The Rajisthani food is delicious although as they are limited for fresh vegetables as it's desert land, they use a lot of butter---I couldn't eat the traditional meal I ordered out one night and of course Des turned his nose up at the butter part from the start! Following this, we went to amazing Udaipur where we stayed in another beautiful guesthouse with a rooftop restaurant. (Most of the guesthouses in Rajisthan and Mcleod had these). We had a gorgeous view overlooking the lake where a palace resides in the middle. We could have taken a boat out to eat in the middle of it for a very pricey expense but instead chose another gorgeous garden restaruant where we had a cocktail and watched the sunset over the lake--it is another very romantic place. Udaipur is where "OCTOPUSSY" the James Bond movie was filmed and every guesthouse plays it every night. We had a good time watching it and picking out all the spots we had visited.
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| Bombay mix---one of my fav things to do here is eat street food! |
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| Pregnant Monkey! |
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| Jodpur-the BLUE CITY |
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| Udaipur--where James Bond- "Octopussy" was filmed |
Great update Andrea. Sounds like you're having the Trip of a life time. Keep the posts coming.
ReplyDeletelove da blog mrs!
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