Day Fifteen: Camel Safari,City Palace, Havalis, bus to Bikaner

Day Fifteen: January 2, 2012

My biological clock works dutifully according to sunlight. When the first beam of sun started to climb up from the sand tunes, I opened my eyes. Waking up in the desert. The whole place was still deadly silent and cold. I looked around. J was slumbering away and so were the whole camel porters. The three camels, Papaya (my camel), Prince (J’s camel) and Johnny (the porter’s camel) were munching away.

The camel porters told us that the camels only needed 5 minutes of sleep everyday. Most of the time they are resting, not sleeping. Like cows, camels would eat and then ruminate the food they have eaten. So that’s why they seem to be chewing on food non-stop.

I stayed under the warm blankets and stared at the horizon, waiting for sun rise.

Right after sun rise, the two Belsy and Souji were up. They started making chai and coffee in a campfire. I really enjoy outdoor activities, in particular camping, a fondness nurtured and nourished since I was a girl scout at young age.

Breakfast consisted of two hard-boiled eggs, toasts, porridge, fruit and coffee. J and I are flexible people and can eat almost everything. Such breakfast arrangement in the desert was satisfying to us. We were content with Adventure Tour indeed. From culinary arrangement to the camel riding, from porters to transportation, they offer a good and reliable service. After a sumptuous breakfast, we had another 2 hours or so camel ride in the desert.

“Dore, can you imagine doing it for a week or so?” J asked.

“Totally. It’s always my dream to do camel safari in the Sahara with the tribal people. I think it will be f—king amazing to do it for a week or two. Learning their culture. Learning about life in the desert. Seeing sand dunes into the horizons.”

We looked at each other, knowing one day we’d do that.

The morning ride was breezy and leisurely. Once getting used to the rhythms of the up and down on the camel back, I found camel riding very enjoyable indeed.

Camels taking a water break in a pond.

When Omji dropped us off at the town of Jaisalmer, it’s 12:30pm. We had a quick bite and started touring the City Palace right way. The stone carving of the City Palace is meticulous and marvelous. Comparing to the City Palace in Jaipur or Udaipur, the relatively lesser-known fort palace in Jaisalmer is truly a gem.

J loves beauty. It’s his passion to let beauty shine. In people, in nature, in building, in life. When he looks at something beautiful, he could be totally enchanted and be in a trance. He’s very much impressed by the havalis in Jaisalmer. The labyrinth of the many beautiful havalis in the fort town reminded him of much of Morocco. Jaisalmer, at the facade, seems so tame and simple. But if you have the heart and time to meander around, you will be constantly taken by surprise how awe-striking the place really are.

An Indian lady talking on her cell at the City Palace fort, overlooking the city of Jaisalmer.

Some stunning havalis in the old town within the fort.

After touring, I wanted to do some shopping. I just wanted to get a nice blanket, as souvenir or for use as we take night trains or buses. Unlike other cities in which sellers are more pushy and harassing, Indians in Jaisalmer are softer. If you don’t like something, they tend to politely let you go.

At night, we had dinner at Jaisal Italy. Both the pasta and pizza were pretty good. At around 9pm, we decided to go back to Adventure Tour to pick up our backpacks in order to go to the train station to catch a night train to Bikaner.

“Shit, the shop is closed,” J said, “they said they closed at 10pm.” We stood at the closed gate of the shop—shocked and at a loss.

We had a night train to catch but couldn’t leave without our backpacks. I called the shop owner. Kindly he asked his staff to come open the shop for us, although time was ticking and I was anxious. Omji arrived in ten minutes. We thanked him, picked our bags, and flew to the train station and managed to get the tickets for the train.

After frenetically trying to get to the train station, we got our tickets (to our relief). As we walked to our train platform, a cow also joined us, roaming leisurely in the dark.

It’s a local train with no reservation. For 5 hours, I didn’t sleep a minute. That train was just too insanely cold. So cold that I felt I was trapped in a freezer.

5am, we arrived at Bikaner.