INDIA & NEPAL Day 18 - Jaisalmer

Riding along

I woke up just before sunrise, a tad chilly, but having slept much better than either of the past two nights. I've not said much about the weather so far (normally a hot topic for me), but basically, it's just sunny. I don't think I've seen a cloud since we have been away. Further north and in Nepal it was a little foggy in the mornings, and then sunny. Here it's just sunny, and a bit warmer in the day time. I stopped checking the weather on about Day 3 of our trip... 

We watched the sunrise where the moon had risen the previous evening, then sat down near the fire for breakfast. I was careful not to eat too much knowing a camel ride was looming, and before long we were packed up and on our way. With the fresher morning air, and not needing the loo, I certainly enjoyed this ride more. My bum perhaps said otherwise (90 mins camel time probably equivalent to maybe 71 miles in the saddle - with not many options to shuffle position or go into aero to relieve pressure!) but I suppose I got a good workout out of it. Certainly walking around later I could feel it!

We shared the paths with cows, goats and sheep (which were oddly ginger). The cows here look a bit different, they have a medium to large hump on the backs of their necks, and I've no idea why! Something to Google later perhaps, as well as why there are white pebble things in lots of the plughole, which is also baffling me. We got back to the dreaded jeep at around 10:00, where the next group of intrepid travellers were waiting. These guys must have booked the 24 hr trip rather than the one we did. I didn't really envy them the extra 90 mins they would have on the camel to be honest, three hours is plenty to get a (very literal) feel for it!

The jeep journey was as fun as I'd remembered, but we were back in Jaisalmer in record time, where we were given a room and shower to freshen-up (/de-sand) which was great. It's amazing how much sand my Nike Frees can hold. I think it will be a long while until it's truly all gone, if ever. 

Lunch was next on the agenda - my first (half) curry for a long while. We then explored a haveli (old house) which had been made up to show how it would have been lived in at some time in the 19th century. This was interesting to a point, but reminded me why I don't make a habit of visiting stately homes very often!

Returning to the hotel, we were unsurprised to find our train was already running 2.5 hours late (it started at Jaisalmer). It appears our last train journey was certainly not going to buck the trend of lateness!