Lock ins, lock outs, camel crazy dancing

Since my last update from Mount Abu we've been to Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and now Jaipur. So a quick round up of what we've been up to. Jodhpur is great - blue city, big fort (menacing even), minimum hassle, great crazy market and Ramu's birthday street carnival was a feast to the eyes. It was Notting Hill carnival, Indian stylee. Sound systems, crazy youths dancing, drummers, children in fancy dress, men in fancy dress and tractors and horses carrying them all. Even Tony got in on the act as he was dragged (yeah, right) into a meddly of marauding masculinity (right up his street) and 'forced' to dance to drums. Much to the delight of all the crowds - he even held up the carnival. You should see it on youtube as so many people were videoing it.

Jaisalmer is the furthest point you can get to in Rajasthan (west I think). Anyway, it's the nearest I'm getting to Pakistan. We went there for the camel safari and the fort. It's a small town geared up for tourists and it stinks of the usual - all the time. According to the guidebook we were going to be inundated with people wanting to sell us camel trips - none of it. Instead we did our own research and went for a safari starting at 8.30am and finishing at 4pm the next day (a mistake). Luckily for us, we met two like minded souls (Louise and Rob) and they accompanied us on our trip - which was great as it would have been a bit spooky alone. So... just in case anyone is planning a camel trip in the desert, here's a tip: do not go riding for hours on a camel in 50 C - it's too hot. The wind is like a hair dryer on hot, your sweaty backside is rubbing away on the camel with no let up and it's hard to carry the water, yourself (with any sense of decorum especially as you are wearing a ridiculous turban) and the reins. Don't get me wrong, I loved the camels, especially Tony's Babalou - they are graceful, patient, regal and calm, everything I wasn't for those 24 hours and some may say in life as a whole. Things looked up when we got off the camels and sat looking at the sunset (a bit hazy) on a perfect sand dune while drinking a cold beer (yes, we had some sense while planning this trip). But even if we hadn't planned for a beer, no worries as out of the night a man appeared with a hessian sack selling 'cold' beer. Only in India. The camel drivers came and went and cooked our dinner from scratch - very tasty - and washed our plates in the sand (very effective. We had a camp fire and soon it was time to lay on the smelly camel blankets and get some shut eye with nothing around us for miles, Pakistan 50km away, a nuclear testing site nearby, wild dogs sleeping under the beds, dung beetles surrounding us - slept like babies. Like hell I did. Kept waking up thinking ' I feel claustrophobic, I'm in the middle of the desert!' But it WAS wonderful to feel the cool breeze, to hear absolutely nothing except the odd camel growl and to know that we would wake up to a beautiful sunrise. And it was. I loved that bit. What I didn't love was another 4 hours on the camel at 50 degrees. But all in all - a great experience and thanks to our Crib mates Louise and Rob for making it fun too.

And one more thing... we have enjoyed getting the trains even though we've had 5 hour delays. But just as we thought they we actually quite efficient we had a stressful early morning (5am) searching for a carriage that didn't exist where we were supposed to be seated. After running with backpacks up and down the station (meltdown number ??), we jumped on first class and didn't move. Jaisalmer to Jaipur same thing - no carriage despite booking seats on it. So Tony worked his magic on the guard and got us on first class for the night. However, that was not without it's dramas - chasing mice around the small carriage (only 4 people) and I got locked in the train toilet TWICE - yes that is stupid - and only screaming and banging on the door loudly for 10 mins got me out. Tony hadn't even noticed!

Now in Jaipur...