Jodhpur to Jaisalmer

Chris didn't sleep much during the night....he was too busy thinking about where we could go camping when we're back in Australia. Of course! Regardless, we got up reasonable early and trie to get on the road. Our progress was slowed when I wanted to pay our bill, for the second time had to tell them what we ate for dinner and then had to wait around while they scrounged up enough change to give us. For some unknown reason this involved waiting for the owner's wife for twenty minutes only for her to turn up, go to the house next door (on instruction from the owner who had been sitting around the whole time) and grab the appropriate change.

Eventually though we were on the road. Getting out of Jodhpur's old city though proved more difficult than we ever imagined. We snaked our way up hill on narrow paths that ran between the rambling houses. The narrow paths (a couple of feet wide) were cluttered with cows, people and motorbikes, a few of which we managed to take out on our way past. Poor Big Red took a beating as we rouged it up the hill and finally onto the road which would lead us out of the city and most of the way to our destination of desert town, Jaisalmer.

The road turned bad pretty quickly and we crossed our fingers that it wouldn't remain so potholed for the entire 275km. We took a break to grab some breakfast..this time it was a choice of deep fried chillies or some other miscellaneous deep fried delight. We took the mystery food and, realising the entire town had stopped to stare at us, decided to get out of town before we ate. The miscellaneous food ended up being a round bit of pastry, stuffed with spicy potato mix and deep fried until it puffed into a perfect little pillow. Yum.

The road eventually smoothing out onto one big, long, straight road with a whole lot of nothing on either side of it. We were well and truly entering desert country. For the first time in a long time we rode for kilometres without seeing anybody but the odd passing car. Good roads and little traffic...heaven!

When a restaurant popped up in the middle of nowhere we took the opportunity to stop for lunch. Yet another paneer butter masala, veg fried rice and roti. Despite it being around midday it was still chilly as soon as you were in the shade. In fact, as we rode, Chris noticed just one of his hands was cold and realised it was because his body was casting a shadow over it. Desert life.

Jaisalmer Fort

The long, straight road surrounded by scrub was broken up by the occasional sand dune, grazing camel and the remnants of car crashes which, for some unknown reason, seemed to be mostly on the straight stretches of road.

As we approached Jaisalmer, and hence the Pakistani border, the military presence increased significantly with army bases, airforce stations and border patrols. With 15km to go before Jaisalmer we expected the sprawling suburbs that surround Indian cities to unfold toward us. They didn't. We counted down the kilometres and were excited to ride into a relatively calm Jaisalmer. The beautiful fort overlooked the town and the backstreets, on which the guesthouses were located, were not as bustling with touts and Jodhpur. In fact, the people of Jaisalmer have been lovely!

Gate, Jaisalmer Fort

We settled on Oasis Hotel for 550 rupees a night in a quiet backstreet. We dumped our things and went out in search of a camel safari. As we rounded the fort we grew appreciative that we had scored a guesthouse away from the hustle and bustle of the main touristy area. We came across Trotters, who we had read about in the Lonely Planet. They offered us a safari and it sounded darn good. We thought we better think about it though so we went off to give Big Red some much needed attention.

We thankfully found a lovely man at an auto spares shop who spoke enough English to help us organise getting Big Red a wash (the pigeons had used him as a dumping ground last night) and a service. While Chris and the mechanic went off to get Big Red a shower, I sat with our new friend and was even bought a tea made to my specifications (added masala and little sugar). The kind guy who bought it over to me as I reclined at the auto spares place didn't even charge me when I tried to pay later. I sat and learnt about our new friend and his family and he told me a good joke.

It turns out Big Red didn't really like his high pressure shower and wouldn't start. After 10 minutes of fiddling the mechanic got the bike started then processed to rev Big Red a lot. So, when Big Red returned, Chris was looking unimpressed on the back of the bike. The mechanic had also decided that he should be the one to ride Big Red around town. Our helpful auto spares friend got the mechanic to give Big Red a service and sold us some oil. Jaisalmer people are lovely in comparison to elsewhere.

While the mechanic finished off Big Red's service under Chris' watchful eye, I went to make sure we could book a safari for tomorrow. Back at Trotters, Sabu told me that all I needed was money. No passport required for a booking. I went to leave, as money bags was back at the mechanic, when he and A very shiny Big Red pulled up. Apparently, Sabu informed us, in the desert if you're talking/thinking about somebody and they arrive it means long life. Go Chris!

We booked ourselves a two and a half day safari to leave early tomorrow morning and take us into the Thar desert on the most non-touristy route possible, for two nights of sleeping under the stars. Sabu also took this opportunity to offer us a camel in exchange for Big Red. Indian camels too. Apparently they're different to Aussie camels. While this is our best offer yet but we're holding out for at least two camels.

Jaisalmer Fort

We returned to our guesthouse having achieved all we set out to. We showered and went into the fort to have dinner. The inside of the fort is essentially one huge souvenir shop/Western restaurant. We were on the hunt for momos, hopefully of the standard we encountered in Kodaikanal. Heading to Free Tibet, as instructed by Lonely Planet, we somehow ended up at Little Tibet by mistake and didn't realise it until later. We found a spot on the rooftop and watched as the waiters messed up customers' orders left, right and centre. We studied the menu and decided we'd treat ourselves to a hit of protein and get a few mutton dishes. Nope. Apparently there is no mutton around as its so dry. I'm not sure why its on the menu considering they live in the desert and it's always dry but nevermind. We settled on a chicken chowmein, veg momos and sweet and sour veg. We had watched the waiter try and convince another customer that the soup and bread he was bought her was the same as sweet and sour veg so we had to make sure they knew we were after something that wasn't liquid. Confirming our order did little good though as we ended up with sweet and sour chicken and veg chowmein. Chris enjoyed the chicken while I unfortunately took one bite then couldn't stop picturing the chickens in cages I had seen. I stuck to the momos and chowmein which, even with the impressive views of Jaisalmer and the fort walls, did not even compare to those we had in Kodai. Oh, and our lassis came in plastic, disposable (although maybe they get reused here) cups. For future reference, a lemon lassi does not curdle as one would expect but instead tastes of delicious lemon sorbet. Good choice Chris.

We left slightly disheartened and went hat shopping to fill the void dinner had left. Chris got himself a reversible number while I settled on a big, white, floppy, sparkly thing with satin detailing. Nothing says desert safari like sparkles. We wandered home through the dark streets of Jaisalmer with hats on our heads and got compliments from passers by. Yes, the man giving out the compliments was also the one who had been trying to sell us marijuana lassis all afternoon at the legal Bhang shop but hey, a compliment is a compliment right? And when you've been dirty and daggy for months, you'll take 'em when they come.

Chris enjoying my hat