My reluctant departure from Rajasthan
Trip Start
Sep 21, 2005
1
90
314
Trip End
Ongoing
Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
Monday, February 6, 2006
My reluctant departure from Rajasthan
Last night was big time cold! We stayed up talking till around 10.30, Ursula was a great source of useful information, it was great finding out about her little adventure around the world. She also told me that the bright green stuff I threw up the other day was probably this stuff called Bile, it's the stuff that breaks down the food in you belly (thanks for clearing that one up for me).
I woke up at 6am this morning, yeah I know I'm getting good at that! My body was sooooo stiff I had to almost peal myself off the floor, oh and by the way the sand was very hard and uncomfortable to sleep in, add this to the fact that it got really cold after midnight and you can see why my body was not with me this morning. Anyway the daylight didn't start to appear till around 7 so I woke Ursula up at around 7.15 to watch the sunrise. We walked over to the dunes to get a good look at the sunrise, after taking a few photos we headed back to the camp. We had that whole conversation about brushing your teeth before or after food in the morning (remember the same thing happened with Romain), we just agreed to disagree! Abdul was not feeling too good this morning, he woke up with a bit of and icky belly but that didn't stop him from sorting us out with some breakfast (thanks mate).
We got all the stuff packed up and loaded onto the camels and off we went again, it was around 9am when we made our move. Shortly after we set out we noticed a Temple on top of a mountain, I asked if we could go up there to see and Abdul took us to the foot of the mountain. Ursula and I walked up it, there were some great views from up there, and we could see everywhere we had been yesterday (see vid). We got back on the camels and continued to ride back towards where we had started from yesterday, Ursula and I were talking to each other when Abdul asked us to stop because he heard something. He heard someone calling out to us, I couldn't even see them but he managed to figure out they wanted us to come over to them (must be some super-sonic desert hearing thing!) When we got up to this guy it was the guy who had dropped us off yesterday, he said he had come to pick me up early because JP had insisted I be picked up at the time I originally specified (11am) and not what we had agreed yesterday. I was in two minds as to weather I should go back early or not, I would have probably stayed till later but they had come out especially for me so I said my good byes to Ursula and of course Abdul and made my way back to Jaisalmer. Sitting in the super soft seats of the jeep we were in soon made me realise I had made the right decision! Don't get me wrong it was a great trip and if you come out here you have to do it, just make sure you take some extra cushions and blankets for the night.
When I got back to the guest house it was gone midday, JP gave me a free room to get showered and changed in, paid for lunch and booked me a seat on the bus to Ganganagar (that was very nice of him). I had a couple of hours to kill so I went to visit the Maharaja & Maharani palaces then went for a wonder in the town, it was great because although some of the traders call out to you, the majority are just chilled (that makes a change). Soma had asked me to get him some special Mojey (hand made leather shoes) from there and after a hunt around I managed to get the exact thing he had asked for, I really liked them and wanted a pair for myself, but this guy only had one pair. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I also went to the ATM, now I don't think I have mentioned this before, but if you have ever been to India you'll know that Indians have no idea of the concept of queuing or privacy when using an ATM machine. Most banks have a little room which contains the machine, I'm sure this is meant for the person making the transaction to have some privacy, however most of the time you have 3 or 4 people in there all staring at you when its your turn and some of them even touch the screen from you (aah, how kind is that? NOT!). It's a bit of a wind up! So anyway I got back to the guesthouse at 4 and got my stuff packed, JP got the guy who first took me here to drop me down to the bus stand. The bus was a sleeper bus (see pic), it's the first time I have ever seen or been in one of these things but its pretty cool really.
We left Jaisalmer at 4.45pm, we should get to Ganganagar at 5am tomorrow morning, yep that's 12 hours on this but, nice! Looking back at the last week or so, I think Rajasthan is one of the best places I have seen in India, it's right up there with Kerela. The people are really nice and the roads are superb, as are the tourist busses and most of the tourist attractions are very well maintained. If I could only come back to one place in Rajasthan, it would have to be Jaisalmer without a doubt, for me it was the best place I visited, it's still quiet, there's little pollution and you can just spend ages chilling there. I will have to bring, Ajay, Abhilasha and Yoyo next time!!! I would love to come back and visit more of Rajasthan, I think it has so much on offer outside of the big cities and major tourist sites it is a region of India that is very rich in culture and tradition. I know I keep saying if you only visit one place go here and here but really what you need to do is make sure you have enough time to see all of it!
