Camels and Crocodiles
Trip Start
Unknown
1
9
12
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Chambal Safari Lodge
Bateshwar, Madhya Pradesh, India
Monday, December 28, 2009
Day 4 29th December 2009
Today we woke up quite early and went to have breakfast. I realised that I had left my retainer on the table after dinner and I think I have lost them but I did not check in my bags. At 10 we got in or car and drove to Chambal Safari. Once we got there we found a hammock and played there for 30 minutes because our rooms were not finished and we arrived early. Once we were shown our room we went and put our bags away and then took our car to see some temples. While we were seeing the temples a little girl on her bike was following us as she was fascinated by our colour. We then went to a barber shop in the little town where the temples were dad and Gabriel went for a hair cut. Gabriel was really excited because he wanted all his curls off. As we all stood there watching him have his hair cut a load of children surrounded us and were staring at us. Then dad walked off to find some chi before his go. Our driver started to talk to the hair dresser in hindi as he did not talk and English and then the hair dresser brought out a raiser and started to shave part of his head. I ran to dad and told him Gabriels head was being shaved but all dad said was “it cant be that short” and with all my force I had to abandon the chi and push him to the hair dressers. As half Gabriels head was close to bold we did not know how he was going to react so dad had the same hair cut. At the end of their cuts Gabriel really liked the cut and I still hadn't taken in that my brother and dad had a solders hair cut and they were basically half baud. One thing I learnt was not to trust the hair dressers on the side of the road in a small town. Once we got back to the safari we had dinner then went to bed.
Day 5 30th December 2009
We woke up early as breakfast was at 8:00. Straight away we got in the car and went to a river where we met our camels to ride. We had to cross the river for our camel ride so we went in a small boat. We were with two Spanish women that were cousins and our family but not mum as she woke up with a bad stomach and needed to be near the toilet. Some one had to go first so I volunteered and as Gabriel was small he went with me. It was so scary at first and Gabriel was fine until I started to get scared then Gabriel started to cry and got off. After my fiasco Ollie and Bella refused to go on. After me the Spanish women got on. Then it was dads go. It was so funny as he couldn't reach his leg over and by accident kicked the camels bum. The camel stood up instantly and dad was still half on. He was sitting diagonally. It took around 7 men to push him into the right position. It was so so so so funny. As we started to go Bella, Gabriel and Ollie went back on the boat to the other side were there was our car, driver and a small hut with puppy's that were only 20 days old. Once we got of f the camel( which was so so so fun) we had arrived at our destination that was a fort. It was very beautiful!!! After the fort we got on the camel and went back to the river and found Bella, Gabriel and Ollie. We went home and had some lunch. Straight after we went and got mum then went back to the same river and got on the same boat and went searching for very rare dolphins and crocodiles. We saw a quick glimpse of a dolphin and a few crocodiles. We then went home and had some dinner. After dinner we went to bed.
The temples of Bateshwar are well worth visiting, a line of white Shiva temples along the river bank. One of the main temples had lots of temple bells. The kids had great fun ringing them all encouraged by a local man.
One lesson to learn in India is not to have you hair cut in a small temple town. It is apparently good luck and a great offering to have you head shaved! Dad
Ridden camels to deserted ruined forts and swam ( in reality boated) in alligator infested water. Indiana Jones (Dad)
