Jaisalmer and Camel Safari

(Lesley) Our trip to Jaisalmer was well timed, though not by any great planning on our part. We arrived unwittingly the day before the annual Desert Festival. We had a chance to see some camel racing, camel decorating, as well as some fun races: tug-o-war and a female race where participants ran with jugs of water on their heads. That race was particularly funny to watch because foreign tourists were invited to participate with the Indians. The race was progressive: run, fetch the little doughnut shaped cloth head protector, then fetch the jug of water to transport on your head to the finish line. The foreign women were doing fine until they reached the jug stage, The foreign women couldn't lift the jugs so they couldn't continue past this point. It was so funny to see all the foreigners stuck half way through the race struggling to lift their unwieldy pottery jugs. The announcer was having a lot of fun at everyone's expense in all these fun competitions. The whole audience kept bursting out in laughter. During the tug-o-war, on the male foreigner team, there was a big guy at the end. Apparently the announcer said the foreigners owed their success to the great wall of China at the end who was unmovable. When the female foreigner team won there was a large French woman at the front so the announcer referenced the previous battle and said something to the effect that the great wall of China for the woman was at the front.  Our previous blog has some pictures.

We are under the shade of a Kedjerri sp? Tree in the Great Thar Desert. It is our lunch break. The kids are learning to cook pakora; our camel safari guides are great cooks. Sam does a decent job of chapatti now. After two days in Jaisalmer, enjoying the Desert Festival, we left for a three day camel safari. We are enjoying the relaxed pace. We booked the trip through Trotters, a recommended company, and things have been great.

One of our guides, Ramses, won the camel race last year at the Festival. This year he got special permission to leave us with Punja, his partner, to go race this year too. So halfway through the first day, he left us and headed off into the desert on a borrowed motorbike. We heard later through a cell phone call that he won first in his heat. The next call brought the news that in the next race his blanket slipped off so he was out of the race and wasn't able to keep his title as the fastest camel rider in Rajasthan. Ramses played on the Indian Camel Polo team that we had watched the day before and he placed third in another progressive race where the riders had to run and dress and then jump onto their camel and race to the finish. I'm sure we have photos of him from the day before we met him. He is a regular star at the Desert Festival.

We had other noteworthy things happen on our camel trek. It rained! In a desert where it is not unheard of for a child to reach seven before they experience rain, it isn't an everyday experience and less so out of the rain season. For us it rained twice. We hadn't even considered bringing our rain gear and our guides hadn't brought plastic or tarps. We camped near a hut so that we could take shelter if need be. We were fine the first night, the storm blew over after some brief showers. The next morning we hadn't camped near a hut so we woke to rain at 6:00 am. We packed quickly, and headed off to find a hut. Both nights we slept well. It was cool at night. We slept with our tuques on and the guides provided good blankets.

The kids learned to make vegetable pakora. Mmm! Sam will include the recipe on his blog I'm sure. He has a recipe section.

Ramses tried to return to us straight away after his race but was kept off the closed roads by the police managing crowds for the festival. In frustration he rode his race camel all the way back to us. We had just bedded down for the night when we saw four camels and two riders approach by moonlight. Everyone stayed the night. There was a soft symphony of camel cud chewing from nine camels all night long. It was marvellous and surreal and lulled us to sleep. I was pleased to see that our Rajasthani rider was wearing the Rajasthani shoes they sell at all the shops here. Sam is looking into a pair. I think he likes the fancy gold Maharajas ones. Classy shoes for a classy boy.

John and I have really been enjoying the kids company. They are absolute troopers. They seldom complain and they deal with whatever comes their way. They haven't even squabbled much despite such close quarters 24/7.

We saw some great sand dunes today. Mhari made a sand angel and Sam, John and I ran down the dunes. We got sand everywhere but well, we are in the desert. Sam made me promise to take him to the Manitoba desert when we get home. He can't remember ever going. I suppose it was the foster boys we took not our own children.

Joe, you will be pleased to hear that the Leatherman knife you gave John has been used by Rajasthani Camel drivers in the Great Thar Desert. There was a hole in one of the bags and our guides lost their knife on the first day. They made good use of John's to cook us our meals, which you also would have enjoyed.

Today Mhari and I saw, and Mhari got to hold, a new born goat. Two of them were born in the desert while their shepherd was visiting for lunch. We heard what sounded like a kitten and went and saw the little kid. The shepherd handed it over to Mhari. It was still moist with amniotic fluid. It was very cute.

Desert Festival Crowd

Foreigner Tug of War Featuring "The Great Wall of China"

Indian Female Tug of War Team Member

Jug Carrying Competitor

Our Guide after Camel dressing race at the Desert Festival

Mhari -  Camel Girl

Sam learning to cook

Mhari finds sheep that don't run away

Ramses

Punja, us, Ramses and Budha