Jaiselmer

I'm now in the picturesque desert city of Jaiselmer, practically a stone's throw from Pakistan (although I guess you'd have to have a good arm, as the border is 50 miles or so away). I forget exactly when I wrote last. But just to recap...I was in the medium-sized city of Bikaner for about 6 days, in the same Indian state of Rajasthan. While there I went to a camel festival for an afternoon outside of the city a little ways, where I saw a camel race, horse race as well as just walked around looking at all the camels and people. Apparently the most interesting festivities were happening that evening, including fire dancing, but I didn't have enough warm clothes for the evening so headed back to town. Also in Bikaner I went to a "rat temple". In Hindu mythology, the elephant god Ganesha rides on a rat (which in itself is a strange, gravity-defying concept). And it seems that any animal that's in the god realm gets special treatment, so rats get a little more respect than you'd expect. The temple is famous for hundreds of live rats that scurry around the temple grounds. As it turned out it didn't quite live up to the hype, especially since you had to take a bus about 20 miles to get there (although I'm not sure what else I expected). Basically though, it just seemed like a normal Hindu temple with a serious rat problem. But still it was moderately interesting and something to do for an afternoon getting there and back, on a crowded bus ride through the desert. I also toured the palace and fort complex there in Bikaner, which was quite spectacular and a good illustration of how decadent some people live, even hundreds of years ago. Other than that I just walked around the city a bit, including the fascinating maze of lanes within the "old city" inside the fortified walls (different from the fort itself, although the city has now spilled out to encompass both of them) and just took it easy a few days, while still trying to shake off being sick. I'm basically over it, but the cough has definitely been sticking around (fortunately they have cough drops here). But I'm sure being in the desert, especially since it's a lot warmer than the mountains, will be all-around good for my health.

From Bikaner I took a 3 hour bus ride to the small town of Phalodi, near where thousands of cranes gather. That was a truly amazing experience, especially since it took place in a tiny and very atmospheric little village. I stayed at a guest house right near where they feed the cranes, and they end up flying all around in circles overhead as they come in to feed. That morning I happened to wake up early, before sunrise, which although not quite what I'd intended gave me the opportunity to watch the sun rise (except for some clouds in the way) at a small lake nearby where many of the cranes, as well as various other birds gather throughout the day. After that I went back to the guest house to see the feeding. Those are all definitely going to be some great photos.

After watching the cranes that morning, I caught another bus to Jaiselmer, arriving here yesterday afternoon. I was immediately accosted by a handfull of "touts" (anyone trying to sell you something) with offers of cheap hotel rooms, as well as camel safaris. I'd been warned that the commercialism here was particularly bad because it's such a popular tourist spot, and so I was planning to ignore the crowd there at the bus station and then find a room and check out camel safaris on my own. But one of the guys seemed pretty nice, plus the rooms are absurdly cheap here because of so much competition (a dollar a night), so I decided to check out his hotel. I liked the room, not to mention the rooftop restaurant with an amazing view of Jaiselmer's sandstone fort, and also the camel safari they were organizing sounded like what I was looking for. So I'm now set up to head out tomorrow morning for a two-night, three-day camel trek in the desert. And the room is so dang cheap that I'm just going to keep the room so that I can leave the stuff I won't need there, plus avoid having to pack up and then get another room when I get back. Jaiselmer is really amazing despite so many other tourists, it basically exceeds expectations, even though they were pretty high. And it sounds like there are also a number of interesting villages nearby worth exploring, so I'll plan to stick around here for a good little while, at least a week or so after I get back from the camel experience.

Speaking of which, I've heard mixed reports as to how much people actually enjoy sitting on a camel for hours at a time. A lot of people say that's it totally uncomfortable, and half a day was more than enough time to get the idea. Other people have said it was great, but pretty much everyone's said that being way out in the desert at night was worth it no matter what. So we'll see how it goes, sounds like it will be interesting either way. Apparently there are at least two other people going on this particular trip, so hopefully they're good company. And also I think that the guy who met me at the bus will be coming along, and he speaks good English. Plus I hear the camel drivers can be pretty entertaining, so it'll be an experience I'm sure, even if I come back with a sore butt and a sunburn...