31st January 2005 - Jodpur to Jaiselmer 5 hours

It was from the 'blue city' to the 'golden city' of Jaiselmer in the desert. You really knew you were in the desert as all of the buildings are a sand colour that looks even more beautiful when the sun is setting as everything glows an amazing golden, red colour. Jaiselmer has a magnificent fort but this one is inhabited so we found a hotel within it wall. Our hotel roof terrace had stunning views over the city and was situated next door to the ornate roofs of the Jain temples. It felt quite surreal that we were actually staying amongst these ancient buildings.
As we were visiting late in the season it wasn't packed with tourists and the place had a nice relaxed feel about it. We organised to go on a two day camel safari. There were only four of two camel drivers and us. We were driven in a jeep early morning out into the dessert where we met our camels and the drivers who would look after us for the next couple of days in the desert. Just trying to get on the animals was hilarious. We rode through the dessert stopping for lunch under a tree for shade. The camel men made great chi and the food was fresh and tasty. It was great to watch everything being prepared instead of it being brought to your table in a restaurant. Even just watching the fresh chapattis being made, I vowed I would try these when I get home um lets see. When we reached the second sand dune of the day we stopped for the evening. As the sun set the ripples in the sand dunes shone a golden colour. Sleeping under the star filled sky in the middle of the dessert was a great experience I will never forget. By the end of the second days riding a camel became quite a painful experience.
The architecture of Jaiselmer was very impressive with its well preserved haveli style houses. Camel leather is great value but it does have a very distinct smell to it. I had obviously got to a stage where I started thinking in rupees rather then converting everything back into pounds. This became obvious when I started arguing with a fruit seller about charging be 2 rupees to much. I really need to get things into perspective but I think that is distorted when so many people are always trying to overcharge you.