I had to check out of my room by 10am, as tonight was the camel safari into the dessert, so there was no time for a lie in..

The morning started to heat up into day, and there was still shopping to be done. After the success of yesterday, I was still looking for the perfect top to go with the 2 skirts (I can tell from here how bored you are by this, so let me make it short - I couldn't find it, but wound up with a very determined hawker convinced he could make it for me in under an hour)
Grabbing a quick bite to eat, I headed back to the hotel and made sure I had everything I needed for a camel ride in the dessert (mattresses to fall onto/ safety net/ crash helmet / spit guard etc) ok, so I took a sleeping bag and that was pretty much it, but you get the idea of where my head was. I've seen too many episodes of "You've been framed" where they fall off the back of camels to not be worried - especially after seeing the size of the things since being in Jaisalmer... They are HUGE!!! It certainly seems tall when you're on them anyway!
Leaving the hotel by jeep, we first made the obligitory stop at the Jain temple (not sure if the drivers work on commision?) but i stayed outside and took photos from a nearby rooftop instead of paying to go in - I'm such a cheapskate!
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When we got back in the jeeps it was about another 1/2 hour or so drive before we made it to where the camels were. There seemed to be a lot of guys around, so I figured each camel would be accompanied by a guide - how wrong I was. They stuck me on what seemed to be the tallest camel, gave me my reigns and off I went.
My camel seemed friendly enough (he didnt bite or spit) so we got along well... View image
The getting up and down thing went fine - if a bit on the nervous giggle and grab on for dear life side of things.
He didn't seem too keen on staring at the other camels arses though, so he ambled along until there was a bit of distance between him and the others. Occaisionaly he went a bit of a different way, but no-one seemed overly concerned by it, so I didn't let it bother me... Some other camels were behind mine, and it turns out he had pretty bad flatulence the whole way, but the wind was in my favour and I can't say I noticed :o)
view from the camel: View image
By about 7ish sand dunes suddenly rose from the dessert floor, and we dismounted (not very elegantly on my part) to watch the sunset.
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Now, bearing in mind we were in the middle of nowhere, a chap came round the corner selling cold beer and drinks - amazing! Sunset found me sitting on a sand dune, taking photos, drinking a cold beer in the dessert. What more can a girl ask for?
Dinner was cooked over an open fire by the camel guides, and chai was drunk over a hot fire while we were treated to a bit of a sing-a-long from the guides.