{colourful details lining the streets of jaisalmer}
{deserted streets – save for a lone cow, naturally}
{an efficient way to carry ones parcel (the beginning of some impressive balancing acts we witnessed)}
{views of the city from the jaisalmer fort}
{rows of turbans just dying to be photographed}
{my camel, daniel (I couldn’t have come up with a more suitable name)}
{trekking through the thar desert}
The second leg of our trip took us south to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. We stayed in a $10 a night hostel that was easily nicer than most hotels I’ve visited in Canada. I shared a room with my aunt and we lucked out by being placed in a room with thick stone walls, hot pink silk curtains and bright cotton bed spreads.
After touring the Jaisalmer fort and palace (at 850 years old, it’s the oldest fort in the world that still has inhabitants living within its walls), scoping our many a pashmina and spending an evening sitting atop our hostel roof with the owner, eating and drinking some of his personal specialties under the stars, I didn’t think the trip could get much better.
Our second day in Jaisalmer brought about a camel trek that we had previously arranged. We were driven into the centre of the Thar desert to meet our trek leaders and our respective camels. Mine was named Daniel and he was quite handsome, if you can’t tell.
After a three hour camel ride further into the desert, we stopped to set up camp on top of the dunes. While we watched the sun set over the sand, our trek leaders began to cook our meal over a small fire, and proceeded to bring us cups of hot, homemade chai while we relaxed (and maybe played in the sand… a little).
Next, we feasted on an incredible meal of dal, rice and homemade chapatis (did I mention all of this was done over the fire?!), we hung out telling stories before retreating to cots that had been set up for us under the wide open sky. We drifted off to sleep after watching countless shooting stars, and it was easily one of the best nights of my entire life.
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