Our bus ride to Jaisalmer was the worst I've had yet. Whilst listening to a horn the range and length of a cartoon theme-song, and with a driver cutting corners and going over speed humps at break-neck speed, we arrived in Jaisalmer 3 hours earlier than scheduled, which was strange considering we left 2 hours after we were supposed to. Trying to make sense of anything, with several people shouting at us about different guest houses, I had the suspicion that this was a planned deal between the driver and the touts (the guys trying getting a big fat payment for taking us to their friends guest house). Luckily I had already planned to stay at the last guest house I was at 3 years ago, and so they turned their attention to the young Japanese girl in the booth next to us. I recognised a voice, and asked the young man nearest what his name was. He said "my name is Johnny, why?" I couldn't believe it! "Little Johnny" I shouted. It was one of the guys working at the guest house I stayed at the first time. Having been 3 years I forgave him for pretending to remember me, but he gave us a huge discount on the best room I've stayed in, which was a relief after the bus ride.
We didn't want to waste any time so Johnny dropped us into town on his motorbike. We were staying inside the fort, so imagine the 3 of us on the one bike, riding through lanes only 2 people wide, full of residents, tourists and cows, all while not being able to hold onto Johnny (it would make him lose his balance apparently). The markets are wonderful, just like anywhere in India there is everything you could ever need. But the main attraction is the tiny shopfronts with individual tailors, the sounds of their old fashioned sewing machines echoing around corners. I eventually found the tailor I went to last time, Dungar, who invited Alana and I around for dinner, which consisted of sitting on his sons bed drinking beer with him and his friend with a television on in the background showing a Hindi dubbed version of Lord Of The Rings, then being given some food at near midnight, and a wobbly motorbike ride back to the fort in the moonlight.
We didn't want to waste any time so Johnny dropped us into town on his motorbike. We were staying inside the fort, so imagine the 3 of us on the one bike, riding through lanes only 2 people wide, full of residents, tourists and cows, all while not being able to hold onto Johnny (it would make him lose his balance apparently). The markets are wonderful, just like anywhere in India there is everything you could ever need. But the main attraction is the tiny shopfronts with individual tailors, the sounds of their old fashioned sewing machines echoing around corners. I eventually found the tailor I went to last time, Dungar, who invited Alana and I around for dinner, which consisted of sitting on his sons bed drinking beer with him and his friend with a television on in the background showing a Hindi dubbed version of Lord Of The Rings, then being given some food at near midnight, and a wobbly motorbike ride back to the fort in the moonlight.
Though I couldn't have said no to the beer, it's not the best thing to do the night before a camel safari into the desert. After some interesting sightseeing in a "luxury car", we were introduced to our lovely camer driver, Matar. We headed into the desert, which is mostly just a rough landscape of shrubs and the occasional tiny village. We stopped for some campfire lunch, and when asked what the names of the camels were, 
Matar replied "Lalu, Papu, and Michael Jackson". After a song or two from the camel (something between a cry and a burp), we headed on until the sun was nearing the ground, and we set up camp at some beautiful big sand dunes. Matar fed us again, asked us again how we were, and when replying "good" for the 100th time, he would say "thankyou" with a big smile. Just as the sun went down, the full moon came up at the opposite end of the sky like a subtle reflection, and we fell asleep to the soothing local Rajasthani songs sung by Matar.Our final day involved a lot of r
unning around, and even more motorcycle m
ayhem as Johnny tried to shout us lunch AND get us to our bus on time. We managed to get a quick photo in while the bus was moving, we jumped on for our next destination, Jodhpur. We were only there one day, but they had one of the most amazing forts, with an audio guide so well organised we wanted to do it twice. We managed to get ourselves on a train to Varanasi, which was only supposed to be 24 hours but managed to be an extra 8 hours late due to immense fog. It's still quite foggy so we can't see much yet (but we can smell something that's bound to be interesting). More about that later!
Mr. Shaun
unning around, and even more motorcycle m
ayhem as Johnny tried to shout us lunch AND get us to our bus on time. We managed to get a quick photo in while the bus was moving, we jumped on for our next destination, Jodhpur. We were only there one day, but they had one of the most amazing forts, with an audio guide so well organised we wanted to do it twice. We managed to get ourselves on a train to Varanasi, which was only supposed to be 24 hours but managed to be an extra 8 hours late due to immense fog. It's still quite foggy so we can't see much yet (but we can smell something that's bound to be interesting). More about that later!Mr. Shaun
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