Day 128 Tuesday 23 January 2007 Jaisalmer to Khuri, Rajasthan, India

In the morning we visit the Jaisalmer Fort, pausing for coffee and omelettes at an Italian restaurant just inside the first gate. Breaking our no guide rule we agree to a guide to save all the hassling from a group of 10 would be guides and he turns out to be very knowledgeable and informative. Usually we’ve found the guides deliver their spiel at indecipherably at 200words/minute telling you everything you don’t want to know about their subject leaving your head spinning with figures, none the wiser and 200 rupees poorer. Anyway this guy was good and explained a lot about not only the fort but the different religions, their beliefs and customs. He explained he was a Brahmin or the top, priestly class which meant that unlike the other castes he was on track to go to heaven, short circuiting the cycle of reincarnation to which the other castes were condemned until they too achieved Brahmin status through sufficient good deeds. He also explained about the sufis who in their desire to achieve better kharma feed on the cadavers floating in the Ganges at Varanasi. Spiritual beliefs (the Hindus have 3 million gods to choose from) dominates everything in India which may help to explain the suicidal driving, the tolerance of squalor and the pigeons.

Anyway the fort and town within it is fascinating with beautifully carved golden sandstone, giving the city its name of the Golden City. Then after lunch at a restaurant run by an Australian couple, we drive out into the desert for a camel safari. This starts from a collection of mud huts with thatched roofs, all newly built. Our two camels lollop along thru the camel thorn scrub to a nearby village and then into the dunes, led by a taciturn rajastani and a young boy. The camels seem placid enough but fart a lot, perhaps a sort of jet propulsion. We see some deer and reach the crest of the sand dunes by sunset where an enterprising village lad sells us coke and chips. Then as dusk falls we head back to the huts where eschewing the offer of sleeping in tents we wimp out and stay in a mud hut with ensuite and antique furniture, including a bed made from a cart. Dinner under the stars is washed down with one of our remaining bottles of red.

Distance Today: 52km Trip to date: 19,517km