From Hull to Everywhere Else

Today was our desert camel safari. Me and my girls - Eva, Georgia and Matilda. An 8.00 start commencing with a one hour drive by Jeep into the desert. Followed by the four of us meeting our camels. John, Paul, Ringo and George. No, not really. Johnny was mine, Matilda was on Lalu a lovely spotted camel. Georgia was on Rocky and Eva was on Raj. Getting on and off for me were the hard bits due to not having the hip flexibility that the girl have. Once on, the process of the camel raising itself up from a lying to a standing position is a very odd experience. You are thrown forward and then back as it unfurls and then stands up on first its front legs and then its hind legs (or is it the other way round?). the process is reversed for the dismount and you have to lean way back as it goes down.. Once they get moving it’s fairly relaxing although not as easy as being on a motorbike - where one of those goes is completely under your control. Not so for a camel - as I soon discovered with Johnny who like his Beatles namesake had a tendency to keep to the left. This time the left of the trail. This meant he would take me through every tree and bush he possibly could. I think walking through the bushes was like scratching an itch for him. Either that or he just didn’t like me. We had three rides. The first on the Monday morning. After this we had a long stop for lunch in the shadow of a tree with one of the camels munching away at said tree. The others were hobbled so they didn’t wander off too far but did wander off nevertheless. But despite this they seemed very happy and well looked after. Well actually grumpy but that’s just camels for you. We cooked - yes we ourselves - chuppatis for lunch in the open air in the desert. Eva was a star at making holy chuppatis. Our hosts cooked up a kind of aloo gobi mix and so we had a very nice lunch. I am afraid I forget their names but there was one older chap and a couple of younger kids in there teens we think. They don’t know their ages. One said he was 18 but we reckoned about 15. The other, probably eleven. It doesn’t appear that they go to school here and instead have to work for a living. But as work goes being a camel-in-the-desert guide - well it could be worse I guess. After a long stop we remounted and spent another hour and a half walking further into the desert and eventually we encountered the sound dunes where we were to spend the night.

The camels were divided into two pairs and roped together. Each was guided by one of the boys. For the entire time of the trip the boys did not stop talking to each other. God knows what they were talking about. They speak their own desert language called Marwari. But they do know a little English too ie “where you from?!!” - we must have heard that phrase a million times by now. Yesterday my answer was Uzbekistan - who knows where I’ll be from tomorrow?

The sand dunes were beautiful and populated with the tracks of various animals including a type of beetle (see photo) that was everywhere as well as what were obviously snake trails (although we didn’t see any actual snakes).

Here we were met Toby and Louise from the UK and Tom and Angelika from Munich. Toby was a barrister so we talked law. Still don’t regret getting out! Tom and Angelika only stayed for the evening. The rest of us were to spend the night sleeping under the stars. Once dark we had a meal around the camp fire and chattered and stargazed until bedtime. The beds were under the stars. But despite being in the desert at night it didn’t get too cold. I’d always heard that desert temperatures dropped to somewhere around very cold at night but actually it was about 18 degrees. having said that the girls found it much colder than I did apparently. I slept fairly well but was awake around 5.30 so spent an hour or two stargazing. Saw a shooting star and watched Orion crawl across the sky. I also saw a light that looked like a star travel very slow up the sky stop and then turn around and go back down. No idea what that could have been. But I wasn’t smoking anything last night so I can’t blame what I saw on any hallucinatory after effects. Maybe we have visitors. Gosh just remembered we discussed the Fermi paradox last night. What a bright bunch we are. Got up for sunrise and made my way over to the highest nearby dune to watch. Due to ground level haze the sun appears when it’s already over the horizon. A bright red dome ascending into the sky like a red hot air balloon.

After that, breakfast of bulgar wheat and toast and a trip to the loo in the desert. then we remount and have another hour’s ride back to meet the jeep. Johnny was still embracing his left wing tendencies and insisted on introducing me to every bush and branch that he could. Oh and Georgia’s camel, right in front of me, must have eaten something dodgy last night as it was farting the entire trip back. But other than that it was all good fun.

Jeep back. Back to hotel room to collect our rucksacks and in my case jump in the shower. Then back to Milan restaurant - our new favourite haunt - for one last time. Since we discovered this place we have had every single meal here. They do the most amazing Indian chicken. Cooked in a genuine tandoor oven at very high temperatures the meat is so well sealed and so juicy and sooo tasty. Toby and Louise join us and they are now kinda part of our gang and hopefully we’ll be seeing them again in Jodhpur or Udaipur.

We are now on the bus to Jodhpur - having made it with a minute to spare - and it seems I’d rather do a long blog entry sitting on the bus than watch Pulp Fiction on Netflix. I find that quite surprising. That’s India for you!

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