So, we went to camel safari in Rajasthan, town called Bikaner, which is desert, dry and windy all year around. The nights are little cooler but still not enough. We booked a whole package of camel safari including foods, jeeps, accommodation for a couple of hours rest with showers. It cost 40e per person for the whole weekend. The journey took 11 hrs by train, so two nights to there and back we slept in the train. There were beds in the train in three layers; you had to climb to the top and middle beds, which were closer to the fan. Unfortunately, I got flu from the fan and all the open windows, therefore during the journey I was feeling unwell most of the time and had painkillers and tissues, as my nose kept running.
The lodges were very nice, a\c, showers, where we changed clothes and they offered Indian food of course. A jeep took us to the desert and the camels were waiting for us. I got a big male camel wearing a necklace on him. He was cute and very interested in the next camel beside him, which appeared to be a female camel. We rode camels a couple of hours until our legs were sore. It was not direct sunlight though, which was comfortable at that part.
In the desert, we waited for the workers to prepare our dinner and sure, we were hungry. We had time to play Frisbee and lay in the sun. We had 8 boxes water with us, and it was needed! I could not drink enough warm water and luckily, we got some tee, chai, which tastes very good, sweet, spicy milk tee. I love it!
The night was the most uncomfortable I had ever had in my life. We had two tents but they were too hot to sleep in, outside the wind flew the sand in to your ears, eyes and under clothes. We decided with Anna to lay the blankets between two tents, which was actually the best place to sleep, as the tents were barriers against the sandy wind. Though none of us slept well that night, the stars looked amazing in the desert at night.
Next morning we woke up at six, had some breakfast and I was not able to ride a camel again as my flu got worse. I lay in the carriage with a girl who had been sick during the whole trip and one Indian who had had enough camels for the rest of his life. As we got back to the lodge, we were dirty, sweat, all over sand and legs felt like spaghetti. We had a meal and a shower and all of us slept until the rickshaw horned in front of the lodge to get us to the train station.
There was some time for shopping in Bikaner and we went to restaurant for a snack and ice cream. There were many tourists there but still I was stared from the locals. It got even worse in the train when I tried to sleep. I tried to hide behind my shawls to them leave me alone. On the upper bed, I was safe from the indians but as we got back to Chandigarh I chose the lower bed and had to face up Indians. There was sold some indian food in the train, which was quite good and cheap. Back to Chandigarh it was raining and after a debate with a rickshaw driver we got one, one auto rickshaw there were 9 people in it. I had to sit next to the driver and it was raining inside of course. I felt sick as ever!
At home we slept a while, people left for work, I called my boss that I was sick and stayed happily in my bed. Anna left me her laptop, from which I stared the episodes of Friends all day. So nice.
So, now I have seen the desert in India and frankly would not do it again. I am looking forward to other trips coming, however the most important thing is my work, as that is the reason I am here. Sometimes people tend to forget that while travelling and having parties.
Pictures from the trip are still in my camera and I cannot get them transferred to the computer. "This is India", the saying we use all the time when things are not going smoothly :)
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