Camels, desert, and a bit of blood!

Rachel and I left Udaipur, a little sad. Its an amazing place.

Jahar (the owner of our guesthouse) gave us massages, (I had never before had a man take my pants off, and then rub me down with oil...) and drove us to the bus station. He said a tearful goodbye to Rachel and told her he loved her. He like every Indian man was in love...

We took off for Jaidpur, where we had to change buses to get to Jaisalmer, a town on the edge of the Thor desert near Pakistan. It was an insanely cold bus ride, and I almost froze to death many times. Especially sitting at the Jaidpur bus station at 4am waiting for the next bus.

But soon enough we where on board and heading for the desert. We arrived in the late morning, and headed to a random guesthouse to ask about desert camel adventures. We found a sweet dude who hooked us up with an all inclusive 2 day one night safari for a good price. We got our camel riding gear on and hit the road in a jeep! I was tired from not sleeping at all the night before (freezing cold, bus, wearing shorts) but was super pumped and rolled hard!

We drove an hour out into the desert singing songs with our driver (turns out he knows about 7 words in English, but all of fraroujaqua in French) He stopped to make a phone call in the desert, and I slid over to the drivers seat, threw it in drive and took the jeep for a lap around a mound of shruberies! He smiled and chased along. We continued on, and met up with a group of people just coming back from a night in the desert, they shared tips, and we ate a delicious lunch with them, and then they took off in the jeep and we took off on the camels!

Camel riding is freaking hard. It hurts. After 15 minutes I was over the novelty of it, and tried to get into a rhythm with my beast, but it still was hard... after a couple hours I got down and walked for a couple, and alternated. 81 kilometers later we arrived at camp, and Bobbee (our guide) set up camp while Rachel and I played on the dunes.

We came back to cups of chai, and had a super of amazing food cooked on a tiny scout fire, including fresh made chapati! Bobbee packed in a couple cabbages, a bag of flour, some potatoes and garlic. And a handful of spices, and the meals that he made where all mind blowing! By now it was dark, and really cold. We made our beds on the sand, and crawled under a pile of blankets! I have never ever seen stars like that night, it was amazing.

Rachel woke me up in the morning and the three of us sat around the fire drinking chai, and ate a breakfast of boiled eggs and toast, then we hit the road again.

Another 4 hours of riding through insane enviroments, volcanic rock, desert, forest... It was amazing, I was so happy to walk along behind the camels and take it all in. I listened to Amnesiac and OK Computer both in their entirety (Radiohead albums for those who dont know!) and it was perfect.

We got to a riverbed and made more food for lunch, and then our jeep came back to pick us up! We drove back to town, and showered at the guesthouse where we booked, packed up, and headed to the bus station for another overnight bus! Rachel to Pushkar and me to Jaisalmer to catch a connecting bus to Agra. (on the same bus, she just got off before me)

Somewhere in the middle, the bus broke down, and everyone got off to pee. I hadnt been feeling good, my stomach was funky. I went behind a building a exploded in a torrent of incredibly spicy vomit all over a pile of bricks. I felt so much better after!

We got back on the bus and continued. Rachel got off in Pushkar and we said a sad farewell, and I sat in my seat and froze sleeplessly once again. We pulled into Jaisalmer at 5am, and I decided to not catch a connecting bus, I needed sleep and warmth. I was shivering uncontrollably and figured thats not a good thing... I got a room at the first guesthouse I saw, I was to exhausted to barter much. I got into the room and took a semi warm shower, and crawled under a huge pile of blankets. I slept from 6am until 11am, and checked out and went to the train station. But the trains where all full, I got a rickshaw to the bus station, and the driver told me his friend was driving to Agra that afternoon with two American girls, and I could go with him if I helped with gas! I was down, but the friend wasnt answering his phone so we got some chai to wait. I was skeptical this whole time, the guy had a shady vibe. And I soon figured out what it was. He offered me 15,000 Euros! And all I had to do was a “legal” job for his friend (the very friend who was supposed to give me a ride) and smuggle 40,000 Euros worth of gems into England! I played along for the fun of it, and then told him no. He took me to the bus station and I jumped onto my 6 hour bus to Agra.

It was pretty uneventful, we got into Agra later than I hoped (I had planned on seeing the Taj after getting off the bus, and then getting an overnight train to Delhi. But it was after dark, and I am still super tired.

I decided to make my last night in India a good one, and get a super good deal on everything, barter like crazy. So I wandered around with my pack chatting with Rickshaw drivers and guesthouse owners. I offered one guesthouse owner 500 rupees for a bed for the night and a train ticket for the next day, I talked prices and times with him, and not satisfied went to a travel agent and got HIS prices for the train ticket. 200 rupees. I didnt like it, so I walked on and met another travel agent who walked me away from his friends into a dark alley and whispered to me “just go to the train station, you can buy the same ticket for 80 rupees...” I was stoked, he told me how much to pay for a rickshaw (5 rupees, and I had been quoted 50 rupees earlier...) I high fived him and headed on. I got to the station bought the wrong ticket, returned it, and got a new one. I started walking back towards where I thought I had come from, and got a bit lost. But my spirits where high so I walked on! All of a sudden I felt a pain in my ankle and I tripped, I tried to recover but my backpack slid up and threw off my balance. I fell face down on the road and slid on my forehead. LITERALY! I slid an inch or so on my forehead and knee.

One man that had been walking past me as I fell didnt even look back, and another man across the street ran through traffic risking his life to see if I was ok – oh India.

I brushed myself off, and looked to see what happened... It was a suport cable for a power pole, that ran into the sidewalk. But it was so dark it was impossible to see! And they dont have those plastic warning things on them like they do in America.

I flagged down a rickshaw and told him... I realized I didnt know what to tell him. I just told him to take me to some hotels... (very dangerous thing to say to a rickshaw, you could end up anywhere) but I knew I was close to one where a French woman I met on the bus was staying. He pulled up to her hotel first thing, I thanked him and payed him with a bottle of whiskey I had in my bag that I had no use for. He was ecstatic with happiness, and didnt even remember to get commission from the hotel, he just sat there hugging his new tiny bottle of happiness.

I went in and the owner said they where cleaning a room and it would be ready in half an hour, I said no problem and sat down. An Italian woman and her daughter kept staring at me and making faces from across the room... I was confused, but nodded politely back when I caught her eye. She walked over and said quietly “do you know that your bleeding?” I smiled and told her that yes I did, but thanks for your concern! She flashed a strange smile and walked back to her daughter. The owner came over and asked what happened to me, and I explained the whole tripping over a wire story. I assured him I hadn't been drinking, and he laughed at me. I checked in, and took a nice hot shower, and now Im laying in bed, Im so excited for a bed and good sleep. Besides the couple hours I had this morning I haven't been in a bed in 3 nights, and havent slept much or at all any of them!

Tomorrow Im going to see the Taj Mahol (not going to go inside, just observe from the outside and dig the people for a while) and then go for my 6pm train to Delhi. I should get to the airport about midnight, and sleep there. Then at 7am I head to LONDON!