Jaisalmer & the Thar Desert

At the advice of the experienced we chose a short camel safari; two days and one night. This involved an hours jeep ride out into the desert, a day trekking on the camel, a night under the stars and then a second day trekking. Despite a camel being the most incredibly uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on and the night getting pretty chilly by the small hours, we really, really enjoyed it. The first day we were in a group of 9, and it was good to have other people to sit round the camp fire with, drinking beer cooled in the "desert fridge" (wrapped in a wet cloth and placed in the cold evening breeze). Second day was just the two of us and the camel driver, Raju, and was equally enjoyable. The camel drivers were great bunch of guys and really made the experience. They knock up some tasty food armed with little more than a few pans, a bag of veg and a box of matches. Despite none of them having spent even a single day at school, they spoke better English than most of Indians we have met (all learned at "Camel College").

We stayed our final night in Jaisalmer in a hotel inside the fort as it turns out the sinking fort issue is a little more complicated and political than we first realised and we felt the need to support the local fort businesses. The local government is being given thousands to repair the fort by international charities but local business owners claim little or none of it is being used for its intended purpose. Now, the government (with the Lonely Planet onside) has all but destroyed the businesses in the fort by urging tourists to boycott them. Whilst it's impossible to know the truth, we decided to give the fort business owners the benefit of the doubt for one night at least. For Emma's birthday we ate in one of the nicest restaurants we have seen in India called Little Italy. We are now back in Jaipur having just arrived by night train.