India

We arrived in Jaisalamer early in the morning, while it was still dark.  We initially decided to hang out in the train station until it got light, then venture out into the streets to find lodging.  However, the rickshaw drivers can teach mosquitos something about driving a person mad, and their incessant ‘rickshaw? rickshaw?’ despite our emphatic ’no’ soon drove us to take one just to get somewhere away from them.  (This is quite possibly part of their plan). 

The taxi we accepted was actually a jeep, and in the front seat sat two men, one navigating the streets while the other kept up a steady promotional speech about his hotel that we should go to instead of the one we wanted, until finally we started to speak to each other in spanish in the hopes that he would feel uncomfortable speaking at a couple obviously in the middle of a conversation.  Nope.  In desperation, they stopped the jeep outside the fort and told us they couldn’t go in with a car (lie), and that we should stay there because it was dangerous and all manner of things were waiting for us including packs of rabid dogs.  This was also a lie. 

So, we had to take another rickshaw into the fort itself, having decided to stay inside the picturesque old fort on the hill instead of the grotty city below. The book recommended a number of places, so we chose one due it its proximity with us, and were greeted by a smiling young kid who enthusiastically told us his name was “Little Johnny”.

Little Johnny showed us a room, which while staying there would require being outnumbered substantially by spiders, was acceptable to us in our exhausted state and at a reasonable price, so we took it. We wanted to sleep, but he offered us chai on the rooftop and we felt we would have been rude to refuse. We were soon to be given lessons in rudeness.

Only halfway through our chai, Little Bastard started in about the camel safari he could set us up with. At first we expressed mild yet polite interest, as we were planning to go on a camel safari and were open to hearing about what he had to offer. Soon, we became tired (literally), and told him we wanted to sleep for a while, then spend the afternoon looking around for a safari and we’d talk more later. He wouldn’t stop, trying to barter us into a price, pressuring us to commit right then and there. We were exhausted, so finally after haranguing us for half an hour he permitted us to escape and flee to our room.

When we woke, we decided to head out and talk to a number of places to get different options and prices, but as we were heading out of the hotel, Little Prick cornered us again and submitted us to another half hour of high-pressure salesmanship about his safari. The price seemed alright, but we weren’t ready to commit without looking around. This was unacceptable to him. Finally, we again had to resort to rudely fleeing, although by this time we were almost tired enough to simply give in.

We hadn’t eaten, so we went and grabbed some lunch at a pleasant little italian restaurant on the fort wall, and finally saw some of the fort itself (in daylight at least). The fort is a big sandstone pile, built on a hilll overlooking a scrub-desert plain. It’s really quite amazing, like something out of Arabian Nights, and for the first time all day we started to enjoy Jaisalamer. Over lunch, we discussed our options, and in our improved mood decided that while we wanted to look at some other agencies, given the late hour and our desire to begin our safari the next day, we may as well simply accept the tour Little Jerk offered despite our reservations as to him personally.

We walked back to the hotel, peering down alleyways and around corners in the complex maze of the fort, and found Little grinning Johnny waiting for us. Wasting not a second, he launched again into the same spiel we’d heard twice before, describing the route, the drivers, what we’d do on the trip etc. Unfortunately for him, his own mouth got him in trouble. We began to notice gaping inconsistencies in his description of the route, and when we questioned him further, it became apparent he really had no idea what the actual route was, nor what we would really be doing for 2-3 days in the desert. We’d had enough, and told him we were going out to think about it (but not without further hassle just to get out the door).

He’d worn us out, and we were feeling pretty burnt out on the whole thing, but decided to go look for one of the agencies listed in the book. We quickly found Ganesh Tours, and warily asked about camel tours. The difference was night and day. Sebastian, the owner, quietly sat us down and calmly explained everything about the trip, from a daily itinerary to prices and options. He was very mellow and no pressure whatsoever, making suggestions about possible trips but leaving the decision up to us. We felt so comfortable and relaxed with him and his approach, we signed up on the spot (any touts reading this should take note…).

We were a little concerned about our hotel, but Sebastian even had a ready-made story for us to tell them about how we’d run into a couple of friends we’d met earlier and they’d already signed up for another. This sounded reasonable to us.

Walking back to the hotel, we felt much better and far more relaxed, having sorted out our safari and having a few more hours to wander around before nightfall. We felt we owed Little Shithead a definite answer, but I’d only launched into the first sentence of my ‘explanation’ when he stopped me, saying, “This is a lie. Sebastian told you to say this.” Apparently he’d heard that one before. He feigned a lack of care, saying he’d been in this business 4 years, etc., so we retired to our room to leave some things and go out into the city.

We’d only been in there for a minute when a small boy knocked on our door and told us the “Master” wanted to see me. Geraldine was frightened, but I assured her it was alright and told her to stay in the room while I went to see what they wanted. I walked downstairs, and heard Little Johnny calling me from a back room, past a dimly lit antechamber and around two pillars. I was hesitant, but moved closer to get a better look. Inside the room a man sat cross-legged on the floor, apparently watching TV. I didn’t see Little Johnny from my vantage point, but he leaned into the frame and beckoned me in, saying the Master wanted to speak to me. I walked to the door, wary, and asked what they wanted from there. To my left, laying on a bed set into an alcove, was an older man in a long, once-white robe and turban, who entreated me to enter.

I wasn’t comfortable with this, but I entered and sat close to the door. Little Johnny started in about how he’d given me the room at the rate he had on the understanding that I’d do the safari with them, and that his “Master” wasn’t happy about the price. They started in about how they had people who had a reservation for the room, etc., and at this point I’d had more than enough. The room had been negotiated without any mention of a safari, and after the hassle this kid had given us all day to be taken into a back room to be intimidated by 3 men into paying more was too much. In tightly-controlled fury I told the “Master” that that the terms of our deal were seperate from any safari, but if he wanted us to leave we’d be more than happy to vacate, which I meant wholeheartedly. I let them have it for a full minute, and they quickly backed down and became placating. They obviously hadn’t expected someone to stand up to them, and they were suddenly full of assurance that everything was fine, no problem, the price for the room was fine, let’s drink some chai!

Worried about me, Geraldine at this point had come downstairs and was calling my name from the lobby area. I called back that it was ok, even more furious that they would cause her to worry like that. They insisted that we drink chai so that everything would be copacetic with us, but I declined, coldly polite, saying we’d wasted enough time that day and wanted to see some of the city.

We tried not to let the unpleasantness bother us, and went out to spend the last remaining light enjoying the city. We were all too happy to pack up our things early the next morning to go to the Ganesh offices to head out on our safari. We arrived there around 7:30, and went upstairs to the restaurant to eat breakfast before the trip. The other members of our group were already there, eating. We made tentative introductions with the group while eating, before heading downstairs to load into the jeep to head out.

After perhaps a half hour bouncing along the highway, the jeep turned off the main road onto a side track, and soon we came upon a group of camels kneeling in the desert, loaded with gear. We all were excited, actually seeing the camels who would be our conveyances for the next 2 days. There was very little cermony about choosing camels, as the camel drivers simply led us each to a different one and we mounted up.

When a camel stands up, there are in fact 3 distinct phases, something which can come as something of a shock to the uninitiated to camel-riding, which we both definitely were. First, the rider is heaved forward as the camel pushes its back legs up onto the knees. Then, one is thrown backwards as the camel stands up with the front legs. If one is still on the camel given these unexpected lunges, the third part involves a relatively minor thrust forward as the beast stands up on it’s hind legs to be fully upright. None of this was explained to any of the 8 or so of us, which made for comical outbursts from all involved.

We were off on our safari, the rest of which I’ll tell at a later date as this post is entirely too long already.