Sands of Jaisalmer

After arriving in the afternoon in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, we were greeted by taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers offering not only a ride to our hotel but "desert excursions" complete with tea, a camel ride in the dunes, dinner and a Rajasthani music and dance show....how could we resist! Deepak expertly haggled to get us a good deal and we were off to the hotel to freshen up before our intimate desert experience with two camels and 600 other camel-crazed tourists. (A side note: Deepak performed all manner of haggling throughout the trip. In fact, almost every shopkeeper along the way thought he was our tour guide. They would say in Hindi, "Bring them in here!")

On the drive to the camel caravan, we stopped at a Jain temple. Typical Jain temples are decorated with delicate carvings upon which light dances with shadow. Lovely!

Our camel ride was a hoot! You mount them while they're sitting down, so it's something else to have them stand up and sit down while being in the saddle. WOAH, Nelly! We were giggling and enjoying the hot desert air and sand blowing over us. Here's a little low-res movie of Deepak and his camel in action...

We made some 'friends' while chilling in the dunes. A local musician followed us for quite some time and played the morchang (a mouth harp) without us asking. After throwing a decent amount of rupees his way, he pestered us saying we needed to give him a bigger tip...While he was asking for more money, a lonely goat decided our group looked too fun to avoid so he came over, sat right beside us and chewed his cud. We even tickled his hooves! I am including this photo because, darn, I've never seen a more sultry goat portrait!

We left the dunes and our animal friends behind to enjoy a typical Rajasthani dinner under the stars, lounging on blankets and pillows.  The live music and dance performances were nice.  We actually had the opportunity to shake it to the beat at the behest of the performers and, apparently, I'm a natural.  Deepak was able to chat with the other people sitting around us...they were all locals out for a good time.  Later, the ladies in the group got up the nerve to ask Deepak if they could take a picture with me - I was as exotic to them as they were to me.