Jaiselmer-Khuri Sand Dunes: Desert fun..

As I stepped out of the train, I was expecting an empty dusty station. But to my surprise the station was bustling with activity.

Jaiselmer; the beginning of a looong journey. The travelers (from left to right): Vaibhav, myself, Sunil, Deepak and Viraj(taking the pic)

The train journey had been pretty uneventful. Most of the time was spent in playing cards and passing comments in Hindi on the a foreigner couple sitting right opposite to us. Vaibhav was reading a P.G.Woodhouse. To pass time we asked him to tell us the story till point he had read. He very sincerely narrated the story of Mr. Bertie Booster, and his servant Jeeves and one Mr. Orlie Perl which we enjoyed with the added share of jokes from our side.
After getting down at Jaiselmer, we booked tickets for Jodhpur for the next day and immediately left for the Khuri sand dunes. The taxis on the station ask for Rs. 1000 for the journey. There is also a bus to Khuri but the taxiwallas will tell you that you have missed it and there is no otherway to reach there. So confirm once before taking a taxi.
view of the jaiselmer fort

As you leave Jaislemer, you come to a straight road which seems to come from infinity and end in infinity. On both sides is the bush infested desert with no population.

kab khatam hogi ye road..

Distance to Khuri is 45km. We took almost an hour to reach what looked like a maze of guesthouses. I was wondering if people here had any other profession but tourism. We had booked rooms in Badal House; a small but clean place which had been recommended by Lonely Planet and many people on various forums.

from inside..

We were greeted by the smiling Badal Singh. We immediately asked him to lay the lunch. What we got was some tasty bajra roti cooked on a chulha with a dal with seemed to have all the dals in it, along with achar. Although I don’t like bajra roti much but to a person who was having his first meal of the day at 2, it tasted good. After having a stomachful we rested a bit.
view from my room window..

At 4pm we set out for desert safari. Badal Singh arranges the camels and can also arrange stay in the desert in the night if you want. This includes campfire and food which the camel-wallas prepare. But he does not provide any tents. he will provide the quilts, mattresses and blankets and you can sleep in the open sky. Some of us where a bit apprehensive about sleeping in open in the cold. So we took tents from another person (of Mama guesthouse) who also organizes stay in desert. Badal Singh charges Rs.500 per person for the camel+night stay+food.
our ships..

powerdown mode..

We took a camel each (you can also have 2 people on one camel) and set out for the desert.
me..

First stop was a small shop were we bought some cold drinks and chips. Next was a well where the camel-wallas filled their water bottles.

colourful water delivery...

Then started the real journey. Riding a camel in an experience in itself. Imagine someone kicking your balls and butt alternately and simultaneously hammering your back and thighs. That would be somewhat close to what you feel on a camel.
the dunes in sight..

The “enjoyable” ride lasted for a good one hour. We crossed seas of shrubs and bushes,

climbed up and down big sand dunes

more sandscapes

as the sun was setting..

and finally stopped at on top of one of the dunes..

viraj..

The camel-wallas immediately started collecting wood for fire and started cooking the dinner. they tied the legs of their camels together and let them loose..

we explored the area around us and generally fooled around. is he laughing at our antics..

We were like a bunch of kids who had been set loose in a open ground after hours of sitting in a classroom. We were jumping from a dune to see who could jump farthest (Deepak and I almost fell face first into the sand), making drawings in the sand and even racing each other. After some time we got tired and started playing cross’n’nuts and complete the drawing in the sand.
the waves of sand..

our campsite..

the camel watching the sun go down..

Deepak's creation..

sunset.. dimaag ki batti zala de..

Vaibhav and Viraj were doing some R&D of their own.
me..

pakde rehna, nahi to bechara doob jayega..

the crests and troughs..

as they say leaving footprints on the sands of time..

like time, sand also slips out of your hands..

finally the sun sets..

As it got dark we setted down and started telling jokes to pass time. It was now also getting cold. Thank God I was wearing all the clothes I had bought. The camel-wallas were now busy preparing the dinner.

in the darkness i heard something moving in the bush and this is what i saw..

They set up a fire for us also and drinks and antakshari started.

In sync with the Rajasthani mood all the alphabets were pronounced ending with an “ay”. So ‘m’ became ‘may’, ‘r’ became ‘ray’ and ‘g’ became ‘gay’. The camel-wallas had made daal-baati and aloo ki sabji in dinner. We asked them to bring us some. It tasted good.

a group photo by the fire. some people just cant sit still..

The songs were soon followed by dance. My mobile provided the music and Vaibhav showed his Danceworkx moves and Deepak his bollywood style.

The tent walla came late at night with the tents. I was amazed how he was able to find us in that much darkness without any landmarks to guide him. He set up the tents and others expect Sunil and me went to sleep. Late at the night the scene was amazing. We were sitting near a dying fire with the embers glowering at us as if cursing us for not letting them sleep. The whole sand dune was bathed in the moonlight from a shrinking moon. You could clearly see the contours of the dunes as they rose and fell. Overhead the sky was wearing a blanket of stars which covered each and every inch of it. I don’t I have seem so many stars in the sky before. I wont have minded sleeping under the sky if we dint have the tents. We sat there till the last piece of wood was burnt and then went to sleep..


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