An Osian Away

The highlight of most people's trip to Jaiselmer is a camel trek out to the desert.  To avoid the tourist crowds and get a homestay all to myself I booked one from my Jodhpur hotel in the nearby town of Osian.  I knew the guy was ripping me off but his wife and son are super sweet and I was feeling sorry for him and his pathetic guest house.  But I would not recommend taking the camel trek from Jodhpur.  You need to get to the bus station, ride a public bus for an hour and a half to Osian, then a camel along the asphalt for an hour then a half across the sand just to get to the camp.

Riding a camel is fun and the scenery is cool, well hot but cool.  Unfortunately my tour guide was a 16 year old kid with just enough English to want to practice... all the time.  The kid was driving me nuts.  Turns out my tolerance limit for the young is nil from 6 to 26.

I told the kid about a dozen times to stop talking to me but he kept on yapping and yapping I wanted to push him off the camel and ride back to Jodhpur.  His family was very nice and welcoming.  To get away from the constant attention of the kid I sat around the house and helped the Grandmother clean vegetables on the cow dung floor and smoked tobacco out of a chillum with the uncle.  I was about to go out for my nighttime ride but the kid started up again, so I delayed it for an hour so I only have to do sunset with him.

The highlight is seeing the stars at night while sleeping out in the sand.  Unfortunately the house I was staying at got electricity a couple of months ago and had their property lit up so not so many stars, oh well, I was exhausted and slept well.  I woke up to the sound of wild peacocks scuttling past me, that's a unique way to start your morning.