The Thousand-Star Hotel

After months of dreaming about it, our day in the Thar Desert had finally arrived. It is on the border of Pakistan and India, so the military closely monitors which areas are safe for tourists. But you know us, we went to the parts that were off-limits. 

But first, we were taken to an abandoned Brahmin village that was emptied in one night because a king (of a lower caste) wanted to take a Brahmin (the highest caste) for his wife. To avoid this, the entire village packed up and left in one night. They have not returned ever since.

A few kilometers away, our camels, Khalu and Papu, were waiting; munching on a defenseless shrub.

Our guide took us past dried up lakes and villages. Our camels loped along and we bounced on their backs.

We were introduced to desert life from 6 feet high.

We stopped for lunch and our guide, Alep, made chapati (wheat flatbread cooked in fire) and potato curry. Little did we know that we would have chapati for THREE STRAIGHT DAYS!

Before sunset, he took us to a big sand dune and there was no one around. He told us to run around while he gathered firewood for dinner and a campfire.

When I was younger, my dad would tell me stories about the desert, how it is hot in the morning and freezing at night. He also sent us a tape of a cartoon Little Prince that starts with the pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (his Japanese anime version) stuck in the desert, shouting at his plane. I didn't understand why he had a funny accent then, I realized later he was French!

Here we are, desert safari dream, check!

I didn't notice this effect until I saw the picture just now, but it looks like there's a rainbow in the sand.

Our first night was unbelieveable cold. We found out later from Kuku at the Fort that the temperature at his farm dropped to -2°! The top layer of his water reservoir had turned to ice! But in the desert, it is much colder.

Alep dug into the ground and gave us blankets. No tents, because we wanted to sleep under the stars like desert people. The moon was almost full and it was so bright. I hardly needed a flashlight to read my book before bedtime.

When I woke up, I saw frost on the plastic sheet we covered up with.

An ice cube had formed in our big jug of water, Alep thought it was funny. I stood up and walked in the sunlight to defrost, but Henri would not be moved :)

I sat in the sun and Alep prepared breakfast, and sometime later, Henri poked his head out from the blankets.

Alep shouted, "Please check your belongings for check-out!" And then we were back on the saddle for our second day on the camels!

Sometimes we would go to villages to get the camels something to drink. These were the times when our safari looked like a movie set.

On our second night, we stopped on a high sand dune, overlooking a big, dry lakebed.

The camels were making a ruckus because they kept seeing female camels but Alep won't let them loose. The two might get in trouble if the big camel boss sees them with the lady camels. I went to Kahlu to console him, and saw him crying. Later he tried to bash the shrub he was tied to, but he still couldn't escape. Papu stopped caring, he just burped and farted. Teenagers!

The second night was not as cold as the first. Or maybe the desert was beginning to grow on us.

I half-seriously went with Henri to look for firewood. I carried what was already on the ground and rotting. They make  good tinder. We slept earlier that night, by the light of the full moon.

The next morning was much warmer, if you call 7° warm.

The camel sluts were on the nearby mountain, making our camels crazy again.

This was our third day without shower and we looked scruffy.

Alep looked like he did the first day :)

On our third and last day, Alep ran down the dunes and the camels followed him. I was screaming all the way down. If you've ever ridden a camel, you'd know how scary it can be.

This used to be a lake. The sand is like river sand, with pebbles.

We passed by the fort and some more ruins.

This narrow pass reminded me of every cowboy movie I'd ever seen. There were other cliches like tumbleweeds and a dusty cow carcass with bones sticking out.

We also saw a handful of rare animals, like a desert fox, a wild horse, some antelope, a vulture, different kinds of eagles, a desert rat (technically, only Henri saw it poking out of its hole). We also saw a lot of peacocks in one village, but they are as rare here as cows and goats.

There were tour buses parked in front of the fort, so we steered clear of it. We hadn't seen any tourists in 3 days, we didn't want to end the streak.

Then he showed us another abandoned village.

It was huge. And each house had a big, broken stone pedestal.

The government repaired the temple of the village even though nobody goes there anymore. Some of the ancient hand-carved statues were saved and reinstalled, liek this creepy hunter feeding a severed head to a dog.

They yellow sandstone they used all over the village reminded me of my in-laws' house in Gigouzac.

We climbed through another sand dune and through a verdant farm. There, Alep took out his cooking pots and made us our last meal in the desert. After eating, he let Henri try a trot on the camel alone.

And then we were out of the desert, with a new appreciation for the conveniences of modern life, and respect for the desert people's way of life.

Aggh! Henri wants to go, we're using free wifi at a restaurant so I had to end this quick.

The camel safari was fun. The end!