Five days before leaving for India, we had to rearrange the whole trip… as explained here. I had been to India before and I wasn’t about to visit the same places I had already been. I made that very clear to Kate. So sweet little soul of hers decided a camel safari would be a fun adventure. Somehow, any idea either of us dreams up, we both jump on board like we just invented sliced bread. We literally look at each other thinking everything that came out of our mouths was genius. One perk of having a sister. You should get one. If you don’t have one, call us. We’ll give you a good sister moment.
So camel safari. I don’t like animals. Sue me. But I also have an affinity for doing things I hate. So I agreed. Kate wanted to do it for four days. Yeah, no. I had to put my foot down somewhere. We agreed on two days, one night. Following the Taj – it was off to Pushkar. It’s a remote village on the western side of India. It has a temple that people travel from all over India to see. It’s a pilgrimage for them. And August is generally when that pilgrimage happens. On the drive there, we saw bands of people walking day and night on the way to Pushkar. Mind you – our taxi driver also played the same damn Indian song on repeat. It may have been a one minute song. A ten minute song. I have no clue because it was on a constant loop and it sounded the same for four hours straight. I may or may not still have it stuck in my head.
We arrived in Pushkar. I needed some clothes because my suitcase was lost by the airline. We walked through the market – I saw a man with a white tank top. HALLELUJAH. It was like the fashion gods were shining down on me. Finally. A plain, normal shirt. No mirrors, ribbon or embroidery. I asked if he sold what he was wearing. Nope. But then. After begging and I’m sure a few tears and desperate facial expressions, he pulled out his personal stash of plain, white tank tops. Again. The heavens opened. I would have paid a fortune at that point for just a normal shirt. I bought two. And off we went to meet our camel safari guides.
We pull up in our taxi. The main guide gets in the front seat. He turns around and says, "Are you ready for the camel ride?” Kate can’t understand Indian-English (apparently I can) and she yells, CAMEL DIED!!! That was when I about died. I said, get it together – CAMEL RIDE homegirl. Then. He said, “Something something something Camel Safari” (I lied, I don’t understand Indian-English). And Kate yells. CAMEL PARTY? At this point if I had duct tape, I would have put it on her mouth. I said, NO KATE CAMEL SAFARI. Oh. So he proceeds to inform us that we are the only ones signed up for that night. Umm. Cool. Wonder what dad would think of this. We said – WE’RE IN.
Lucky and Yanni were the names of our camels. We became fast friends (not by choice). And with two guides leading the way – off we went in the sunset of the Indian desert. It was THAT romantic. Of course we learned all about our guides, but we won’t bore you with the details. Just know that to us, they were the coolest people we ever did meet. Everyone is. You want to meet us now? Yeah me too.
We arrived in Pushkar. I needed some clothes because my suitcase was lost by the airline. We walked through the market – I saw a man with a white tank top. HALLELUJAH. It was like the fashion gods were shining down on me. Finally. A plain, normal shirt. No mirrors, ribbon or embroidery. I asked if he sold what he was wearing. Nope. But then. After begging and I’m sure a few tears and desperate facial expressions, he pulled out his personal stash of plain, white tank tops. Again. The heavens opened. I would have paid a fortune at that point for just a normal shirt. I bought two. And off we went to meet our camel safari guides.
We pull up in our taxi. The main guide gets in the front seat. He turns around and says, "Are you ready for the camel ride?” Kate can’t understand Indian-English (apparently I can) and she yells, CAMEL DIED!!! That was when I about died. I said, get it together – CAMEL RIDE homegirl. Then. He said, “Something something something Camel Safari” (I lied, I don’t understand Indian-English). And Kate yells. CAMEL PARTY? At this point if I had duct tape, I would have put it on her mouth. I said, NO KATE CAMEL SAFARI. Oh. So he proceeds to inform us that we are the only ones signed up for that night. Umm. Cool. Wonder what dad would think of this. We said – WE’RE IN.
Lucky and Yanni were the names of our camels. We became fast friends (not by choice). And with two guides leading the way – off we went in the sunset of the Indian desert. It was THAT romantic. Of course we learned all about our guides, but we won’t bore you with the details. Just know that to us, they were the coolest people we ever did meet. Everyone is. You want to meet us now? Yeah me too.
The guide on the right. You can just tell how wise he is
Right before we met our camels, I made her pose in front of the pig oasis. She always does what I say.
We passed shanty towns along the way. Still have no idea how people settled there
It took about ten hours to reach the campsite in the middle of the desert. Okay, maybe four hours. But my ass told me it was ten. And when I say middle of the desert, I mean, MIDDLE OF THE DESERT. A clearing. In the middle of nowhere. We got off the camels, I could hardly walk, so I sat down in the sand. And then all of a sudden it was like a timelapse trance all around us. Ten guys appeared out of nowhere and started setting up camp. Our beds. A tent. Our dinner. Chairs and a table. Kate and I just sat and couldn’t figure out where these humans came from.
Like I said, timelapse...
So we start thinking, hmm, two girls. Ten guys. Indian desert. Lucky sure as hell doesn’t run that fast. And I have two white tank tops. That’s about it. We started planning escape routes. You know, just in case. But even with a plan in place, I was fairly certain we had arrived at the place we were going to die. I started to embrace it. And meditated. I think that’s what people do when facing their impending death. Before we knew it, dinner was served. We talked to our guides more. We thought if we could get to know them – they wouldn’t want to kill us because they would see that we were real humans. Not dumb girls who booked a camel safari to the middle of the desert with no one else. Following dinner, we walked two steps to our beds that were set up outside under the stars. For the record – Kate looked at my pillow and said ‘your pillow is janky’. And then she laughed. Great partner in crime right? Also. Our beds were damp. I don’t know why. I didn’t ask. I just meditated. That’s what I do when I have no answers and I think my end is near. Ask me where Lucky slept? Ten feet away… behind my head. I fell asleep to the sounds of her chewing and spitting up her food, only to chew and swallow again. It was pleasant. Kate and I looked at each other on our janky pillows (or my janky pillow) and said, good luck. I hope we make it to the morning. I’ll be praying all night. The band of men set up shop in the sand about ten feet away from our beds… just in the sand. With a blanket. Our beds were about two feet off the ground. I figured that made us a little safer, no?
Nine hours later – we woke up to the rising sun. And we looked at each other like it was Christmas morning. Did you survive? Yes, did you? I DID? DID YOU?!?! OH MY GOSH WE SURVIVED!!! From a soft whisper to loud jubilation that we survived our night in the Indian desert without a lot of bad things happening to us. It took several minutes to set in and you would have thought we won the lottery. I mean, we kind of did.
Then the best travel day EVER to exist unfolded. We’ve both agreed it was a day you just can’t beat. It includes jumping on strangers motorcycles, preparing for death round two in a gem factory and all sorts of other adventures … until next time, we out.