Sunday 26th February
Travel day — flight to Jaisalmer from a very civilised Delhi airport! Poor Henry woke up SO green about the gills and vomited in the taxi (thank goodness my sister-in-law Sarah recommended we start nicking sick bags, so we have one in all of our bags!). Could have been the cheese sandwich he had last night — the rest of us didn’t have it. We’re generally trying to be as safe as possible, antibac is our friend and we’re generally going veggie whilst in India.
But for sure we will all get sick at some point so Henry was the first person down. Luckily it was short lived and he was better after a snooze on the flight.
And now we’re running a bit of home school with Henry — he’s designing his dream city. Interestingly, he asked to do it so we’re happy for him to lead the charge on what he’d like to do. We did force some phonics first though!
Gorgeous sunset view on one of the restaurant balconies — everything seems to be on the roof which makes for lovely cool(er) evenings. Currently it’s about 30° at the heat of the day. And our hotel room is a classic hostel style. Barely any windows and a piddly fan spinning round hot air LOL! Also padlock on the outside of the door — oof, last time I had that was Mexico circa 1999 when someone broke into our room while we were at breakfast (luckily we’d taken our money belts with us!).
Monday 27th February
Lovely day wandering around Jaisalmer Fort — so beautiful, so relaxed and a bit cooler in the morning. We didn’t do any history stuff, just a bit of Wikipedia while sitting on a wall!
I’m so surprised that people want to have pictures with the kids — but sometimes it’s a bit crazy because these older women grab the kids, pull them in and start touching their hair. It’s all in good faith but the kids are finding it a bit tough sometimes. I suggested we charge 10 rupees per picture. 20 for both kids together (and a smile!). We would honestly be able to fund the gap year!
The only thing I have issue with is when people start (obviously) filming us without our consent. I can’t imagine anything worse than being famous and this being your life, it would suck. I’m making it sound like we are the best things since sliced bread, we really aren’t, and most people don’t give a monkeys, just a few. I’m also surprised because surely with our history they must be used to Westerners but I think it’s the blonde kids that are the draw.
The kids tried out their haggling skills on some long sleeved tops for our trip to the desert tomorrow. They did pretty well and bagged a couple of bargains!
And a highlight was getting henna done for the kids by a lovely woman who has a shop to raise money for women in her village 65km away.
Funny pic below — smile in the photo, kids! It’s not all rainbows and unicorns!
Went to the puppet show after dinner — it was cool to see the puppet tradition which is being kept alive by a guy who set up the Desert Cultural Centre.
Tuesday 28th February
Home skool in the morning, chill time. Bus to Khuri, a small village about 1.5 hours away. Not as far as the crow flies, but fun on a local bus that kept having to stop cos there were cows in the road!
Then we got on these…again! Does my face show quite how scared I was, haha! But it WAS fun, if a little uncomfortable. Kids LOVED it. We picked up some water on the way — you can see how the women (a) stare at Charlotte’s hair and b) carry ALL the water they need for the next day on their heads.
We slept out under the stars — campfire and delish curry followed by zero sleep but a BEAUTIFUL view of the stars. No cover at all, just some thin blankets. It was crazy windy actually and got fairly cold (which was rather nice, it’s HOT out here!). And had a sweet little dog curl up at my feet to keep warm. Good job I had stray dog hypnotherapy. Might do a post on that another time.
A quick sped up sunset (TLDR!) I bloody love a sunrise and sunset, my fave things in life so there were a LOT. You will wanna scroll, scroll.
Wednesday 1st March
Woke up with sore hips and a sleepy head… But it was all worth it to watch the sun come back up again.
Told you there were a lot of photos, LOL. Sweet chapatis at sunrise in the desert was something pretty special. Of course the stray dog slept at MY feet, the one that hates stray dogs!
Back for chill time, home school and sleeping in a mud hut…it was actually an amazing homestay, and at £9 a night INCLUDING 3 meals, it was great value.
https://www.facebook.com/badalhouse/
…with dogs barking ALL night! So another night of not enough sleep 😦
Thursday 2nd March
Woke up in our mud huts. Sad to say goodbye to Badal the owner and the mud huts… but very happy to say goodbye to the dogs that howled all night long.
Long bus ride back into Jaisalmer — standing room only. Had a mediocre lunch overlooking the lake with some very grumpy children, before we got on our first train ride (of many) with some very excitable children. Jodhpur and more mud huts, here we come!
Team Mossy on the move 