Later on the 18th

Later on the 18th at the Sam Sand Dunes (18 February )

After we finished  shopping at the government controlled haveli, we jumped back into our respective "Tuk-Tuks" and headed back to where the bus had been parked. On our walk back to where the "Tuk-Tuks" were parked, we waited alongside the narrow street as a procession passed by us. We had been told about an hour before that a person had died at one of the homes up a side alley.  While we were touring part of the city, the body had been properly prepared, draped in the white shroud, covered with flowers and the family and friends had gathered at the home, all of them dressed in white, and then followed the carried litter with the body of the deceased, in a procession which led through the streets to the place for the cremation. What an amazing experience to be peripherally involved with the grieving of a family who had lost a loved one.

After boarding our chariots, we were whisked through winding city streets and alleys back to our bus. Then we headed west out to the Sam Sand Dunes, about twenty miles east of the border with Pakistan!  Both mornings, shortly after I got out of bed, I could hear jet fighter planes roaring up and back along both sides of the border. Anyway, we arrived at a camel caravan stop on the side of the highway, and were escorted to several camels and their drivers who seemed to be waiting for us. We had all nonchalantly agreed to take camels that afternoon, but most probably didn't pay much attention to what we had agreed to do. We were assigned to our own camel and climbed up into the saddles and leaned way back as the driver coaxed our steeds onto their feet!  Once all aboard, we followed the long line of camels with riders out into the desert and out onto the dunes. It was anticipated that we might be riding until sunset. My camel was a huge bull who seemed to be rather intolerant of other camels  and continually walked over to another camel to nip at the tail of his "cousin" or to sidle up to another and be almost noodling face to face. There must have been at least two hundred camels who were ferrying us to our viewing destination. It is always good to pause for a moment or two, to take stock of one's life and situation and to be grateful for what opportunities are presented to us to experience and enjoy.  This was one of those moments... to imagine sitting atop a "ship of the desert", riding westward to view one of nature's miracles (even though a daily occurrence) a sunset!  I remember as a youngster, going to the movies to see AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, and marveling at being lifted skyward in a hot air balloon and wondering if i would ever enjoy a camel ride and view the sunsets of the desert. Well, here I was! Is this what could qualify as something on my Bucket List?

Once the sun receded, we enjoyed dinner at a new encampment, which was owned by friends of Ummed. It was a tent village resort, near the dunes but nobody seemed to be staying there at present - most likely because it had only recently opened and was not "known" as a destination on the circuit. Dinner was enjoyable, and included musical and dance entertainment provided by some Rajasthany instrumentalists and dancers. There was a male dancer who wowed us with his fire-eating talents, and a young woman dancer who danced barefoot on broken glass shards while balancing a tower of pots on her head. What was fascinating to some of us was the young boy, maybe of fourteen years of age, who was learning to play some of the instruments, among them the "bones" (wooden sticks that were somewhat curved, two of which were held in each hand and clapped or snapped as a percussion to the music). The boy was new to the instrument and although he could snap them for creating a dramatic exclamation to a musical phrase, he had not yet mastered the art of a continuo of muffled percussion. It was interesting to watch the boy attempting to emulate the older players, and in turn encouraging to watch as the older players were endearingly observing the boy to make sure he did it right.

Following dinner and the show, we boarded the bus to return to Jaisalmer and be taken to a family-owned silver jewelry shop that was being opened just for us by the owner and the family who lived upstairs over the shop. I had remembered being able to purchase some antique silver pieces back in 2007, at bargain prices and was hoping to be able to score another few items again. Suffice it to say, although we were at the shop well past 10:30 at night, we were not tremendously successful. The rest of the team returned to the hotel bus while I stayed behind a bit longer and almost fled through the dark alleys and streets in a Tuk-Tuk. 

The following day promising to be a long one, as well as my 65th birthday, I was grateful to fall onto my bed for some rest, even if as it turned out, for only a few hours.