take a leak ...

What a treat! Rashmi let us sleep in. Because Manvar (our next stop) is so close to Jaisalmer we didn’t leave until 11 a.m.

Time for a nice, hot shower and some much-needed re-packing (when you are literally living out of a suitcase you have no idea how many times you must re-pack) … a leisurely breakfast … a little last minute shopping at the hotel … and we were off.

Slightly more than an hour into our road trip Paul (Paul and Melanie are from Australia and they joined up with us on our second day in Delhi) needed a bathroom break so the driver pulled off to the side of the road.

As luck would have it they couldn’t re-start the bus. Try as they might, the engine would not turn over. The God of bad car karma seemed to be following us. I told Rashmi we should get a Shaman.

Instead they called our resort – it turned out we were just 15 minutes away – and they came to get us with jeeps – although a local (we attracted quite a crowd) offered to go home and get his tractor – which he insisted was big enough for all of us and our luggage.

Trust me, he hadn’t seen our luggage yet.

But before he could he could do it the jeeps arrived and we were all unloaded and then re-loaded. We were becoming old hands at this and now found it amusing. These are the experiences that are never planned … are never on the itinerary … but always turn out to be fun and make the most interesting stories.

When we got to the resort we had lunch right away but we weren’t staying at the actual resort – we were staying at their tented camps about a 15 or 20 minute drive away.

The ride was quite something. Through the desert, in a jeep, up some pretty high dunes (at a very high speed) and then promptly straight – and I do mean straight as in a vertical drop – down again – also at a high speed.

Like a natural roller coaster in the desert. It seems that I will be leaving my phobias behind ...