With one of the younger rickshaw drivers unable to capture a passenger, his dejection turned to excitement as I approached him for a ride. “City tour, restaurant, shopping!” he said overenthusiastically. “Just a cheap guesthouse will do”, I said with a dry mouth, exhausted from the sun. Off we went; putting down the road to what I hoped was a cheap, decent guesthouse. Sure enough, he surprised me with doing just as I asked, with no side tours or quick chewing tobacco stops. A nice guesthouse with wifi and a decently priced room. Pleased at the choice, I gave him a tip and began searching the internet immediately for any sign of Kelli and Ryan.
I was in my room for most of that day; sleeping here and there, eating what I could and frequently checking for any replies from Kelli or Ryan. Finally one came from Kelli. They had safely made it to Jodhpur (the stop where I had gotten off and searched frantically for them) and were at a nice guesthouse. With an enormous sigh of relief I continued reading on with the details; the next train wasn’t for a couple of days and they would meet me in Jaisalmer to do the camel safari then. Replying with sincere relief of their wellbeing, I began thinking of what I was going to do in this desert town.
Finally getting out of the room at around 4pm, it was now a decent temperature as the sun began to set, encouraging those trying to beat the heat to now come out from their cool, shaded homes. Only a few steps out of my guesthouse and I was approached by a salesman trying to rent me a motor bike. Instinctually I immediately shook my head no and kept walking, but as I continued on my way, I began thinking that renting a motor bike and doing my own tour of the city could actually be a lot of fun. After walking around a bit, getting some fresh fruit, and two liters of water, which didn’t stand a chance against my thirst, I made my way back to the motor bike salesman and the haggling began. In India, no matter what price someone gives you, you cut it in half and start working from there. After going back and forth, we finally agreed on a price. You know you’ve gotten an actual decent rate, or a rate close to what local’s pay, when the salesman gets angry or becomes all frowny and tells you how he is losing money on the deal. Our local friends we’ve made along the way have told us multiple times that this is a very common sales trick they use and that an Indian would never make a deal where he is actually losing money. What good salesman would, right?
The next day I grabbed a map of Jaisalmer and had my motorbike salesman circle the points of interest, and best sights to see. He said there would be no way to see everything he circled in one day and tried to give me a “special onetime deal” for a two day rental on the bike. Kindly rejecting his many attempts at this offer he finally threw me the keys and I began heading for the open road. Before that open road however, I had to instantly get used to driving on the left side of the road. Easier said than done as I had a few near collisions, well over a dozen honks towards my clumsy direction, and I’m sure some unfriendly language beyond my comprehension. I ended up getting the hang of it just fine after a bit. The way I saw it, this was just preparing me for driving in New Zealand.
My first destination: the Bara Bagh temples. Overlooking farmlands, these temples stood high above all of their surroundings, making them visible from the highway. Incredible intricacy lied in the construction of these magnificent temples. There were so many of them, all ranging in different sizes, shapes and detail. I spent about two hours here, mainly because of how peaceful and nice it was to be away from the buzzing city. The temples offered a sanctuary of relaxation and shade from the blistering sun.
After deciding that I should probably get a move on if I was to see everything I wanted to see that day, I headed back to my motorbike and headed off to my next destination: The Loderwa Temples. Similar to the Bara Bagh temples, these had a magnificent lake just beyond its towering walls. Another quite tranquil place to come for relaxation. Too bad I was on a time schedule to fit in everything I wanted to see, so after snapping a few photos, I was back on the bike off to Amar Sagar. Another magnificent lake with ancient walls at the water’s edge. Ruins of what might possible have been a castle or a fort lay beyond the walls. To see such a structure during its better days truly would have been an amazing sight to see.
After heading a bit uncomfortably deep into the desert and seeing a few more spots on the map, the sun quickly began to set. I pulled off to the side of the road and climbed up a small sand dune to watch the sky put on a magnificent light show for me. Never have I seen such a spectacular sunset. It looked as though the sun was twice as big as it normally was and twice as vibrant with color as well. Everything the light touched began to change colors, cast obtuse shadows and almost change form right before my eyes. Unable to look away from this God given miracle, I sat and thought about all of those I missed so dearly back home. Reminiscing and wishing I could share this moment with so many of those friends and family, the big ball of fire continued on its way below the horizon, leaving its remnants on what few clouds were able to catch the last bit of beauty the sun had to give.
Hopping back on the motorbike, I turned the key and noticed that my fuel supply was dangerously low. I was a good thirty to forty five minutes away from any sort of town or even gas station for that matter. With the electronic start not working, I tried kick starting the thing. This couldn’t be happening. I wasn’t going to be one of those careless tourists that get stuck out in the middle of the desert because their motorbike ran out of gas. Sure enough with one forceful kick of my foot, the bike rattled to a start and began to run. With darkness now engulfing everything around me, I tried my hardest to keep my sense of direction about me and remember how to get back on these nameless roads. The directions I had received were lefts and rights at statues and odd shaped bushes and abandoned trucks, which were now all lost in the sea of black that my little headlamp on my motorbike tried so hard to pierce through. I was like the little engine that could. I kept saying to myself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can”. The needle was now below the “E” marking. Finally a crumbling statue that I recognized came into sight. I must only be fifteen minutes or so away, I thought to myself as the needle jumped a bit and then fell as if to give me some false hope that more gas magically fell into the tank. Finally another land mark, as I passed by a sports arena. It was all downhill from here. Literally it was downhill from the sports arena to my guest house, which was about a two mile stretch, so I put the bike into neutral and began to coast on what little fumes I had left. As I pulled into the bike rental shop, the salesman was quite upset with me and demanded that I tell him where I went. “Everywhere you circled on the map” I said with a smirk as I tossed him the keys. “Impossible! Even the sand dunes?” he cried in disbelief as I began heading for my guesthouse. “Sunset on the sand dunes my friend, I’ll show you pictures tomorrow” I said as I went down the driveway to my guesthouse and retired for the night.
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