Dechu: A Night in the Desert 

        This morning I would be heading out to Dechu for a night in the desert, if I could get checked out of my hotel first. Even though the food at The Lords Inn was disgusting I still had to pay for it. Last year in India I had my discover card, my Bank of America card, and cash. While they take discover in most places in India, they would not take it at the airport in Delhi. So there I was at midnight last year in the airport alone and in tears from frustration because I owed $200 in USD and they wouldn't accept my card.  Luckily I found a very nice woman that worked for United who was able to correct the situation. Talk about stress!

This year I decided to spread my money out even further to prevent that mishap again. The Lords Inn is a three star hotel. Typically foreigners don't get booked into hotels that are three star or lower because the service is different than a three star American hotel. Not as many people speak and understand English, which can be a problem, among other issues. Since I was trying to go cheap on this trip I told them I could handle it and for the most part I did. Until check out. None of their credit card machines would accept my cards. UGH! First they tried putting my card in a machine for people who live in India.....smh. Of course it didn't work! I'm not even kidding when I looked at the desk manager and said "sir, I'm as white as snow, speak perfect English, and don't understand Hindi....of course I'm not local." Usually I'm not so rude, but I was DONE with the Lords Inn. Ultimately I whipped out some rupees I had been holding back for my driver's tip and paid the bill. 

The drive was going to be about three hours. I like driving across India and I love driving in the desert. So many new interesting things to see. While one might think all deserts look the same they don't. The desert in Oman looks different than the Sahara in Egypt, and different still in India. The was a great of brush mixed with the sand in India. 

Along the way my driver and I stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant. I tried Hyderabadi biryani this time. It was the only dish I recognized. The further you travel out into the country in India the less familiar the food gets. Little did I know I would be eating the spiciest version of biryani.  It was tasty, yet extremely spicy. I actually burnt the top of my mouth and my tongue from the hotness of the spices! Of course my driver explained to them that I wanted it to have no spice at all. Sometimes I think Indian people translate "no spice" into "less spice." I just want to look at them sometimes and say "dude, I'm white. You KNOW I can't take the heat." I ate as much as I could handle then we headed off to my resort.

We arrived at the Clarks Exotica resort. After I checked in, like any other hotel, I expected to go to my room and chill out before my camel ride. Welllll that was not to be. The resort/spa area is where I was. The actual tents/camp I'd be staying in were 25 miles away. The gentleman who greeted me offered me lunch, but I had just eaten. Then he asked if I wanted to go into the spa for a massage or some treatments. Well of course I did BUT I had makeup on and my hair done for my camel ride. I wasn't going to get a facial then ride my camel looking fugly. So I was left with one option: to sit at a table outside and enjoy the wild life for two hours. So there I sat.

Eventually I was joined by four lovely people from Montreal, Canada. Little did I know that they were part of a HUGE bus tour that would be joining me out at the tents later. Despite talking in French most of the time, they decided to start using English so I could participate. They were lovely people.

Three o'clock came and so did my driver to take me to my camel ride. It was awesome. I rode my first two hump camel! 

                                            The closed eyes of fear as the camel stands up.

                                            

I've never seen dark brown camels before!

After I finished my ride we headed out into the countryside. While parts were definitely desert, there were also lots of small farms that were growing spices like cumin. Apparently this region is a popular region to farm India's spices.  

The mini village with our tents was adorable! I was the first to arrive. Apparently all of the Canadians were off having multiple camel rides. The weather was beautiful and the tent was amazing. I've never stayed in a real tent like this before.

The outside of my tent.

I was greeted with a dot of something placed on my forehead and rice.

I took a quick nap while everyone else arrived and settled in to their tents. At dark we were supposed to walk up the hill and settle on the cushions for appetizers and cultural performances. Here I am, the ONLY American :). The food was delicious! After the cultural dancing we headed up to a delicious buffet dinner of non-spicy Indian food. Of course since I had burnt my mouth earlier everything tasted spicy to me.

My big butt is dancing!

The next morning I slept in. The weather was nice and cool and perfect for burying myself in my duvet. I had intended to to take a shower before I left, however cold mornings and marble floors don't mix. So as usual I skipped breakfast and slowly packed up to leave. I had the best time staying here and it really wasn't expensive. I don't think I could have stood it in the raging heat, but winter was beautiful.

As we were driving back through the countryside to reconnect with the highway we passed many school children of every age. The group pictured below waved goodbye to use and tossed flowers on our car to be silly. It was really cute. And of course we had to stop every time we saw camels because I LOVE camels!

Yes the camel survived. The car stopped.

Next stop Jaisalmer!