Advertisement
Published: September 19th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Desert huts
The way of life hasn't changed much in the deserts of Rajasthan, but then due to the harsh dry living conditions, it hasn't got much scope!! Goat& cattle herding, and camels are just about all that will survive. Hi Everyone
The journey to Jaisalmer was uneventful and not as long as the last, just 4 hours traveling through dry and dusty country side, although there had been heavy rain and we had to take a diversion to get through to the cityof Jaisalmer.
Jaisalmer’s fort is home to many people, unlike the fort at Bikaner which is really a museum. We stayed within the old city walls in a Havelli(Mansion), not quite as comfortable as the last place but still very good..
Early next morning, we went out and rashly booked bus tickets on to Jodhpur the next day and a camel safari that evening! Bus tickets because they were cheap and the camel safari because that’s part of what you do when you visit Jaisalmer. First though a visit to the fort and our first Jainian Temples, these are very ornately carved circular buildings. There are 7 Temples within the fort, not that we went into all 7 but we did see 5, so felt we'd done quite well, it’s easy to get templed out in India!! In every temple there was a “holy man” asking you to take a photo of the main shrine for a gift
Bedroom
There couldn't be a greater contrast between the last photo and this one of our lavish bedroom in Jaisalmer! of a few rupees, but in every temple there were signs telling visitors not to give money to individuals but to place donations in a donation box., if they wished to donate, however these so called “holy men didn’t like that at all and were not afraid to show it!!
By now it was time to go for our tour which included a camel ride to watch the sunset and a local meal with Rajasthani music and dancing.
The tour was the best part!! We visited another Jain temple on the side of a lake, which was already over full from the most rain that Jaisalmer has had in 10 years. Next onto a deserted village, this is the best kept of 84 deserted villages,a total of over 250,000 people did a midnight flit because of the Maharajah who was a cruel man who vastly over-taxed his people. By now it was time to get to Khuri for our camel ride over the sand dunes, our camel was saddled ready and waiting, and mounting was no problem as it got down for us to get on, a bit hairy when it stood up but we managed! The walk to the
Our Haveli in Jaisalmer
The outside of our Haveli in Jaislamer, some of the stonework is orginal, but much has been redone. Around this square many of the buildings have been very sympathetically restored. (Ignore the "shops' along the front!!) dunes took an hour, but we already knew that there wasn’t going to be a sunset as there was far too much cloud cover. We waited and watched for a while but decided to return the skies were looking heavy with rain. From here the evening just went rapidly down hill, we reached the village with out getting wet, but we were the only visitors there, everyone else had gone back to the city because of the rain!! We didn’t want to stay but were told that our food was already cooked, and the musicians were waiting. But can you imagine it, 2 of us sat in front of a group of 5 musicians and two very beautifully dressed attractive Indian Dancers. The atmosphere was nil and then it started to rain, so the musicians went inside to protect their instruments, but were made to come back out and continue playing, The rain got heavier and heavier, so we all went into a small room where the music was just too loud and there wasn’t enough room for the girls to dance. Then our food arrived and we were the only ones eating being watched by the band and about
City Wall
The high city walls of Jaisalmer Fort, which is still home to many people, who live in narrow cramped conditions. 6 other men!!! By now we were really worried about the state of the road, but it didn’t seem to worry any one else except our driver but he said it was fine. To end a dire evening, we had a horrendous journey back to Jaisalmer, and it was only by the excellent driving of our Taxi driver that we managed to reach Jaisalmer. Easily the worst evening of our whole year long trip!!!!!
It rained all night and next morning had trouble to get to the bus station, and when we got there, our bus wasn’t running, however after a phone call to the guy who sold us the ticket who in turn we were allowed to take a seat on the bus to Jodhpur. Lucky we left when we did as there was the worst flooding in Jaisalmer for many years and it was cut off. This is India in monsoon season!
Bye for now Maggie & Arnie
Advertisement
Tot: 0.14s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0915s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb