Blogs from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 34

So after so really long train rides that I thought were going to be worse than they really were, but just involved my boredom and lots of sleeping, we are now in Jaisalmer. The trains are actually not bad, I'm just glad to be off of them after so long. We had a twelve hour lay-over of sorts in Jaipur (which we're actually going back to in a couple of days) and did some shopping and saw the Hawa Mahal. The Hawa Mahal is right in the center of the city and functioned as a sort of women's palace where women could see all the processions and going's on of the city, from their own private space. Jaisalmer seems really pretty in that middle of nowhere, kind of feel. It's city that sort of rises out ... read more

Jaisalmer is wonderful - a hot, dusty, desert town, 60kms from Pakistan's border, with a 12th century fort on top of a hill. I can't work out if it's falling down or being built up - there are small building sites everywhere. But the direct Delhi trainline has only recently sprung into action, so I imagine that within a decade, this sleepy little place will look like downtown Mumbai...I totally fell in love with the beautiful havelis and incricate, carved stonework on people's homes inside the fort. We s Stayed at the Shahi Palace just outside the fort, with the brothers - and they are building one hotel each, so there'll be other great places to stay within a year or so. The Shahi has fabulous red sandstone rooms and a rooftop restaurant overlooked by the ... read more

23.7.06 Whoever said, and it was someone at sometime in my life, that traveling India was easier than South America was lying. They clearly hadn’t been to one or either place. I am now three weeks into my trek around Rajasthan and I can honestly say that my nerves and standards of hygiene have never been so sorely tested. We have just arrived in Mount Abu after traveling all night. We left Jaisalmer at 3pm yesterday on the bus and at about midnight we arrived in Jodphur to change buses to go to Mount Abu. We were told by our nice man at the hotel in Jaisalmer that we would get off bus 1 and get onto our connecting bus which would be parked “IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT” to bus 1, it would be a simple case of ... read more

These last three days I have come to understand the true meaning of heat. This four lettered word is grossly inadequate to describe what we went through in the Thar desert. The hottest day on the beach in Cape town at the height of summer, does not come close. Perhaps the reason for this is that in the desert there is nowhere to escape to. The shade means blow all and water is rationed. At one point I actually though of standing under a camel while it was pissing ( they pass tremendous amount of urine - how that preserves moisture I am at a loss but maybe the rarity of anything in fluid form made me hyperacute to anything resembling water ) I liked the camel, easier to control and just more of a placid ... read more

Three days and two nights in the desert on a safari, seven camels, three French People, one German, three Indians and two silly Englishmen. Second time on a camel, was a little uncomfortable, but better than riding an elephant all day, which is far worse for long trips. Six pounds a day we got breakfast, lunch and dinner, blanket to sleep out under the stars at night and a camel each. This time mine was called Sonya, which was strange cause it was male. I grew quite an attachment to it until it threw me off on the last day and nearly hospitalised me. I was relaxing on my camel when suddenly it lurched forward throwing me off. I took a graceful dive head first from about seven feet, luckely I landed on the scarce bit ... read more