Blogs from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 35

We arrived in Jaisalmer today after a sweaty journey by bus -- hung over from the heat and having missed breakfast ( we departed Bikaner at 530am ) I arrived in the fort not least impressed by the horde of Tuk Tuk drivers that assaulted us. Very difficult to collect ones thoughts, watch ones pockets and luggage and manage to haggle a decent price. Settled on 20 rupees and paid 60 for the detour..... one can't win here. I must say of all the destinations Mumbai, Jaipur, mandawa and Bikaner this is the most impressive and cheapest accomodation we have come across at Simla Hotel. On a whim we decided to stay for a week. The streets are somewhat less busy and the fort is more of a maze of alleyways littered with shops, restaurants, hotels ... read more

"Err, I'd like a shave please." "Certainly sir." It's one of those things I felt I had to risk trying while in India, and for any man tempted, some, few or all of the following steps may occur: 1) Conversation - when there's a man holding a blade next to your neck, it's very important to attempt to become friendly with this person, by talking about his livelihood and cricket. 2) Warn him off the goatee! 3) Continue cricket conversation while spending 10 long minutes having 'John's' cream applied; difficult when my cricket knowledge is the same as my knowledge of fishing (despite being Will's friend for so many years - what went wrong Will?) 4) 1st blade applied - silence ebbs through the room as I realise it's best for my health not to move ... read more

The final of the three J's of my Rajasthani experience was the best of all - Jaisalmer. Situated on the edge of the Thar Desert, near the border with Pakistan, Jaisalmer is a magical little desert town. As in Jodhpur, the town is centred around a fort, although Jaisalmer's fort is nowhere near as imposing and dominant as Meherangarh. From a distance, it looks a bit like a beach sand-castle. Ninety-nine circular bastions, (just like the ones kids make with little beach-buckets), form the perimeter of the fort, which is perched atop a steep-sloped pile of pale-yellow sand. Just about everything in the fort is built from the same yellow sandstone, which seems to glow a little in the early morning or late afternoon light. It's an amazing and atmospheric place to explore. One of the ... read more

We got to Jaislamer and hurray hurray actually managed to find the hostel we wanted to go to without hassle. It was great to have Magnus along for the journey, as he was full of questions for Bengali. The hostel was fab - we got a room with a balcony over looking the POOL! We were just so excited! Seeing as we were in the middle of a heat wave at it was 42 degrees we had to try the pool out straight away! Then we went for dinner and I leave Irene on her own for ten minutes and she causes havoc!! Some random Indian youngsters came up to her at the table and started asking loads of questions, then started "You have lovely eyes", "What do you like about me?", "Can I sit down" ... read more

Jaisalmer is a small town in the middle of the desert, 5 hours bus journey to the nearest city. As soon as we arrived it was like walking onto a movie set. The fort was easily the most impressive I have seen, it was like something out of Lord of the Rings or Indiana Jones. We stayed in a really nice hotel at the top of the fort with a great view over the town and surrounding desert. Jaisalmer is one of the closest towns to the packistani boarder which explains the masses of military in the area. One proud local informed me that for every resident of Pakistan the Indian army as two solders. Looking at the sheer amount of troops in this area I believe him. I also managed to witness one of lifes ... read more