Delhi to Jaisalmer

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Hi all,

Apologies for taking so long to write the first entry proper of this new travel blog. I have been relishing not having to sit at a computer for hours on end and couldn't bring myself to do so.

I've been in India just over two weeks now and have seen and done quite a lot, starting in Delhi, I had a few days on my own before joining my tour group. I stayed at the YHA which was located in the diplomatic area of Delhi, this meant I was gently eased in to the busyness of the big city. Though it wasn't as much of a culture shock as I was expecting, I think having already travelled in South East Asia and coming from the chaos of London I was pretty well prepared.

My first few days were spent wondering round museums and memorials and doing a little bit of clothes shopping. The most unusual of the museums was the multimedia exhibition at Gandhi Smriti, it was a very accomplished exhibition that used new clever technology in quite an artistic way to explain his life and beliefs.

The tour group for the northern leg of my tour are 8 women and 2 men, a mix of British, Australian, Kiwi, Austrian and American and Javed, our Indian tour leader. It's a really good group, I like everyone, which is especially good because a majority are continuing on for the southern leg of the trip. 3 had already completed the Mumbai to Delhi tour so started 10 days or so earlier.

We left Delhi by overnight train, this is the longest train of the trip expected to take 19 hours but it is frequently delayed, we were hearing announcements of 4 and 7 hour delays when we arrived at the railway station. Fortunately we left on time and arrived only 1 1/2 hours late the next day in Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer is the Golden City of Rajasthan, because the yellow sandstone turns golden in the sunlight. We were staying inside the Fort which was quite magical. The photos describe it better than I can so take a look.

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Photos

Purana Qila
Ruined Fort in Delhi