Jaisalmer
Taking our first train trip together, we had a very comfortable 19 hr train trip to Jaisamlmer. Most people got off in Johdpur at 7am, so the last 5 hrs, crossing the desert in morning light, with big window seats all to ourselves was wonderful.
When we finally got to Jaisalmer, the taxi humbug was horrendous, the touts were extreme, it took an hour, in dusty, desert heat, to work out that I had the guesthouse name wrong and work out where to go.
But then we found the fort. Thankyou Lincoln for recommending it, it was a most amazing place. We wandered around for the afternoon, it was almost like a little, waterless Venice with narrow pedestrian laneways, blocked by stubborn cows.
A living, breathing fort, build 900 years ago, where women walked into fire and men leant on their swords rather than surrender (this happened 3 times). It stands on a rocky hill in the desert, about 100km from the Pakistan border. After checking with the experts, we found out it was ethical to stay in the fort if you were thrifty with your use of water. Overpopulation and excessive water use are damaging the foundations.
It was amazing to stay in this walled town where the same families have lived for hundreds of years, even with a town teeming around them.
In the daytime we escaped the heat in the Moghul palace, the ornately carved (including the karma sutra) Jain Temples, or our cute hotel room. In the late afternoons the sandstone fort turned golden in the setting sun, the temperatures dropped and business slowed down. We wandered through the maze of laneways, snapping away with our cameras and chatting with locals on doorsteps, until the light went and our tummies grumbled.
We saw 3 weddings there, it’s the wedding season, we’ve seen about 10 all over India, the quiet bride in a jewelled red sari, proud groom in respendent in his turban and khol eyes, sometimes on a white horse, and crazy wedding parties with portable generator driven bright lights dancing madly to truck mounted speakers on the side of the road.
Sean and I spent 3 days haggling over the price of a bedspread and a mat. It all got quite suspicious and furtive when we had to meet outside the fort after dark a couple of times, away from his nosey cousin/brother who wanted a commission.
It was a relaxing and enjoyable couple of days there, and we were pleased to have made the effort to go all that way.
When we finally got to Jaisalmer, the taxi humbug was horrendous, the touts were extreme, it took an hour, in dusty, desert heat, to work out that I had the guesthouse name wrong and work out where to go.
But then we found the fort. Thankyou Lincoln for recommending it, it was a most amazing place. We wandered around for the afternoon, it was almost like a little, waterless Venice with narrow pedestrian laneways, blocked by stubborn cows.
A living, breathing fort, build 900 years ago, where women walked into fire and men leant on their swords rather than surrender (this happened 3 times). It stands on a rocky hill in the desert, about 100km from the Pakistan border. After checking with the experts, we found out it was ethical to stay in the fort if you were thrifty with your use of water. Overpopulation and excessive water use are damaging the foundations.
It was amazing to stay in this walled town where the same families have lived for hundreds of years, even with a town teeming around them.
In the daytime we escaped the heat in the Moghul palace, the ornately carved (including the karma sutra) Jain Temples, or our cute hotel room. In the late afternoons the sandstone fort turned golden in the setting sun, the temperatures dropped and business slowed down. We wandered through the maze of laneways, snapping away with our cameras and chatting with locals on doorsteps, until the light went and our tummies grumbled.
We saw 3 weddings there, it’s the wedding season, we’ve seen about 10 all over India, the quiet bride in a jewelled red sari, proud groom in respendent in his turban and khol eyes, sometimes on a white horse, and crazy wedding parties with portable generator driven bright lights dancing madly to truck mounted speakers on the side of the road.
Sean and I spent 3 days haggling over the price of a bedspread and a mat. It all got quite suspicious and furtive when we had to meet outside the fort after dark a couple of times, away from his nosey cousin/brother who wanted a commission.
It was a relaxing and enjoyable couple of days there, and we were pleased to have made the effort to go all that way.
posted by x kel at 8:54 PM
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