Jaisalmer & the Thar Desert

Days 5-8
As if to give us one last sting in the tail as we were leaving the heavens opened once more in Delhi as we made our way to Old Delhi train station. In the Delhi metro entrance we waited for the rain to subside a little before making the short dash to the station. Old Delhi train station in the monsoon is an experience and a half! Pools of water lie everywhere inside and out of the station, getting through the security is a frantic mucky mess and confirming the platform your train will be pulling into is nearly an impossibility. Our train was the overnight express to Jaisalmer, the famous fort city in the Thar desert, and of course in keeping with the station's fashion of confusion our train pulled into the opposite side of the platform. However plenty of people were on hand to let us know this but our previous days experience left us doubtful as to whether to believe them or not, but we decided that we better check the train out anyway. Sure enough our names were posted on the first carriage we checked out! A change in fortune perhaps?

We were seated in 2nd class air conditioned sleeper class, quite comfortable. In our booth we also had a young French couple sitting opposite. The train pulled out pretty much on time and we were soon clunking our way out of Delhi, this city that we at first quite liked but had quickly grown to loathe. Delhi's track side view was a hotchpotch of very poor shanty towns, people and pigs seemed to crowd this squalor. I am a huge fan of railway journeys, there is room to stretch and walk, they are relatively smooth, you can sleep and you get to see the country from a completely different perspective than from the road. This was no different for me, although the dusk quickly pulled in the darkness and there was no view to be had. But at least we had a decent night's sleep ahead of us. I slept as soundly as I have in this country to date but my wife's sleep as well as our French companions was fitful at best. We awoke, (or in my wife's case arose!) to a changed landscape outside, the country side was arid, a dry scrub land dotted with flat roofed dwellings. A step outside the train onto one of our platforms told me that it was hot.. real hot.. and it was only 9am.

We glided our way through this terrain for the next 2 hours before the fort of Jaisalmer came into view, it looked as stereotypical desert fort as you imagine, like a medieval fort of some Arabian Kingdom. After checking into our hotel we went to investigate it. The fort itself is a living fort with 100's maybe 1000's living on the inside, so life continues here in amongst the turrets and battlements as it has done for a 1000 years. The Rajputs are a collection of Rajasthani tribes and they built the fort in the 12th century from dry stone. No mortar can be seen apart from the recent additions and repairs to the fort. This method of construction along with the recently piped water into the fort causing a very Irish problem, rising damp, are causing conservationists some concern as to how the fort can be maintained in its original state. So here lies the dilemma, do you maintain this magnificent fort as a museum with very basic living conditions for much of its inhabitants inside or do you allow the inhabitants to live in the fort and continue to live there maintaining the fort as they see fit as they have done for centuries. It's a problem that India's massive population is putting on many historic sites across India. A happy medium must be there somewhere to maintain this as a living fort but in a manner that will maintain the fort in its original state.

Next up was the Havelis, which are palaces build by the traders in the 19th century. They are absolutely amazing pieces of stone masonry extremely fine detail chiseled out of the soft sandstone, how they managed it without breaking the stone or even survived the weathering is a mystery. And yes everything you see in the photos is made from stone ...except the pigeon!

Jaisalmer itself its a fairly small city and as a result is a lot more relaxed than Delhi, very few people hassling and those that do are quite mannerly. The place has considerably lowered our stress levels and we are able to amble about the city quite relaxed instead of being constantly on edge. The most stressful thing in Jaisalmer has to be the cows, which rule the roost in this town. They roam about the narrow streets yielding for neither man nor machine. Going around a corner I came face to face with a cow going the opposite direction. Now I am used to cows going around me when we cross paths, but this cow wasn't for shifting and she swung her head as if indicating that she wanted past on my inside. Aware of cultural differences and resisting my farmer's urge to wave at the animal and shout "Chay" at the beast and I begrudgingly stood aside as it walked on. In my eyes the ultimate resting place for cattle is on our plate in some shape or form, and the lack of respect that Indian cows observe for this destiny and the butting of my wife's leg by a calf has not endeared me to these skinny rumped bovines.

Cows aside Jaisalmer is definitely a very nice place to hang out, and when here an overnight camel safari is the thing to do. The first rain in 2 years to the Thar desert put us off the overnight safari and instead we decided to go for a sunset trip instead. We set off through the desert in the jeep stopping off at a few desert villages along the way before arriving at our camels for our trek to the sand dunes and the sunset. Camels definitely aren't the most comfortable thing to sit on and I was quite glad that our journey didn't extend into another day as by the time we arrived at the dunes my bum ached and still does. A Californian couple were already at the dunes and they were spending their first of 2 nights in the desert. Rather them than us as the lightning in the distance indicated that rain was on the way, that and the full moon meant that a sky full of stars would be very unlikely. The dunes were picture perfect and the the rising full moon opposite the bloody sunset was a surreal experience.
 

 

We were soon on our way back to Jaisalmer and the end to a magnificent day was crowned with a controversy over a dead sheep  and a dripping ceiling in our room. We were relocated to a hotter room and a fitful nights sleep followed. This is India after all... nothings perfect!

We also learnt that this unlikely rain in Jaisalmer translated into serious flooding elsewhere in Rajasthan, where 36 people were killed in Jaipur which we hope to visit within the next week. Tomorrow we continue on to by train to another desert fort city, Jodphur.