Jaisalmer and the Thar desert

From Pushkar we caught yet another bus to fort city of Jaisalmer, located on the edge of the Thar desert. So what to say about Jaisalmer... I guess its smaller and has a more laid back vibe than Jodhpur, less touristy than Pushkar, and looks similar to cities in the middle east. We spent a total of 8 days in the area around Jaisalmer. We didn`t initially plan on spending so much time there, but it just kind of happened. We were originally thinking about heading up to Bikaner than to Amristar before heading back to Delhi to catch a flight to Srinigar but decided against it because it would have meant too much travelling. Jaisalmer also hosted a desert festival on Feb 5th-7th that we wanted to attend.

I thought the town of Jaisalmer was much more interesting than the it`s fort. The fort (where roughly a quarter of the town still lives) is very much geared towards tourists. The little stone roads and alleyways, which would otherwise be very fun to wander around, are lined with overpriced shops trying to sell you the same goods you`ll find all over Rajasthan. That being said, the architecture is amazing and the sheer size of the fort impressive. It would have just been nicer and improved the ambiance if it wasn`t full of aggressive shopkeepers. The streets of the city, however, were a wonderful maze of narrow alleyways with intricately carved buildings on every block, without the commercialism of the fort.

Kiersten in Jaisalmer fort

The fort gate

In the fort just past the main gate

A haveli turned into a hotel

A impromtu arm-wrestling match (I lost)

Sleepy cow

Kiersten in a Jaisalmer alleyway

Jaisalmer

On our third day in Jaisalmer, we left the city and went out on a one night camel safari. Jaisalmer is well known for its camel safaris and there are millions of companies offering them. We ended up going with Dan the camel man. Dan has been camel driver since he was teenager and spends most nights of the year sleeping under the stars. Dan also was a great cook and made us nice spicy vegetarian dishes throughout the safari. One of the best things about our camel safari was the fact that they didn`t bring tents so we were forced to sleep out in the open. We spent the night sleepy on a comfy sand dune in the middle of the desert. That night definitely had some of the best stars I`ve seen in my life.

The camels themselves were interesting creatures. Kiersten camel, Mr. Rangoli, was apparently ``love-sick `` and spent most of the trip foaming at the mouth. Initially I thought camels were more comfortable than horses to ride but after an hour or so I realized that I was severely mistaken. The width of the camels force you to take take a very wide stance and puts some serious stress on the groin muscles. In the looks department, the camels reminded me of giant furry dinosaurs, partly because of their abnormally long necks (I guess normal for a camel). They were also surprisingly fast.

One of us was riding the mother of the baby camel following us on the left

Our camp

The day after we returned from the camel safari, Kiersten and I decided to rent scooters to further explore the desert surrounding Jaisalmer. At the rental shop I decided to see if the owner would rent me a motorcycle even though I had zero experience. This being India, he said ``no problem``, and gave me a 5 minute tutorial before sending us on our way. Riding a motorcycle was actually pretty damn easy, and I am pumped that I learned because now I am totally going to rent a Royal Enfield in Goa and explore the shit out their beaches in a few weeks from now. Kiersten and I put 100km or so on the bikes and went out to explore Sam Sand Dunes and bunch of random temples (none of which were noteworthy enough to write about).

Me on the dunes

First time on a bike

The helmet was just for show, that thing would broke even if I crashed on the sand at 2 kph

Camels deliver everything.

Cows often impede progress through alleyways

There was a glorious sunset that we watched from the fort on one of days (all days blended together). Enjoy the following gratuitous sunset shots.

We found a nice little spot in the fort to read and drink tea

There was a dirty ol`lake in Jaisalmer as well. Probably most memorable as the place where we met the creepiest person either of us has met so far in India. (probably the creepiest person I have ever met)

Our last two days in Jaisalmer was spent enjoying the annual Desert Festival. There were numerous events and competitions to watch including: camel polo, camel beauty contest, camel race, turban tying competition,  mustache competition etc. The festival kicked off with a giant parade featuring uncountable camels.

Part of the parade

It is brave to walk the streets of Jaisalmer barefoot

Turban tying competition

Can you spot the typo

Camel polo playing heading to the field

The polo champions