Jaisalmer – Travelogue

I have buried Jaipur Travelogue under the carpet. Lets talk about it some other time. Jaisalmer was the first place I visited. I took a night bus from ahmedabad to reach Jaisalmer. The bus reached Jaisalmer by around 7.30 in the morning. I was wide awake when the bus was nearing Jaisalmer and all I could see was golden color houses.

Initially I clicked some photographs, but later realized almost every building was of same color. Finally, the bus reached Jaisalmer and a car was waiting for me. At this point I would like to mention about the hospitality of Hotel Gangaur. They treated me like a king for the next 2 days.

After a quick shower and a heavy breakfast of Paneer Paratha I ventured out. It seems the stones in Jaisalmer are yellow in color, and when washed it resembles gold. And since almost every building in the city is built of that stone, the name ‘Golden City’. Like all politicians, I started my trip by visiting a graveyard/memorial built for the erstwhile kings.

Its called as the ‘Cenotaphs of Barabagh’. Everytime a king dies, they raise a plaque within this cenotaph mentioning the kings name and some more details.

Here are some photographs of the cenotaphs. It really shines in sunlight, and looks amazing.

After visiting the cenotaphs, I went to a temple called as ‘Amar Sagar’. Beautiful and clean temple, set in a serene atmosphere. Its so quiet and clean. I think I would have spent atleast 45 minutes in this small temple. I just didn’t feel like coming out of the temple. Its lovely!

Crows usually fly away, when someone comes near no? And there is a small lake around the temple, and there are many pigeons too. Do visit this temple ‘Amar Sagar’. You will really like it.

By this it was around 1 in the afternoon, and I went to the hotel for having lunch and catching some sleep. The plan was to relax till 3.30 and then leave for the desert and spend the evening and night there. I just could not sleep, and kept tossing and turning till it was 3.30. Actually, next to jaisalmer there are 2 popular sand dunes(where there are tents). One is called as ‘Sam dunes’ where almost 99 % of the tourists go, and another place called khuri where 1 % of the people go No prize for guessing I went to Khuri.

Its actually a village, close to which some hotels have come up with tents and other facilities. You can either stay in a hut or in a tent. When I asked in my blog some days back, if there are hotels which offer tents people asked me ‘Why would you want a hotel to provide you a tent’. Well, ladies and gentlemen I was not referring to the NCC type of tents. I was asking about the swiss type tents which are furnished, and has an attached bathroom.

By the time I reached the village hot tea and a camel was waiting for me. I was riding on a camel for the first time, and the guide told me the trick of riding on a camel. It seems the camel will first get up on its backfoot, and hence he asked me to bend backwards when it gets up. I asked the name of the camel, and he said its called ‘Babloo’ and Babloo was 50 years old!!! Later I came to know almost every camel in Jaisalmer is called as Babloo

Let me tell you. Its an amazing experience riding a camel. Its so different from riding a horse or an elephant. You need to be really fit enough, since its not at all a smooth ride But its great fun. Check out this video, for the shake And the sand dunes was some 3 kms away from the tents, and the camel ride went on for some 30 minutes or so, since I didn’t want to rush up.

After the first 1 km, you slowly get to see the sand dunes in front and its really breath taking. Lovely formations on sand as if someone had sculpted it.

Then came the best part of the evening, that is the sunset. I have seen sunsets from beaches, tall buildings, landscapes, hilltops etc but I would rate the sunset in the desert as the best. I haven’t the seen so red. Look at the pictures in sequence. Its red, yellow and white in the first, red and yellow and just red finally. It was just amazing! No words can describe the beauty of the evening. And there were some 10 or 15 people apart from me. That is all. I will remember this sunset for a very long time in life!

Conitnuation here