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After the sunset, I reached the tent resorts or however one calls it. They had arranged for a music/dance program. Its called as traditional rajasthani music, but then that has also become commercialized. Apart from me, there were 2 or 3 other families. And they requested these guys to sing film songs :( But then, the dance was good. Three people danced in tandem, and some steps were really unbelievable. Like they were kneeling on the mud floor and circling the camp fire at a speed of around 60 to 70 kmph. It took sometime for me to understand, what had happened. And yes, out of 3 dancers there was 1 girl, and 2 guys dressed in girls costumes.

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By around 8.30 I was getting really tired. I wanted to sleep. I hadn’t slept the previous night, and the entire days excitement was taking its toll. I quickly had my dinner, and ventured out. I have heard from many people that desert sky is the clearest. It was true. I remember counting more than 100 stars (All my lucky ones, I suppose). After that, I buried myself under 2 razais and had one of the most peaceful sleeps of my life time.

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Next day, I got up pretty early in the morning and ventured into the desert for sunrise. We (me and my guide) reached the desert by around 06.45, though the sunrise was only at 07.30. There was no one in the desert, apart from me and the guide. And since the desert is bit away from the village, the silence there was priceless. And the sky looked so unique and lovely. I don’t know how to describe the last snap. Since it was very cold, we collected some dry sticks and lit the fire. Good fun, I say!

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And I was surprised to see footmarks of deer in a desert. I never knew deer lived near desert too. And there are footmarks of camel, obviously, as well. After the sunrise, got back to the tent for a shower and a yummy breakfast of aloo paratha, and ginger tea :)

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After breakfast, we set back to Jaisalmer. Actually there were some more structures and forts within the city. But I was keener on spending time at the desert, rather than visiting forts since there were 2 forts (One at jodhpur, and another at jaipur) on my itinerary. The road was deserted (Well, is this why the term ‘deserted road’ came into practice?). The fruit you see is not edible for the two legged animals, but relished by the 4 legged animals it seems. I forgot its name.

By the time, I reached Jaisalmer it was late afternoon. After a lunch comprising of dal bhaati(again) and some other stuff, I relaxed for a while (Ofcourse I have been relaxing for the past 2 days). Around three, we left for a village called Kuldhara. This is a 800 year old village near Jaisalmer. It seems, 800 years back a king fell in love with the daughter of a priest from that village. The king asked the priest for his daughters hand in marriage, but the priest refused since the king was not from their community. But by night time, the priest realized that he cant fight the king and decided to leave the village along with his family.

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And the entire village supported the priest, and they also left the village along with the priest’s family. The village is intact, and is a historical site now. The roof is gone, but the walls of the houses and the temple are intact. And the walls are built by just placing the stones, one above another without any cement or mixture. Interesting!

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If at all you are planning to visit this village, park your vehicle at the main gate and take a walk around the village. It is better that way than going by vehicle. The government has reconstructed one house, to depict how people lived those days. I was surprised to see a garage for the bullock cart :)

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Later, we ventured into these SAM sand dunes. This is the place where most tourists visit, and many movie shooting have taken place there it seems. The pictures should say, why. And hey, I am not a DMK supporter. The black and red photo is an exact depiction of how the place looked after sunset. The road in the last picture leads one into Pakistan. That place was some 80 kms close to the Pakistan border. Next time, I intend to visit that village Tannot in the border

Some videos here:
Desert at twilight
Camel chewing food, and later running through the desert
Rajasthani folk dance

If I have tempted you enough to visit Jaisalmer, I consider my travelogue is good :)