Day 16 to Day 20 – Jaisalmer, the Desert City
Day 16 – Monday, 11/11/2013 to Day 20 – Friday, 15/11/2013
I am clubbing this post to write about our entire Jaisalmer experience for 5D, 4N. Jaisalmer is truly a desert city. The amount of police and army deployed there makes it a strong defense city as well.
It’s Monday morning 4 am in Jodhpur and Khyati and I wake up, we have a 5:30 am train to Jaisalmer. The hotel manager had advised us to reach the station half an hour prior to departure time. The air was slightly chilly and we tread towards Platform 1 where the train is supposed to arrive. It’s 5:10 am and the new announcement goes that the train is now approaching on Platform 3 so we hurriedly carry our luggage and run towards that platform. Khyati and I had RAC confirmed tickets (means that our seat numbers are not allocated yet and will be printed on the chart that’s prepared for that day). We don’t know yet which compartment should we get into. I try to find a TTE (Ticket Checker) to find our seat details. He asks us to go into S1 – 9 and 10. We carry our luggage to that compartment but we find a group of army folks sleeping merrily on our seats. We dare to wake them up but they are in no mood to budge. Some of the other fellow passengers mention that this train runs like an unreserved coach between Jodhpur to Jaisalmer so we can sit anywhere we find seats empty. I found it odd but due to the morning hour, we agreed and found seats in S3 coach.
Train route
Khyati and I catch on some sleep and time passes fast. It’s 10 am and we see the vast desert land pass by. The train makes few stops and we approach Jaisalmer at 12:30 pm. The distinct thing about traveling to Jaisalmer is the amount of dust that gushes in through the open windows as you close in on Jaisalmer. We close the windows to avoid the dust.
Jaisalmer is the last railway town before the Indo – Pak border and we saw a lot of military folks stationed there. We take a rickshaw to Police Border Guard Ground where our Youth Hostel camp was being held. We were going to experience tent life for the next few days. We were quite excited.
Base camp
We completed the check in formalities and were assigned Tent 21. There were around 60 tents all put up by the staff there and designated gents and ladies toilets and showers. The setup was impressive. We were told that lunch will be served in half an hour and we go to the tent to keep our luggage.
Tent site
An insider view
Common toilets
Youth Hostel camps are amazing, it’s a great place to make new connections and the best way to explore a city. This was no different. Our camp leader announced the itinerary for the next few days.
Post lunch, it’s 3:30 pm in the afternoon and we are out to explore the city. The entire Jaisalmer city is spread in a 3 x 3 km area. It’s quite compact. We visit the famous Patwa Haveli. Patwa was a rich ruler and he built Havelis (residential houses) for his family. These Havelis are now presented as museums and we explore the area. All the buildings have used a distinctive yellow golden stone and it appears bright and nice in the evening sun.
Patwa Haveli
We walk towards Gadisar lake in the evening and enjoy the sunset there. We had to reach base camp at 7 pm for dinner. Food at the base camp was traditional Rajasthani fare and we liked it.
The highlights of the camp is the daily Camp Fire and the camp leader hosted the first night’s camp fire. He introduced himself and his group of volunteers. The staff there was really helpful and made extra efforts in making our stay memorable.
It’s 9:30 pm and you can feel the cold in the air. Jaisalmer is hot in the afternoons and cold in the nights. We request few extra blankets to help us survive the biting cold.
It’s 6 am Tuesday morning and we wake up to the chatter of fellow tenters. As tents are so close by, you can almost hear people mumble in their tents. We get ready by 8 am and breakfast is served soon. Breakfast consists of a hot snack and tea / coffee. The morning itinerary was for us to explore the Jaisalmer fort and Jain temples. We go with our camp group. There was heavy traffic in the city that day as it was Election day and you could see political parties promoting themselves and encouraging people to vote for them. At first, we might mistaken him for a singer but he was shouting slogans in favor of a local politician.
Election campaigns
The fort is huge and we climb to the very top to see pleasant views of the city. We head back to the base camp around noon for lunch. The staff there had put up Pandals (big open tents) as food area and we all sat down for lunch like a big family.
For the afternoon, there were plans to explore Sam Sand dunes which were 45 kms away and the camp folks had arranged buses for the same. All of us hopped on three buses and reached the sand dunes by 4 pm. The sand dunes are famous for the sunset views and we were here for that. At the sand dunes, you can either choose to walk yourselves or take a camel ride. Camels were aplenty and as soon as we got off the bus, a group of camel riders circled us in order to get our business. Khyati and I had decided against riding a camel and chose to walk in the desert. The desert was vast and we continued our journey into the Thar desert. It was good fun walking, running and sliding in the sand dunes.
Thar desert
It’s 5:30 pm and we witness one of the most amazing sunsets we have seen in a while. We head back to the buses by 6 pm and they take us to the base camp. It’s an hour journey to cover the 45 km distance.
Back at the base camp, we are served some hot food. The camp was an eco friendly one and we were asked to bring our own plates and reuse them. We liked this practice. One interesting anecdote – To wash plates, there was one soap powder available and there was a rush for people trying to use it. Some of the people started to use sand to clean their plates instead of soap and it turned out to be a good alternative. We used this same method over the next few days.
The camp rules were strict and lights used to be turned off by 10 pm post camp fire. Another interesting tidbit was that the tents did not have a plug point but instead in the open food area, they had a multi switch board containing around 20 – 25 plugs and everybody used to huddle there to charge their phones, camera, etc… It was a fun sight to see.
It’s Wednesday morning 6:30 am and we are woken up by patriotic songs played on the loud speakers. Apparently, some uncle in the group decided it was a good time to play Indian patriotic songs. hehe! Today was a long day for us and we were heading towards the border and to witness the site of Indo-Pak 1971 war – Longewala.
There are two buses arranged for today and we visit the border at Longewala. Enroute we see, Asia’s largest TV tower, Tanot Mata Mandir and the tankers which Pakistan deployed on India during the 1971 war. It felt amazing to see all these things up close and hear stories from soldiers who had fought for the country in Kashmir and various other postings.
Asia’s largest TV tower at one time
Well said at the border site
Longewala war site
During the bus journey, we play games and Antakshari, time passes fast and we reach base camp by 6:30 pm.
Tonight, the camp folks have arranged a traditional music and dance evening for us. The show is enthralling and we wish the show goes on and on. We call it a night around 10 pm.
It’s Thursday and today, we set out to explore the local towns near Jaisalmer. First stop for us is the town of Kuldhra – it’s an empty town. The story has it that there was an evil ruler in Jaisalmer who had his eyes set on a beautiful young lady in Kuldhra town. The town folks denied the marriage proposal and the ruler started imposing evils on the people. Then one day, villagers of 84 people vacated the town in a single night and nobody knows where they went but the towns are empty since then.
Kuldhra town in background
Next visit is two Jain temples which were around 400-500 years old. Beautiful carvings and we enjoy our visit there. Last stop for the day was the royal cemetery. The royals were burnt in mango tree wood and there was a huge mango farm in that complex.
We reach back base camp by 5 pm and relax at the camp for the night.
Tomorrow is Friday and our last day in Jaisalmer. It’s 8 am on Friday morning and most people check out of the camp. We have time until 5 pm in the evening and we spend time visiting the city again.
I will write about our train journey from Jaisalmer to Jaipur and Jaipur city visit in our next post.
Thanks again for reading and please drop in your comments.
Best wishes,
Paras