Jaisalmer…the City of Gold
Riding into the desert on the train was something from a movie. Through the open window everything came through: the smell of the sand and the camels, seeing the dust settle on your pack, your clothes, your hair, your eyelids! Now THIS is the desert!
After another train change in Johdpur, we awoke before dawn at the Jaisalmer station to find several Couchsurfing reps waiting for “us.” Since we had arranged a few back-up plans but hadn’t confirmed – they too showed up and we had two or three “hosts” competing for our business and that of other dazed and travel weary arrivals. This is not quite tourist season in the north and everywhere we went you could tell the proprietors were chomping at the bit for sales. Unfortunately, the Couchsurfing as well in Jaisalmer is a bit tourist-hungry, as the hosts all know each other and the safaris and full-priced meals are offered with enthusiasm and eagerness to couchsurf-ees. The resulting experience is less authentic but comfortable nonetheless.
Jaisalmer is a special fort city in the hot and dry state of Rajasthan in Western India. Known as the Golden City because of the prolific sand and sandstone buildings, it is a wonderful location known for its camel treks and men with long, curled and waxed moustaches. The golden sand and clear azure sky add new depth and meaning to India travel and make it a memorable experience.
Here’s a faraway view looking onto the fort that stands sentry over the entire city of Jaisalmer.
Established in the year 1156 by Jaisala, the Bhatti Rajput, the city is named for its founder. Jaisalmer is a city where much or Rajasthani clans have spent their golden period, in fact the golden fort of Jaisalmer is witness to all these royal upheavals. Jaisalmer Fort, the most important monument in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan was built in 1156 by the Bhati Rajput ruler Jaisal. Jaisalmer Fort is situated on Trikuta Hill in Jaisalmer and has been the silent witness of many battles and many victories and defeats. The famous Indian film director Satyajit Ray got tremendous acclaim by writing and directing a detective novel based on this fort. It is a noteworthy thing that about a quarter of city’s population still live inside the bustling fort.
As you can see from the map below, the larger outline is the city of Jaisalmer and the inner outline is the fort itself. It takes up a sizeable portion of the city and sits atop its highest peak. When entering the fort walls it is like stepping back in history as it’s obvious nothing much has changed in the centuries it’s been there.
The fort is so beautiful, so ancient. It was one of the best and most unique locations of our travel.
Our host’s cousin arranged a rickshaw for us and we sped off into the morning twilight deep inside the golden fort which would be our home for the next few days. We made our room in the basement as they were otherwise booked with paying customers and then we walked up to the rooftop lookout to greet the sunrise over the city’s rooftops. The Jain temples next to us provided an impressive silhouette and we were thrilled to be witnessing such a romantic desert tableau.
On the afternoon of our arrival we found a local, non-touristic food joint (though we had to walk a bit out of the fort to do so) which served us some amazing channa masala (chick peas) and the best fresh chapati we’d had in a while! We then walked back to the train station to meet two old friends from Sadhana Forest, Jo and Marie-Anne, who were arriving to spend some days with us.
We had coordinated the last few weeks of our travels in order to share each others’ company and we were all looking forward to the reunion. They would share our Couchsurf for a couple nights before heading off for a camel safari. The four of us spent the rest of the day touring around and visiting different shops in Jaisalmer, all of which had a local flair not seen in any other region we’d been to. We also stopped in at the local bhang shop which sells a form of marijuana served in a tea. This speciality is available only in four places throughout India and of course we were only experimenting with it for research purposes – we like to live as the locals do when traveling, you know. Suffice it to say that three of us giggled the afternoon away and the miles of sand around us seemed much more….. interesting after that. We also took in some amazing views from the fort and enjoyed a dinner on a rooftop cafe.
That evening we decided to enjoy a night out under the stars. While the weather was refreshingly chilly, there was the unrelenting presence of mosquitos which buzzed in our ears all night until we awoke at dawn. Additionally, the light pollution (which is ubiquitous throughout developed India) prevented our thorough enjoyment of the night sky. You have to take a safari into the desert to really be wowed by the stars.
Note the roof of the Jain temple on the left. The mosquitos didn’t bother Marie-Anne at all and she stayed sleeping long after the rest of us got up for some hot chai.
The next morning we decided to visit the temples and explore more of the fort and the city of gold. The main attraction, (for which we decided to save our rupees and forego entry) is the fort’s Palace which is just breathtaking from the outside.
We decided we could spend less than half the money and visit the more impressive local mansions called havelis. Outside the fort of Jaisalmer there are clusters of impressive havelis built by the wealthy Jain merchants, decorated with rich-carvings, stone inlays, ornamental lattice and tracery works. They’re in various states of reconstruction and we chose to visit one of the poshest ones which has been fully resotred and decorated in time-period fashion. It was exciting to walk through the rooms, each more elaborate than the last. These people really knew how to live in style!
The rooms of the haveli looked out onto the narrow lanes connecting them. The breezeways must have offered much appreciated air conditioning in the stifing desert summers.
As we left the haveli we continued walking through the winding avenues outside the fort, in turn getting lost and discovering what was around the next corner. This guru was waiting to greet us with a nice smile and a blessing for our day (for a small donation of course)
Climbing to the top of buildings, birds circled around our heads and the day was so gorgeous we couldn’t help but be giddy about the experience of it.
As a show of appreciation for our hosts, we dined at their hotel rooftop restaurant (nearly every hospitality place in the fort has a rooftop patio/cafe) on several occasions because the temple views and laid-back ambiance was so nice. Our chef was a nice guy but he didn’t care about the concept of couchsurfing at all. Ideally, when couchsurfing, at meal time everyone chips in for the preparation/cost of the meal and dines together as a means of connecting and furthering the relationship. Unfortunately at this location they seemed to not be able to move past viewing us as “customers”, just ones who weren’t paying for the sleeping space. So even when we asked to take the evening meal with the staff, as a show of solidarity and in an effort to get the couchsurf experience, we were charged top dollar for what was basically just a simple meal of dal and chapati. Oh well – we were, as always, grateful to the them and to the Universe for providing all that we had.
On our last day, we feasted on two excellent vegan dishes at a restaurant above the fort’s main gate. The tout at this place had been trying desperately to get us inside and each time we’d passed him by with a “maybe later”, so we decided to finally make good on our promise and we were so glad we did! The food was equalled only by the posh decorating and lovely mood music (combined with the fact that there we had the entire place to ourselves). It made for a great last meal.
After our relaxing meal we took a final look around and hailed a friendly rickshaw to take us to the train station where we boarded our sleeper train to Delhi! It would be a small afternoon break in Delhi and another train to take us up to Rishekesh where we’d spend our final two weeks in India and hopefully a side trip to the Himalayas!
Tags: 2009-Feb, Jaisalmer, What's New, Tag Index
seeingspain
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Awesome architecture, so beautiful, so artistic! What a wonderful experience (except maybe for the mosquitos).
You are both brown as berries, almost look the color of native Indians!
March 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Sounds amazing! Can´t wait to hear more (in person!!!!). Lovely pictures too. You both look so happy and beautiful! Let´s skype sometime soon. We´ll be in Madrid until Thursday.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Amazing! India looks so exotic and fun!
March 28th, 2011 at 11:54 am
nice pics about my Home town
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Its Nice
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