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Other entries in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer, India

The rains relented a bit over the next week as we made our way further west to Jaisalmer, about 50km from the Pakistan border and right on the edge of the Thar desert.   The train ride took us through desolate, arid spaces and the heat of the sun was radiating through the glass windows.  We saw many camels and tons of peacocks during the train ride as well.  It was really amazing to see these animals just free to roam wherever! 

We arrived in Jaisalmer to 40 degree heat and not a cloud in the sky AND humidity at a low - very pleasant despite the high temperature.  We decided to stay outside the fort as the increased water usage inside the fort due to increased tourism is slowly eating away at the delicate sandstone architecture and fort walls that have been standing for the last 850 years!!  As luck would have it though, the rain followed us from Jodhpur and unexpectedly entered into the desert.  Again, as luck would have it, the area hasn't seen rain like this in 30 years - "A Deluge in the Desert" were the newspaper headlines!

The architecture around the fort is so stunning!  The amount of detail in the sandstone structure of the window carvings, street buildings and gate entranceways is absolutely breathtaking.  It's also just incredible that the detail has held up so well over the 800+ years without any restoration.  Of course, this detail is dependant on the dry, arid desert weather.  During the time we were here (for 2 weeks) the monsoon actually destroyed part of the fort's inner walls and they toppled into the streets - the delicate sandstone structures just couldn't hold up to the torrential downpour.

The fort was our entertainment for the 2 weeks that we were here.  So many vendors selling textiles, puppets, jewelery, henna, shoes, purses - it was entertaining to say the least.  But we only planned to stay for a week and as we were getting ready to leave, the biggest dumping of rain occurred.  The power went out, the roads were flooded by 15 feet of water and the rail lines broke.  There was no escape and no relief in site.  The heat was still there, but now there wasn't even a fan to move the air around.  There wasn't any e-mail for entertainment and the phone lines weren't working either.  Now more than ever we wanted out and couldn't go anywhere - oh, except for the desert on a camel safari - the dudes were still selling the tours.  But now more than ever we didn't want to go into the desert and into the sandstorms we could see happening on the horizon!  One evening we actually ran back to our hotel when we saw what was heading our way.....pretty freaky!  Even before the monsoon arrived here, the city power outages were more regular than curry-induced toilet runs (pun intended).

When the downpour stopped, we still didn't know when the trains would be up and running, no-one did.  Even trying to get a ride to the train station was almost impossible as all the rickshaw drivers seemed to think that the train station itself was under water.........but when we convinced him to drive there anyhow, the roads were bare and low-and-behold, the train station was not under water!  The other funny thing about India, is that everyone seems to live in their own little micro-cosm, and it is MICRO.  They really don't know anything that's happening outside of their 1 km radius, but insist they are in the know, which was why the driver was determined to tell us that the station was flooded.  This micro-thinking has happened in so many places that we just don't ask anyone anything anymore.  It definitely takes us more time to find out the truth, but at least we know it's accurate.  Even the tourist office employees are touts in disguise trying to make a buck and split the commission with a friend.  It's really sad to HAVE to be so suspicious of everyone :(

As for health-wise, a couple of days before leaving, I was hit by another stomach bug that had me down for 3 days.  A day later Andre found a nail in his food!  Yes, a nail!  All these things increase your tensions and make you want out now!  And this was all happening when we were really trying to make sure that we especially looked after our health.  Since the power was down for a week, we only ate at the places that had a generator that could keep the food fresh - and this was the place with the nail!  So there's just no winning!  And don't get us started on the intestinal problems - I don't think pooping 5 times a day is a norm - especially when you're not well enough to eat anything and you still poop.  As for eating at "better" places - well those just get you a nail in your food!!

Since there seemed to be no easy way out of here and it seemed as though "Groundhog Day" was happening to us, we hired a car for $30 to drive us back into Jodhpur - and that was another ordeal of just crowds of people surrounding us, most people just hanging around to stare and have nothing at all to contribute.   But that's nothing new........