Rajasthan

Written: Nov 16, 2002
Location: Jaisalmer, India

Hi All. This entry describes my time visiting Jaisalmer and Pushkar in Rajasthan.

I took the train from Delhi to Jaisalmer which is in the far west of India near the border with Pakistan. It’s only in the last couple of years that its been possible to do so. Previously it had been necessary to change trains at Jodhpur. I splashed out 800 Rupees on a 3-tier air con sleeper for the 20 hour overnight journey. The coach was not that much different than ordinary sleeper class. It was much cleaner and you got sheets and blankets instead of having to bring your own. Also there was less hassle from station hawkers who were restricted to the sleeper class carriages.

The landscape of Rajasthan was a great change to the trees and hills I had been used to in the North. It was very pleasant in the afternoon to look out of the train window at the desert.
Watching the sand, scrubby trees, goats and camels pass by. I saw a lot of army personnel and equipment including tanks and big guns; stationed presumably because the area is close to the border with Pakistan.

On arrival at Jaisalmer station I was besieged by an army of hotel touts, not for the first time in India. I got a free ride to a guesthouse in a jeep so sometimes they can be useful. From the terrace of my guesthouse I had a good view of Jaisalmer fort. It looked like a collection of
giant sandcastles.

Next day I wandered around the tiny alleys in the fort. It was very hot during the day. It is quite a touristy place, shopkeepers and street sellers trying to interest you in their wares. I visited the Raj Mahal or Royal Palace. I was shocked to have to pay 50 Rupees to take a camera inside as the main reason I had gone in was to take photos from the rooftop. The palace contained some beautiful furniture that was used by the Maharaja of Rajasthan. The view from the roof was stunning. I stayed there to watch the sunset over the desert.

I was up early the following morning for the start of a three day camel safari. The group assembled outside the offices of Ganesh Travels who we had booked with. We were a group of six: Tulia a sculptor from Columbia, Shirley from Guernsey, Bea a nurse from Germany and Orwit and Amrik, a couple from Israel.

We were soon aboard a jeep being packed with provisions including eggs, a large bag of vegetables and five flagons of water. 45 minutes later we were deposited in the middle of nowhere. A group of camels were grazing and these were saddled up by Amin the head camel driver and two of his men. I was given an intelligent looking dark brown beast to ride and I was pleased with my steed. He was friendly enough although he would often want to veer off to eat the shrubs and bushes. This could mostly be avoided by keeping him on a tight rein. Once he got going it was difficult to stop him. He obviously knew the route well and had his own ideas on when was the right time to stop.

We set off across the desert having a lot of laughs as we got used to riding the camels. Sometimes they would break into a trot. Unfortunately Shirley had an upset stomach and this was not what she wanted.

The colours of the desert were stunning. A cloudless blue sky, the leaves of the trees a dazzling green, brown rock breaking through the sand in places.

I felt quite comfortable on the camel. It was not too hot in the early morning. We stopped at a couple of villages, one inhabited by Rajput people the other by people from the untouchable caste. The houses were made of mud, red in colour with thatched roofs. The villagers were colourfully dressed. The men all wore turbans and the women brightly coloured saris. The women wore lots of jewellery including large nose rings. The villagers were used to tourists and wanted us to take photos for money.

We saw a young woman with a child only a couple of months old. The boy had white powder on his face to protect from the sun and had his arms and legs tied as is the custom to stop him from harming himself. Some of the women thought this a cruel practice.

At 12 we stopped for lunch as it was too hot to travel at that time of day. We all sat on blankets in the shade of trees as Amin cooked lunch, standard Indian fare of rice, chapatti and
vegetables.

We started again at 3.30pm and rode for two hours. The shadows lengthened in the late afternoon and sand dunes appeared in the distance. We rode right up into the dunes and made camp near the top next to some bushes that provided shelter. It was a wild place that we had to ourselves. I was glad I had chosen this route instead of the more popular one that most safaris take.

We walked amongst the dunes to watch the sunset (another one). The dunes were shaped perfectly by the wind. It’s the first time I had been in a desert and hopefully not the last, must make it to Africa sometime. As it got dark I walked to the top of the dunes and looked over into the valley beyond. Two deer ran off into the bush. It was very quiet, hardly a sound.

By the time we had got back to camp Amin had made chai and the meal was being cooked over an open fire made from bush wood. Sebastian the owner of the safari company had promised us beer that evening but nobody showed up. They had looked for us but could not find our camp. Nevertheless the evening was very pleasant sat round a fire in the desert under the stars.

We slept on blankets laid out on the sand. The stars made a vast panorama they were almost too bright, too dazzling to look at. The camels munched continuously throughout the night. I slept little. A thin blanket made a hard bed on the sand. I felt decidedly rough the next morning but felt better after a chai, eggs and toast.

On the second day we visited another village and a deserted one that had been bombed by the Pakistanis and then abandoned. Shirley and Bea left after lunch as they had booked a one night safari. We arranged to meet up later in Pushkar. The rest of us continued and spent another night in the desert. It was another great camp site, on the top of a rock shelf giving great views. This time Sebastian’s men found us and brought beer. It tasted delicious after a long days ride.

After getting back to Jaisalmer I had a long overdue shower and got straight on a bus to Pushkar for the camel fair. The fair is held every year and traders from all over Rajasthan come to buy or sell camels. I met up with Shirley and Bea again and we spent a few days together. There were cultural events put on for the tourists but most people thought these were disappointing. Some of it was cruel. A man beat a horse to get it to "dance" and it was plainly uncomfortable. There were also performances with monkeys which I avoided. It was better to wander around the surrounding countryside where the camels were kept. It was an awesome sight to see hundreds of camels backlit by the sunset. There were a lot of foreign tourists around. One woman was shouting at people to get out of the way of her camera shot which was quite funny.

In the evening we watched a fire dance. Rajput men stepped barefoot into the middle of red hot mouldering ashes and blew the same from their mouths. It was very photogenic. At the end the men destroyed the fire as part of the dance by kicking and spreading the ashes. The hot ashes were sent flying towards the tourists standing outside a wooden fence; luckily no one seemed to be injured.

The following morning we got up early and walked up to the temple on the hill overlooking the town to watch the sunrise. The view of the town and lake was stunning.

Bea left that night for Rishikesh. Shirley and I watched a performance of Kasha dance. It was the best event we had seen. The dancers from a well known school in Jaipur were young and beautiful. They were accompanied by drummers, a sitar player and a vocalist. The precise quick movements of the dancers, the brightly coloured dresses and the deep vibrations of the music were very atmospheric.

Oh well, that’s all for this instalment. I'm now in Bangkok, Thailand which is completely different from India. First impressions are pretty good though. Yesterday I bumped into Alan the 63 year old trekker I had met almost five months ago in India. It’s a small world.

Until next time.

Best Wishes
Simon