Fabulous Jaisalmer

The first lazy day - getting to know people from "our street"

Like I mentioned in the previous post, Arvind - the boss of the Desert Boys hotel, where we booked a room was waiting for us at the train station in Jaisalmer.
It turned out that there were two tourists besides us, that have arrived and all could not be located in the rickshaw, which was ordered by Arvind. Then Arvind told mom has to go in a rickshaw, and that I follow him. Having no idea of his intentions, I was trying to catch up with him. You have to know that Indians walk very quickly and a tourist has to literally run after them to keep pace with them. So I caught up with Arvind and... he sits on a motorbike and invites me to sit behind him. Indian landscape looks incredibly while driving on a motorcycle, especially that my driver did not show any mercy and was speeding through the dusty roads, and then up, up, into the fort along the winding streets, jumping on the "sleeping policemen" and drainage or sewerage ditches. It was superb!!!!!

One must also notice how much the climate and landscape was different in comparison with that we experienced in Delhi. In Jaisalmer we were greeted by the sweltering and sun-parched day, and a sandy landscape stretched around us, with desert shrubs here and there. Fort of Jaisalmer is unique in the world, as it is still inhabited. It looks great,
although at first one can be disturbed by a light stench due to poor sewerage. Winding streets with the cows, small shops, beautifully decorated balconies and windows and people poking out and greeting you with friendly "Namaste" and throwing questions at you, as from where you are. It all gives the impression as if you entered a medieval town where everyone knows everyone and their lives go their own course.

When writing about Jaisalmer one should note the state of the Fort. As I mentioned drainage system is not in the best condition. They say it is because of excessive water consumption, overpopulation, and stuff like that. Of course, they would like the fort to be closed, emptied of the people who live there and of the tourists and made into another empty museum. But none of the residents would agree and I hope that this never happens. Sewerage and other problems need repair, and not giving up. It is said that the sewer repair costs would came to about 60 million rupees, and that is about 1 million Euro - not so much for such investment. I think it should be possible to find funds to repair the sewerage. And when it comes to overpopulation, I have never seen too many people in India, neither in Delhi nor in Jaisalmer. In the fort, in the evening,
when we went to walk through the streets, there were very few people and the town seemed very quiet, almost like a village. During the day, crowds were made out of tourists, but they stayed in the fort 1 to 2 days at most.

In the hotel we received a lovely little room decorated with typical Rajastani reliefs. It was placed at the top floor, and just beside a terrace with a great view of the buildings outside the fort. The ladder led to the roof, on which you could get the food from the restaurant.

After a short rest, we decided to walk through the fort. It was dark, but still in front of each home someone was sitting and greeted us and invited to come and watch inside a shop or suggested to drink chai. In this way we got to know the shop owners in the street adjacent to our small hotel and other nearby places.

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