Thursday, September 17, 2009

Jaisalmer - A Rendevouz with the Thar Desert

- Contributed by Prerna - 

Totally unexpected and out-of-the blue trip on the 12th and 13th September and thats what made it so much of fun. Jaisalmer has been one of my dream destinations and it was jaisalmer vs. Diu, but then the desert seemed more inviting..The journey was long - 600+ km from Ahmedabad (close to 65 kms form the border india- Pak ) and very uncomfortable to say the least, but still totally worth it. 

It is the golden city ( reminds me of greece where every bulding on the islands was painted white), every building uses sandstone. The fort is the only monument in the world that has people living in it- families and  hotels and havelis. We visited the Jain temples - which had very intricate carvings and staues of Lord mahavira all over. The only other hindu god present was Ganesha. The jeep ride to the camping  place next to the desert was amazing - on both sides there was only barren land with an occasional camel eating on shrubbery. The vastness and the expanse of the land was taking time to absorb in. The sam village( where the camp) was 45 km from the city and once we reached there, we immediately started out on our camels for the sunset on the desert. I cant even begin to express what it was like to be on the silk sands of the desert. We were rolling, running and diving over the sand dunes. Highlight of the evening was the Rajasthani folk music- it was brilliant and i really mean it.  The sky was perfect with the milky way that could be spotted and a candlelight dinner with rajasthani food was as good as it gets. 






7 comments:

Unknown said...

hey
jaisalmer comes as my all time favourite places - a must visit for everyone - i suggest go again in december sometime when you can enjoy the golden city in all its glory as it basks and shines brilliantly under the lovely winter sun

Prerna said...

I dont think we ll be able to do it again in a long time..there is so much else to see

Adventurist said...

Well there was no lack of sun this time around too.. the weather was kind of nice in the evening..

The camel ride and the dunes is something i will remember..

Next Stop... Sahara..

opal said...

Wow, so beautiful! this is something i want to experience! living in pilani, i caught many sunsets, but i never really ventured too far into the Thar to see the sand dunes. that must have really been something.

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