Thar Desert, 14.09.03

Hello everybody

Finally I left the crowded places behind and arrived in Jaisalmer, an amazing town, just at the beginning of the Thar desert. It is a very quiet place, especially at the moment (the season starts here in about one month). The people are much nicer and friendlier here than in this crowded places I was before, here you can really talk to people. I checked in a guest house placed in the wall of the Jaisalmer Fort, and from my window I can oversee the surrounding wall of the fort. They have also an exceptional good kitchen in the roof top restaurant, where they serve some very special local Thalis...

Before coming here I staied two days in Jodhpur, which is also a very nice place, although not as quiet and peaceful as here. On my way to Jaisalmer I was driving on narrow streets with hardly any traffic, only some goat or camel herds crossing from time to time... And you drive really through the desert, so the views from the road are sanddunes, corn fields or rural villages consisting of thatched roofed huts and small ponds for the local watersupply. The weather is as it should be in the desert, hot and dry, but there is always a refreshing cool breeze, and once you are in the shade it is very comfortable.

Of course one have to go on a camel safari, to spend some days in the dunes and to sleep under the open sky... so the next two days I am off in the desert, and I hope that the ride wont be too uncomfortable, although the travel agent assured me that the saddles will be nicely polstered with cushions... we will see.

After the safari I intend to visit some remote villages scattered around Jaisalmer, but not with a camel, therefore I prefer my Enfield, with its comfortable seat... The roads in the area are very good, cause its near the pakistani boarder, and therefore the army takes care of the roads.

Afterwards I will head south, to visit Udaipur and than through Gujarat down to Mumbay (Bombay)

I hope everybody is doing well at home and for those who life in Switzerland that the weather is not too cold and miserable....;-))

Martin

< Rajasthan, 06.09.03 | Martins Mails | Udaiphur, 22.09.03 >