While travelling in India you come across various forms of beautiful locations. Some of them are created by God nature & others by God’s best creation HUMAN. Rajasthan is a state in western India with very low rainfall & huge area of the state is covered by desert & low fertility land. Still Rajasthan is one of the most visited places in India. Where nature felt short Indian artists took the responsibility of beautification.In my trip to Rajasthan, I enjoyed 3 days of stay at Jaisalmer. I travelled from Jaipur to Bikaner & then Bikaner to Jaisalmer. When we reached Jaisalmer it was around 7:00 pm. I was tired by entire day of travelling from Bikaner to Jaisalmer but Jaisalmer welcomes us with beautiful glittering Golden fort of Jaisalmer & all fatigue, tiredness goes away. One can’t take eye off the fort. After sunset flood lights are operational focusing on golden walls of the fort. We went to the hotel, relaxed for a while & had a dinner. I tried local specialty called KER SANGRI. It’s a leafy vegetable which grows in desert around Jaisalmer. After dinner we went for a stroll around this beautiful fort.
The morning was as beautiful as evening. We moved out of hotel to visit entire Jaisalmer fort. It’s 900 years old fort, but still in very good condition. The rock found in this area is golden in color & entire fort is built using this rock. It’s a ground fort & you don’t have to climb but just to take a walk. One can see beautifully carved palace built for queens. Some beautifully carved Jain temples & many huge palaces, gallaries etc.
Next spot was Patavaon ki Haveli. These are 5 huge multistory palaces built by one merchant for his 5 sons. All palaces are beautifully carved & one can get glimpses of how Rajasthani people used to leave life king size.
There is one more haveli called nathumal ki haveli. Specialty of this structure is its not in symmetry. Two artist brothers from Rajasthan had built it simultaneously as per their creativity. Both parts are equally beautiful.
On way back to hotel I tried some delicious laddus which is specialty dish of Jaisalmer. Many foreign tourists visit this place for seeing Jaisalmer fort & sand dunes.
After lunch we left for the biggest attraction of Jaisalmer. As most of you are aware, Jaisalmer is perhaps the last big town before “Thar desert”. So the sand dunes of Thar are very close to Jaisalmer. We travelled around 40 Kms to reach village called SAM there is another village called KHURI which is close to sand dunes.
We reached tent camp of SAM @ 4:00 pm. Settled down in swiss tent, had tea & then headed straight to sand dunes camel ride. Riding a camel is really great experience (for us of course, for camel it must have been nightmare). The camel doesn’t eat anything but you have to keep feeding his master if you want to go in deeper desert. (Actually SAM sand dune point has become too crowded due to many tourist visiting so if you really want the feeling of being in desert you have to go further in desert). The dunes are big & the view is breathtaking if you visit at the time of sunset.
We played in dunes, had a photo shoot & then came back to our camp at SAM. This was perhaps one of the best evenings I had spent. What could have been better arrangement for celebrating my first marriage anniversary?
When we returned to our camp / desert resort @ SAM, we had another treat in terms of Rajasthani cultural program organized by resort. Local artists played rajasthani songs, performed dances.. The program was short & sweet. We enjoyed the program & then had typical Rajasthani dinner which includes Dal Bati, Churma, Gatta Kadhi, Ker Sangri, Gathi vegetable, rice etc. After sumptuous meal we enjoyed campfire & then concluded our day.
Next morning returned to jaisalmer & halted at hotel to freshen up & then bid goodbye to this beautiful golden city..
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