We left Bikaner behind bright and early and hit the road to Jaislamer.
Our progress was soon halted when we reached a flooded portion of the road which was deemed to be impassable in our trusty Tata Indigo. Other larger vehicles were passing without much trouble, but we hit the dust tracks running parallel to the main road instead and eventually wound our way back on to the road on the other side of the flood.
August is slap bang in the middle of monsoon season here in India and as we reached the outskirts of Jaisalmer the heavens opened and we had to reroute several times due to flooded roads.
Having reached our hotel in the town we decided to go and investigate the 'Golden city' despite everything still being slightly soggy. With our trusty Thai umbrellas to keep us dry we wandered around the town and eventually found a place to indulge in a Thali, which is a fantastic Indian meal, served in a steel tray with multiple compartments filled with various food stuffs including rice, dahl, vegetables and chapatis; yum yum yum. As we walked back to the hotel we answered, for what seemed the hundredth time, questions about our umbrellas; Indians are obsessed with them and want to know where we bought them and how much they were, very funny!
The next morning the weather was dry and so we were able to walk, unhindered by inquiries about our umbrellas, up to the yellow sandstone fort which is perched on top of the hill.
The main thing we wanted to see were the Jain Temples which are contained within the fort's walls. The carving in these temples was amazingly intricate and incredibly well preserved for such ancient buildings.
There were four different temples to see and with different opening times for each one we also had time to wander the narrow streets inside the 'living' fort
and meet some of the city's population who live within its walls.
By the end of our temple filled morning Dave was coming over all 'ommmm!' and I turned around to find him in this position.
We left the walls of the fort behind us and indulged in some retail therapy before heading back to our hotel where the Manager had obviously taken a fancy to Dave (our driver told us that they think he looks like a sportsman in his attractive singlets, what kind of sportsman we are not sure!) and invited us to have lunch with him at his house around the corner. We had a gorgeous meal prepared by his wife and mother including an okra curry, vegetables, rice and piles of chapatis; amazing hospitality and all for having nice umbrellas and wearing a vest top!
After letting our food go down it was back into the car once more and into the Thar desert for our camel safari. The dunes weren't particularly impressive at this time of year with the desert landscape being somewhat spoiled by an abundance of green. We mounted our camels, of course I got the mankiest, fly ridden beast you can imagine, and trotted off into the desert.
The gathering rain clouds put paid to any hope of a sunset on the dunes but we consoled ourselves by taking photographs of the ever amusing camels.
Dave spotted a mongoose from atop his camel, which is a weasel-esque creature and in India are popularly used to fight and kill venomous snakes; don't say I never teach you anything!
Our progress was soon halted when we reached a flooded portion of the road which was deemed to be impassable in our trusty Tata Indigo. Other larger vehicles were passing without much trouble, but we hit the dust tracks running parallel to the main road instead and eventually wound our way back on to the road on the other side of the flood.
August is slap bang in the middle of monsoon season here in India and as we reached the outskirts of Jaisalmer the heavens opened and we had to reroute several times due to flooded roads. Having reached our hotel in the town we decided to go and investigate the 'Golden city' despite everything still being slightly soggy. With our trusty Thai umbrellas to keep us dry we wandered around the town and eventually found a place to indulge in a Thali, which is a fantastic Indian meal, served in a steel tray with multiple compartments filled with various food stuffs including rice, dahl, vegetables and chapatis; yum yum yum. As we walked back to the hotel we answered, for what seemed the hundredth time, questions about our umbrellas; Indians are obsessed with them and want to know where we bought them and how much they were, very funny!
The next morning the weather was dry and so we were able to walk, unhindered by inquiries about our umbrellas, up to the yellow sandstone fort which is perched on top of the hill.
The main thing we wanted to see were the Jain Temples which are contained within the fort's walls. The carving in these temples was amazingly intricate and incredibly well preserved for such ancient buildings.
There were four different temples to see and with different opening times for each one we also had time to wander the narrow streets inside the 'living' fort
and meet some of the city's population who live within its walls.
By the end of our temple filled morning Dave was coming over all 'ommmm!' and I turned around to find him in this position.
We left the walls of the fort behind us and indulged in some retail therapy before heading back to our hotel where the Manager had obviously taken a fancy to Dave (our driver told us that they think he looks like a sportsman in his attractive singlets, what kind of sportsman we are not sure!) and invited us to have lunch with him at his house around the corner. We had a gorgeous meal prepared by his wife and mother including an okra curry, vegetables, rice and piles of chapatis; amazing hospitality and all for having nice umbrellas and wearing a vest top!After letting our food go down it was back into the car once more and into the Thar desert for our camel safari. The dunes weren't particularly impressive at this time of year with the desert landscape being somewhat spoiled by an abundance of green. We mounted our camels, of course I got the mankiest, fly ridden beast you can imagine, and trotted off into the desert.
The gathering rain clouds put paid to any hope of a sunset on the dunes but we consoled ourselves by taking photographs of the ever amusing camels.
Dave spotted a mongoose from atop his camel, which is a weasel-esque creature and in India are popularly used to fight and kill venomous snakes; don't say I never teach you anything!
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