Camel ride.....yee haw!

The final part of our Jaisalmer tour day was a visit to sunset point (called by L"sum") which is a tourist must see about 30-45 minutes outside of the city. The area is covered by sand dunes and offers an amazing view of sunset. They are tourist ready and have several camels prepared so that you can take a short camel ride from the parking lot out to the and dunes, watch the sunset, and then ride your camel back again to the parking lot. I have never seen camels in their natural habitat before, so I never tired of taking pictures of them as we were driving along the rode. I could not imagine what it would be like to ride one and even though everyone around me seemed to be having a great time, I was a wee bit scared. My only instructions were to hold on tight when the camel stands up because it rocks you back and forth, but after that you don't have to hold on. I, however, never let go of my tight grip of the handle on the camel saddle! In the first minute, we got a picture of both me and Abhijeet together on our camels and I was assured that that was enough of the camel ride experience for me. I insisted that Abhijeet tell my camel walker to let me down immediately, but he refused my request and urged me to hold on and enjoy the ride and views. One deep breath later and I had put my faith in the camel. I must admit, it was a pretty spectacular experience. When we reached the sunset viewpoint on the sand dunes we sat down for a break and the camels also got a well deserved break. There were local musicians and dancers who paraded through the area offering a song or dance in exchange for rupees. We did not ask for a dance, but were given one anyway and then asked to pay for it. In the middle of the dance, she grabbed my hand and posed me for several pictures. It was slightly awkward because it made me realize how driven the locals are to sell their culture for tourist rupees.

You can see how focused I am

Abhijeet hops on like an old pro

Content after a busy day touring and camel riding

Tour of Jaisalmer

We were well taken care of in Jaisalmer because Abhijeet's dad had connections from his job. He utilized these connections to get us a personal tour guide and driver for the day to take us around to all of the major tourist attractions in Jaisalmer. We started the day by receiving "bed tea" delivered to our room. The tea actually turned out to be milk because of miscommunication between me and the staff. We relaxed for awhile and then had lunch served in the circuit house (a guest house/hotel for government staff to stay while traveling-we were able to stay here because Abhijeet's dad works for the government). We then met with our guide who started taking us around to all of the sites. We saw the famous Gadaisar and small lake, the fort of Jaisalmer, and a few havelis (beautiful houses with intricate carvings that are famous in Jaisalmer). All of the buildings are made from the local yellow stone so the city is known as the yellow city. Over 5,000 people still live in the ancient fort and much of it has been converted to hotels, restaurants, or tourist shops. Lonely Planet does not list any of these hotels or restaurants because tourism in the fort has led to deterioration of the site. It was listed as one of the top 100 endangered heritage sites and some groups have formed to try to save the fort. The whole city, however, is still a major tourist attraction because of its charming yellow stone, elaborate havelis, and local camel tours through the desert.

Havelis

Cenotaphs (memorials)

A Jain temple made from yellow stone

Even Victor the dog had his food delivered to the room

Abhijeet's dad setting the plan for the day

A visit to a rural village

These are the men who work on the farm and their families. There are also women who work on the farm, but they were in the fields most of the time and did not come over for the photograph.

Abhijeet's family recently bought farmland between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. We had the chance to not only visit the farm, but also experience what life is like in the nearby rural village. I prepared for the visit by making sure that I was not only wearing long pants, but also a shirt with long sleeves. This helped to maintain propriety, but there was nothing I could do to stop the curiosity that arose about the foreigner who was visiting. We received a warm welcome by all of the local farmers. The land is owned by people who lived outside of the area and farmer will live on the farm or nearby with their family to take care of the farm in return for 25% of the crop yield. Some of the farmers who stay there live in a simple tent like hut and spend their days working the fields. The neighboring farmer was so excited that Abhijeet was in town and that he was able to meet him, that he invited us for dinner later that evening at his house in the village. The house was occupied usually by 15-20 people. It consisted of an open air courtyard and the surrounding rooms held each of the nuclear families. The women were all huddled in the kitchen squatting over a wood burning fire and preparing the meal. We were led up to the rooftop to enjoy the cool evening breeze and relax until the meal was ready. We heard stories (translated for me of course) about their farm which consists of nearly 100 camels, 150 cows, and 200 sheep. We also met another brother who does not farm, but instead works in one of the mobile ATM's (an ATM in a small van) that have recently become popular to bring banking access to rural areas. The head father of the family died this past year and he was so well liked that people came from 24 surrounding villages to mourn. In the distance I could hear singing. I soon learned that this was a song of welcome that one family was singing for the visitors in their house. There is a famous family of singers in this village that has been known for singing for the royal family of Jodhpur. We headed to one of the downstairs rooms to eat and sat on a carpet on the floor and ate from small, low tables. They had prepared an elaborate spread of food for us including okra, daal (lentils), chapatis (flat bread), raita (yoghurt), and a sweet made from fried lentils.

This is the small building that the farmers use for cooking, sleeping, and relaxing. Every house big or small always has some type of steps to access the roof. It is a popular morning and evening hang out spot.

Resting on the cots at the farm

Traditional low dining tables (Picture taken from a museum)

Journey to Jaisalmer

We decided to load up the jeep and head to the family farm and then to the "yellow city" of Jaisalmer for a few days. The journey there was an adventure filled with laughs, surprising road side scenes, and many memories. It seemed at first like we would never make it out of Jodhpur as we winded through many streets. Abhijeet's mom joked that if we got lost, we would just pull over to the road side, have a picnic with all of the food that she packed, and enjoy the day. We finally hit the main road and were able to cruise along freely. The cruising, however, was often disturbed by slow vehicles, cows who seemed to take the middle of the road as their personal home, water flooding across, or people walking along the road headed toward a temple. We stopped a few times for roadside bathroom breaks which Abhijeet's mom liked to call "refresh" stops. Just outside of Jodhpur I got a view of the red, hard stone that is mined and collected for much of the buildings of Jodhpur. There was no heavy machinery and at one point, I even saw men splitting a rock by placing a peg in one spot and using manpower to hammer through it. As we got closer to Jaisalmer, the terrain turned into more of a desert and contained sandy dunes covered by some dry, green shrubbery. We passed through several small villages along the way where people were gathered at markets or relaxing and chatting over a cup of chai. The scenery throughout the trip was remarkable. I have never traveled so extensively through a desert like area and was amazed that there was as much green in the sandy soil as there was. Rainy season had just occurred so that explains much of the green.

Two ladies in traditional Rajasthani dress riding along on a moped. This is a relatively new phenomena to see women on mopeds, motorcycles, etc but has become quite a frequent site now.  

Milk man on his way to deliver milk in the large steel canisters

school boys walking home from school

red, hard stone used for Jodhpur

This is a traditional hut used in rural areas. It is made out of all natural materials

We kept passing this truck on the road and each time they would wave and smile. I love the variety of expressions that this picture captures.

Mile markers along the road

We stopped for a lunch break.

Traffic jam

Clocktower and market in Jodhpur

One visit to the Clocktower and market was enough for me. Usually I thrive on the bustle and energy of a market, but this one seemed to exceed my tolerance level for commotion. I think it was either the millions of flies or cows that kept getting in my way that pushed it over the edge. Either way, it was a good experience to see one time. In the market, you can find any product that you can imagine from plastic containers to bangles to fresh fruits and vegetables. The road is occupied by vendors, people, cars, motorcycles, scooter, cows, and of course millions of flies. Even though this market is frequented by most tourists who come to Jodhpur, I was once again the main local attraction. As we were weaving among the crowds, one man jumped in front of me with a big grin and shouted "Hello cutie!". Abhijeet and his mom got a good laugh and enjoy imitating the stares that people make as I pass through the crowd. Let's just say that these are far from subtle stares. After all of the hustle and bustle, we did treat ourselves to another round of savory nibbles (mirchibada, samosa, and kachori) at the end of the trip.

Shopping in Jodhpur with an expert

We decided to check out another local textile store on our way home from Jaswant Thada. By the end of the visit, I had determined that I would not go shopping without Abhijeet's mom ever again. She is an expert not only in her eye for quality, but also in her knowledge of the best prices. As soon as we walked in the store, we were encouraged to have a seat. We should have known by now what this would lead to. As soon as you sit down, you are a captive audience and the store workers will begin to place item after item in front of you to try to tempt you to buy. They are not pushy with their words, but by the time you have 25 things sitting in front of you, you feel obligated to buy at least one to reward them for all of the hard work and time spent on you. We started the shopping by looking at fabrics for a salwar kameez suit which is like a large tunic and baggie pants. We then moved on to scarves and ended the showcase with some basic shirts. I must have looked at about 50 different items before finally buying just one shirt. I felt a little bad about that, but was also encouraged by Abhijeet's mom who shared her thought that the color would fade from the scarf and that I could have a salwar kameez made cheaper in the market. Abhijeet tried to occupy his time by taking pictures and unfortunately got the role of translating my refusal of so many items to the poor clerk who had hoped to make a big tourist sale.

 

 We started the shopping with one item.

 Abhijeet's mom inspects the quality.

 We have reached around item # 25 or so with the shawls.

Jaswant Thada

We visited Jaswant Thada which is the memorial built for members of the royal Jodhpur family when they die. The site was made of amazing white marble and also provided yet again some lovely views of the "blue city" of old Jodhpur.

 We passed by a security guard who was curious who I was and if I was with Abhijeet. Abhijeet gave a vague answer about showing me around the city and stated that he was from Jodhpur but living in the US. He still did not believe him, so Abhijeet took out his Virginia driver's license and showed it to him. He gave it a once over quick look and then nodded his head. We soon realized that he could not read the driver's license because it was written in English so he just went with our story. Abhijeet then realized by looking at the man's badge that he had the same family name as his mother so she quickly also joined the conversation and began to find common acquaintances. We were all quick friends and parted ways with a genuine namaste.

The sign behind the man says "Please take off your shoes here." Everyone must remove shoes before going into the holy site. This man spends his day guarding shoes.