Yesterday morning we followed our regular routine of getting up at 7:45 am (8:15 pm CST) to get ready, pack our bags, eat breakfast and check out of the hotel (Desert Tulip.. beautiful place). Each morning we have to say “no” repeatedly to the bell hop at each hotel so we can take care of our own bags (I’m worried about running out of cash).. but yesterday really was crazy! When we stepped into the courtyard pictured below, a man literally ran across it to take our bags. We were too tired to argue, so we let him take them, but then he passed the lobby, went to the other corner of the building, down a hall, outside to the patio, back to the front door where he left our luggage outside. We were so confused by his route (doubled instead of going through the lobby to the front), and didn’t want our bags left outside unattended, so we took them back and went to breakfast. As soon as we finished breakfast, the man who had taken our bags to our room the day before magically appeared. No joke, we stood up and he appeared. We politely declined his help and when we walked into the lobby, another man tried to help take our bags. Then another after that. And again after that. It definitely set the record!
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| The hotel pool last night |
Our first stop of the day was at the Jaisalmer Desert Festival in the Sam Sand Dunes Gajraj dropped us off at a military barricade down the street from the festival and we walked with our guide into the field. When we arrived, they were having a camel decorating contest. As usual, I took far too many pictures. It made me wonder how much weight camels can carry.. they were SO decorated! The military seemed to be helping run the festival so there were uniformed men and women all over the place.
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Camel decorating contest |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Camel decorating contest |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Decorated camel |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Camel decorating contest entries |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Look at his beard! |
After the camel decorating contest, there was a race. The race had several men took off everything but their briefs and then raced to put on traditional pants, a belt, a shirt, a turban, a saddle blanket, saddle their camel, then ride across the finish line! They also were recruiting women to sign up for a tug-of-war match with foreign vs. Indian women.
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Walking to the stands |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: There was also a “Foreigners” section |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival: Race |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival |
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| Jaisalmer Desert Festival |
While watching the games from the foreigners’ section of the stands (literally, there was a section labeled “foreigners”), our guide explained to us that different colored turbans represent different religions and different castes. He said white turbans are worn by Muslim men, while the colored turbans are worn by Hindus. On the topic of camels, he told us they cost $1,000-5,000, depending on their health. We had to leave after about an hour so we could tour the city, but were so glad to get to go to a festival.
After a short drive back into the city, we began our tour. During the drive, I asked our tour guide about eyeglasses we kept seeing painted on walls and street dividers. He explained that it had to do with an initiative Gandhi had been instrumental in, to have a cleaner India, Swachh Bharat Mission.
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| Swachh Bharat Mission Signage |
On the way to our first sight, our guide stopped to point out a wall that was painted with Lord Ganesha. Three to seven days before a wedding, the bride and groom’s families will paint an invitation on a wall outside of their homes. If it’s the girl’s home, her name is first. If it’s the groom’s, his goes first. The painting always includes Lord Ganesha, the date of the wedding, and sometimes one-liners. The sign remains on the house until there’s a new wedding and then it’s painted over with a new invitation. From there we continued to Gadisar Lake and saw a couple of men feeding HUGE catfish in the water. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good time of the day for pictures!
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| Wedding invitation |
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| Gadisar Lake |
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| Gadisar Lake |
We continued our walk to the Jaisalmer Fort, the only fort we’ve seen so far with people still living inside. Because of the people living inside and using water, the fort is sinking each year, and our guide asked us not to purchase anything inside, saying that if tourists stop buying, they will have to leave and the fort can be saved. They were doing construction on the outside to try to rebuild the wall of Earth that the fort sits on. On the inside there were tons of vendors.
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| We didn’t think he’d make it through.. he did! |
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| Jaisalmer Fort: Working to hold up the wall |
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| Jaisalmer Fort and a child performer on a tightrope |
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| Entering Jaisalmer Fort |
Immediately after entering, our guide showed us saffron handprints by a doorway just inside the fort. He explained that if fort was under siege, the women had a ritual to kill themselves to protect their honor instead of being taken by the enemy. They would leave saffron handprints on the wall and then jump into a fire.
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| Saffron handprints on either side of the doorway |
Inside of the fort, we were able to visit two Jain temples that were next door to each other. We had to leave our water and shoes outside of the temple to enter. The detail in each temple was incredible. There are seven in total but we just visited two.
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| Walking to the first Jain temple we visited |
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| First Jain temple |
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| First Jain temple |
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| Jain-style gargoyle |
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| First Jain temple |
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| First Jain temple |
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| Second Jain temple |
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| Second Jain temple |
After sightseeing for a bit, we went outside of the fort to a store where the shopkeeper does silver filigree work, where I dug through a couple of piles of bracelets and charms. After looking at probably hundreds of times, I bought the first bracelet I’d touched, one that’s similar to one I purchased in Paris years ago. The price was way better though!
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| Silver shopping |
I loved getting to walk through the narrow streets of the fort and it’s surrounding area. We got to see up close the people, houses and then dogs, cattle, pigs and goats just roaming around. It was nice to finally take pictures of them up close, without shooting through the car window or worrying (least not as much) about getting hit by a moped or auto rickshaw. One thing I don’t think I’ve gotten a picture of yet is what we very frequently see cattle and other animals eating.. trash.
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| Inside a home-turned hotel in the fort |
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| Children outside of their home, wedding signs at the door |
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| Cow lounging in the street |
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| Dog eating trash |
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| Ornate home built outside of the fort |
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| Ornate home built outside of the fort |
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When we finished touring Jaisalmer with our guide (who loved to make super cheesy jokes and was very vain and supposedly in Bollywood movies..), we headed out to the desert to sleep in a tent. Hajar and I both had been picturing riding a camel out a ways into the desert and sleeping in a tent without power, only fire to light the night or keep us warm, as that was the only visual we had, which we’d gotten from Morocco. It was not the case. I recently learned the word “glamping” and wondered what it truly meant.. now I know. We were basically in a hotel room that happened to have walls and a ceiling that were formed by tent canvas! Haha.. probably for the best. I was afraid I was going to freeze to death in India, forty miles from the Pakistan border. Here’s a video tour of our room:
After getting settled, we had some tea, cookies, and French fries (??), then headed out the gates of the Desert Springs Resort, over to the camels. This time we sat two to a camel, with me in the front with my camera. I had been dreading experiencing the camel standing up and sitting down for days, but it ended up ont being as bad as I remembered. We rode for maybe ten minutes into the brushy (at least on the outskirts) Thar desert.
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| Camel ride into the Thar desert |
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| Thar desert |
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| Desert beetle of the non-murderous (The Mummy) kind |
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| Beetle tracks |
After the sun had set, we got back on our camel to ride back to the tent. Back at camp, I pulled out my tripod to take a few pictures of our tent and the camp.
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| Our camel |
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| One last picture after sunset |
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| Our tent |
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| The camp |
That night during dinner, everyone was entertained by Queen Harish (a past finalist on India’s Got Talent), musicians and dancers. We couldn’t understand the majority of the speaking portions as they were in Hindi, but the other parts were really amazing. At the end of a long, several-hour program, Queen Harish pulled Hajar and me, the only foreigners at this point, up onto the stage with her to dance.
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| Queen Harish performing |
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| A dancer and the musicians in the background |
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| Queen Harish performing |
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| Queen Harish performing |
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| Queen Harish’s costume |
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| Hajar and me with Queen Harish |
After the program, we talked with Queen Harish a bit. Amazingly, Queen Harish studied belly dancing in the US and has been to the East and West coasts.
In other news, I took over 500 pictures today.. my camera needs a break! And I think I’m averaging three hours (writing+deleting/choosing/editing pics) per blog post.
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