The bus operator's son, a guy called Kamal, befriended me (initially in order to sell me his uncle's guesthouse in Jaisalmer, but afterwards just out of curiosity) and although my seat was allocated, he led me to a better seat where i could watch my rucksack. He then told the local man whose seat it was, to sit in mine (quite forcefully in Hindi)! (I felt sorry for the local guy who didnt seem happy, but Kamal gave him no choice....)
The bus journey was very interesting and i was the only foreigner on the bus. I observed the locals curiously and they did the same of me...
I didn't stay at Kamal's uncle's guesthouse (the Peacock Hotel) in the end, but when i was back in Delhi, i met up with Kamal, his uncle and his uncle's girlfriend for a beer...
The guest house i chose was pre-booked from Jodhpur...always a more expensive option and dangerous if i hadn't seen the rooms, but i was arriving in Jaisalmer at 23.00..and just wanted to have a place to stay..
It turned out to be quite a nice guest house and was again around £13.50 a night..
It was a nice room and the guest house (The Royal, Jaisalmer) even had a nice pool...
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Most people go on camel safaris and sleep a few nights in the desert, but i had only 2 nights here and had ridden on a camel before in Africa so i bucked the trend and went for a wander around the town.
Jaisalmer is a small town and looks a bit mediaeval and half-constructed...
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All the buildings including the fort which dominates the town, are made out of honeycomb coloured stone which is why it's called the Golden City...
This used to be on the silk route but since the rise of the port of Mumbai and shipping, this trade has receded and now it's totally dependent on tourism. Some hotels sell the camel safaris quite hard, but i'd made it clear before i booked, i wasn't interested...
The next day i went for a wander around the fort... and met an unofficial guide who showed me around for about £2... he owned a camel leather shop (right pic)..
His tour was a bit useless and he took me to a lot of shops to try and get me to buy something, but some of the things he said were interesting and he had a permanently intense look about him...
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The fort was still lived in & there were some 5000 inhabitants within the walls. They were either 'Brahmin' caste (descendents of advisors to the Maharanas) or Rajputs (the Warrior caste). The still only married within their caste..
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Bats roosting under the entrance gate...
The fort itself felt quite mediaeval as wandering through, it was full of cows (and their pats!) which made the whole place a bit smelly. Cows are sacred for Hindus and many own them and just let them wander around. Even my guide owned one...
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A Jain temple....he said there were 2 sects of Jains..one wore clothes and one was naked...when he told me this i remembered Phil from my former team telling me the same thing.. that Jains wander around naked...
I said 'what, naked ?' and i began to giggle but tried to suppress my laughter, and failed :). My guide didn't look impressed and kept staring at me in the same intense way, only more so...so, i quickly put my serious face back on...
..we returned to studying the architecture and avoiding cow pats...
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A very old Haveli..
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The queens' hand print again before they joined the Maharana on the funeral pire...
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Before the guide had a chance to begin to try and sell me his camel skin products, i made my excuses and made a beeline for the pool back at the guest house....
Jaisalmer is a lovely fort but doesn't come close to the one in Jodhpur in my opinion...
The next day, i boarded a train to Delhi, which left at 5pm and arrived at 11am the next day...
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