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Jaisalmer January 1-2, 1999
In Jaisalmer, we spent our time taking care of priorities. Number 1 - we
showered. The deep tans we thought we had acquired were 1\4 dirt, 1\4 sandy residue, 1\4
color, and 1\4 smoke from the fires we had spent so much time huddled around. Number 2 -
eat, anything that wasn't bread, jam, potato massala, lentil, or rice. The food in
Jaisalmer was poor, but on the up-side, at the 8th July restaurant we were offered a choice
of low-grade food. At night we went to the Om restaurant (another sad recommendation of
the Lonely Planet) for thali meals that were bland and took about two hours to prepare.
The food in Jaisalmer was, unfortunately, on par with many of the other places we tried in
Rajastan, but we found that the street food was delicious. For the rest of the stay in
Rajastan, we dined on samosas (potato and veggies stuffed in dough and fried), pakoda
(pieces of potato, cauliflower, and chilies deep fried), kachori (lentil stuffed in dough
and deep friend with hot sauce and curd over the top), and chole patties (potato cakes
served in grape leaves with a vegetables, and a masala hot sauce on top). Jeff is still
paying for his indulgence in the street food. This brings us to point number 3. Because we
had already spent half of the time we had allotted for India (1 month of 2), had visited
only one quarter the cities we had planned to see, and were tired of the sub-par food, we
made an executive decision. We were going to head south, to Mumbai (Bombay), as soon as
possible. There we would utilize the cheap e-mail, and book tickets to the southern tip of
India (hopefully). The first hurdle, we would soon discover, would be getting out of
Jaisalmer.
Soon after arriving in Jaisalmer on the evening of January 1, we headed
to the train station with the intention of buying tickets to Jodhpur. After an hour's
wait, in a five person line, we were one person back from the ticket window when an act of
India struck before our eyes - the power went out. Down went the computers, any chance of
us booking a ticket that day went the way of the condor.
At 9 am the next morning we had to decide whether to check out, in hopes
of getting on the night train, or stay another night at our crummy hotel. There are two
trains that leave Jaisalmer everyday: a 7 am mail train that we had already missed, and a
10:30 pm passenger train. Doubtful that we would be on the 10:30 train, we checked out of
our hotel anyway, and walked back to the station, waited in line again, and finally we
were awarded four waiting list tickets (which we had to pay full price for). We were told
to come back for confirmation of seats at 6:30 pm that evening.
In between the trips to the railway station we got to explore the
wonderful structures of the city. Jaisalmer is a desert fortress located in the middle of
the Thar desert only miles from Pakistan. It's a small city surrounding an ancient fort,
which is perched high atop the 80 meter high Ttrikuta hill, and was built in 1156. We saw
many beautiful Havelis, which are mansions built by the wealthy businessmen at the turn of
the century. They are decorated inside with intricately painted murals. The major themes
expressed are mythology, history, folktales and eroticism. We also visited the Raja's
Castle in the center of the "golden city." Jaisalmer is called this because the
building are all built with the plentiful, local, golden sandstone which virtually glows
during the sunset. We wandered through a maze of narrow streets, and got shaves from a
local barber for thirty cents.
At 6:30 we returned to the station for the third time. We were confronted
by the very common Indian phrase, "Not Possible" and were told to come back at
9:30. After some coaxing, haggling and waiting, we were able to confirm three sleepers for
the four of us. We grabbed a bite to eat, picked up our bags, and returned to the
Jaisalmer railway station for our fourth and final trip in a day and a half. A little good
old fashioned American bitchin' and moaning got us a fourth sleeper, and however
uncomfortably, we slept from 10:30 pm to 5:30 am. Shazaam! We were in Jodpur. |
