JAISALMER – JODHPUR

I started this journey along with my friend Raghav. Recent trips were mostly to North India so for a change, I decided to visit our beautiful state Rajasthan. It was December’s end, a perfect time to strike the Thar desert in Jaisalmer. The months from October to March are considered the best for Rajasthan. Sunny days and cooler nights, what else do you need? We preferred a train journey from Delhi to Jaisalmer. I love train journeys, they are fun. You can just hop off the train on any platform, roam around, have some tea/coffee or snacks, and then hop back into the train. The train was Ruchina Express and the journey time was around 18 hours. It was an overnight journey, we made sure that we get proper sleep on the train so that we can pull off our next day properly.

Finally, after de-boarding from the train, we hired a taxi from the railway station to our camp named “Desert Adventure Camp & Resorts”. I made an early reservation through a reference for 2 nights. We unpacked our stuff in our tent, got freshened up, and left our tent for our first activity which was a desert safari. The area for the desert safari was a bit far from the camp. They provided a professional driver who drove the open jeep on the dunes of the Thar desert. It was a full adventurous ride and since we were the only two passengers on the jeep, we instructed the driver to ride at full speed to make the safari more thrilling. After the safari, we loitered in the desert, clicked pictures, and then came back to our camp.

After returning to our camp, the evening was set for folk dance (traditional dance) and snacks. People settled in a concentric square pattern to see the artist in the center performing traditional songs. The night was too cold because of the desert. After the performance, dinner was ready in the main hall. That’s how our first night was wrapped up in Jaisalmer.

We were left with one thing for the next day, it was a camel ride. We had a lot of time for the second day so we decided that we will go on foot from our camp to the dunes where we will ride the camel. We captured a lot of pictures on the way. We were strolling on the straight road, listening to music. A nice walk in winter that too on a sunny day, perfect!

After reaching the dunes area we contacted our camp owner who arranged a guy for us for the camel ride. Camel ride is the most cliché thing to do in the desert but for the vibe, you must do it. After the camel ride, we were left with almost half a day with no motive. We came back to our camp on foot from the dunes and took some rest in our tent. It was our last night in Jaisalmer.

After checking out from the camp early morning and we took a shared taxi to reach Jaisalmer City. We had a bus to catch in the evening for Jodhpur, so we had enough time to explore the Jaisalmer Fort, Gadisar Lake, and the marketplace. First, we went to the fort because I knew it will take a lot of time to explore the fort. The outer walls of the fort were humongous. I have seen many forts in the past but one thing about this fort that left me amused was that people still reside within the fort. We even saw small schools inside the fort. It took us hours and hours to explore the fort area, in the middle we also had our lunch in a small restaurant inside the fort. The architecture of the fort was mind-blowing. From the top of the fort you can see the whole of Jaisalmer city and it looks beautiful.

From the fort, we went to see Gadisar Lake. It is a man-made reservoir, constructed by the first ruler of Jaisalmer (Raja Rawal Jaisal), and in ancient times, it was the only source of water in Jaisalmer. We did not spend much time there, got a few pictures clicked, and then we left for the market.

We bought souvenirs, ate some snacks, and tried the famous lassi. Finally, in the late evening, we boarded our bus to Jodhpur. Jaisalmer was fun!

It took us around 4-5 hours to reach Jodhpur. We reached night and the first thing we did was to find a hotel. Checked-in in a hotel nearby to the bus stop and planned the itinerary for the next day. We started our day with some delicious kachoris at “Janta Sweets”. I recommend that you should try the meethi kachori which is not so common here in north India. From there we headed towards the one and only Mehrangarh Fort. We went through the famous narrow alleys of Jodhpur. The most interesting thing about these alleys is that almost every house is painted blue. That’s why Jodhpur is also famously known as the “Blue City of India”. Those alleys were so beautiful and photogenic, that we couldn’t stop ourselves from clicking a lot of pictures.

Mehrangarh Fort is situated around 400 ft above the ground. There is an elevated path that takes up to 10 to 15 minutes of walk to reach the fort. From above the fort, you get to see the whole city of Jodhpur and it looks wonderful. Mehrangarh is considered one of the biggest forts in India. The most eye-catching part of the fort was where the great cannons were present. I could imagine how destructive a single cannon would have been. A total of 2.5 hours are perfect to spend in the fort. Many portions were restricted, and people say that there are a lot of secrets hidden inside the fort.

The next point was Toorji ka Jhalra which is within walking distance from the fort. This historical landmark is around 250 years old and also more than 200 feet in depth. It is a stepwell that depicts the traditional water management system of Jodhpur. You can see people diving into the well to beat the heat.

We visited the Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park, which contains ecologically restored desert and arid land vegetation. The park also includes a small cafe, plant nursery, and interpretation gallery. From inside the park, you get to see a full view of Mehrangarh Fort which looks phenomenon. There are a lot of species of plants and animals.

The next day, it was Christmas and sadly the day of our return journey. The day started a bit late and we had almost covered every famous tourist spot nearby. So we visited the popular Ghanta Ghar of Jodhpur and from there we went to Kayalana Lake. There was nothing to do near Kayalana Lake apart from boating. Also near Kayalana Lake, there is a Zoo, so one can spend a good amount of time there.

While the return journey, I was sleeping and suddenly I heard a sound and suddenly the bus stopped. I got off the bus and saw a dead buffalo on the road on the other hand there was a bus (heading towards Delhi only) that had tilted off from the highway. It was a big accident and luckily there were no serious casualties. After helping the passengers to come out from the bus, providing them first aid, and settling them up on our bus, we were back on a roll.