.: Jaisalmer INDIA

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I arrived really early in Jaisalmer, and the owner of the villa has ask me to just rest, it was dark outside and nothing to see really, but when I arrived in the room, I know this is meant to be! Look at the view from the bathroom, could you ever sleep to this? Jaisalmer is my main reason to visit India (not Taj Mahal). Strange you said? Not for me! Words cannot express, let the pictures do the talk!

We live inside a fort! I feel like royalty!

Jaisalmer, nicknamed "The Golden city", is a town in the Indian State of Rajashtan, located 575 kilometer west of Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert (great Indian desert) and has a population of about 78,000.

Jain temple within the fort (next to our villa)

View outside the fort.

the havelis

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Patwon Ki Haveli, is one of the elaborate home of Jaisalmer's rich merchants. The ostentatious carvings etched out in sandstone with infinite detail and then painstakingly pieced together in different patterns each more lavish than the next were commissioned to put on show the owner's status and wealth. The Patwon Ji ki Haveli is the most important and the largest haveli, as it was the first erected in Jaisalmer. It is not a single haveli but a cluster of 5 small havelis. The first in the row is also the most popular, and is also known as Kothari's Patwa Haveli. The first among these was commissioned and constructed in the year 1805 by Guman Chand Patwa, then a rich trader of jewellery and fine brocades, and is the biggest and the most ostentatious. Patwa was a rich man and a renowned trader of his time and he could afford and thus order the construction of separate stories for each of his 5 sons. These were completed in the span of 50 years. All five houses were constructed in the first 60 years of the 19th century. Patwon Ji Ki is renowned for its ornate wall paintings, intricate yellow sandstone-carved balconies, gateways and archways. Although the building itself is made from yellow sandstone, the main gateway is brown.

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Jain Temples situated in the Jaisalmer Fort, these temples to be very old and high pilgrimage as well as archaeological value attached to them. These are a group of Jain temples dating back 12th and 15th centuries and are dedicated to various Jain Tirthankars (Hermits). On the walls of the temples, you can find animal & human figures, carved in famous Dilwara style. The Jain temples in the Jaisalmer Fort are dedicated to Rikhabdevji and Shambhavdev Ji, the famous Jain hermits known as 'Tirthankars'. Like all other structures in Jaisalmer, these temples are craved of yellow sandstones. The beautifully carves decorations on the wall will give you divine peace.

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A desert village before the great Thar desert that we are heading, this is a typical mud houses thatched with grass and leaves. It's not easy to live in the desert, water has to be carried from far and during the summer the temperatures easily climb above 45C degrees. And during winter it can really get cold, ours were 4C degrees at night. The typical mud houses -inside- is cool during summer and warm during winter.

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So my travel buddy and me decide (well its actually me decide for us, hahaha...) to do a two days camel safari and spend the nights in the Thar Desert, and we opt to do it as local as we can be. So here are the photos!

The Thar Desert , also known as the Great Indian Desert or Marusthali (Land of the dead), is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. This desert spreads over about 2,340,000 km2 , with 85% in India and the remaining part in Pakistan. It covers more than 2,000,000 km2 in Rajasthan and extends into Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

sand dunes

Isac the camel whisperer, holding one camel on the leash and the rest of just just ride the camel and follow the one in the front.... so cool for us not so cool for Rob! haha...