Jaisalmer - Day One

So, the ride to Jaisalmer was alright! The roads werent too bad, and I slept most of the way, waking up once to have a smoke ($5.00 CDN a carton BTW). Jaisalmer is really fucking beautiful, a real desert town! I am staying in the fort, like right at the top, with a minarette in my room that is my terrace (pics to follow). Spent most of the day getting used to the layout of the fort and then went down to Gadi Sagar, a lake with small temples in the middle of it. I like the atmosphere here - its a large city, but its not as noisy as Jaipur or Delhi were and its not as polluted either.

Today I go on a combo jeep / camel safari out into the REAL desert to visit some abandoned villages (heritage sites) and a habitated gypsy village where I will start my camel ride out into the dunes to watch the sun set and to have dinner with my mahouts and guide - a desert thali is what we're having.

Not much else to tell you... life is good, the road is long and Bob Dylan's song keeps coming to my mind:

If today was not a broken highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasn't such a long time
Then loneliness would mean nothing to me at all

Don't worry yourselves folks! I am quite happy and content. Life on the road is doing me loads of good! Muscle tone is returning and general health is quite good - havent been ill at all (save for a minor nasal infection, which I think was just because of the desert sand getting in there all day). Dukoral has in fact saved my life (Thanks Sunil and Yogesh!), no cases of the dreaded Delhi-belly to report!

Want some photos??? These first three are the ones I wanted to share from Pushkar...

Feeding the monkeys on the Temple Cafe Mountain

Pushkar from on top of the Temple Cafe Mountain

A wild peacock that lived in the hills behind my hotel

Now, these photos are of Jaisalmer (of what I saw in one day, that is...)

My terrace is the one in the middle

The view from my terrace

Me, looking out at Jaisalmer

The rooftop patio, this maharaja seat is on top of my terrace

One of the temples at Gadi Sagar

Another temple at Gadi Sagar

And this was just too fucking funny!

Thats it for today folks... almost 10:00am here and I have stuff to do before heading out into the desert. Take care all. More to follow tomorrow of the safari!!! Oh and by the way... my hotel, as nice as it looks and all, is only costing me 125 rupees a night... so, less than $3.00 cdn/nt... I love India, have I said that yet today???