Jaisalmer - By Brian

We left Udaipur on an overnight bus for Jaisalmer in western India near the Pakistan border. Maybe it was the 2 great nights we spent at our Udaipur hotel, or maybe it was just a fact that the "sleeper" compartment we had on the bus was nasty! Neither of us were fond of the feeling that something was crawling on us all night and for a good part of the next morning. Word to the wise, if you are in India carry a sheet to use on trains and buses. And if possible avoid trips on buses all together.

We arrived in Jaisalmer in the late morning and were nicely helped off the bus and away from the touts by a guy that "worked for the bus company". Turns out he had a jeep at the bus terminal and was nice enough to drive us to the center of town. And in fact he even had a hotel with his best room available. What are the odds? For those of you that might not pick up on my sarcasm here, this guy was a tout with a good trick. Get on the bus an hour out of town, pose as a bus employee offering to help out tourists, then lead them to his hotel.

At the end of the day, we stayed at his hotel and booked a camel safari with him. It was cheap and easy, and a pretty good value.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the town of Jaisalmer. We visited the fort and several of the Jain temples that have fabulous carvings. We then holed-up in a nice restaurant for the rest of the evening to avoid he filth.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that India is a filthy place, but Jaisalmer is really something special. Every place we visited in India had trash all over (people just toss it on the ground, out the train, etc.), cows wondering the streets, stray dogs, men peeing behind buildings and a general disregard for hygiene. Jaisalmer, however, really took the gold. There was so much trash, cow shit and stench that I just wanted to get out of there. Sorry, but I just can't sugar coat it.

Separating out the nasty bits, Jaisalmer is a beautiful place. The fort carved out of sandstone sits hit above the surrounding desert and the temples really are something special. For me however, I just couldn't separate the two, and as many of you know, I can deal with some pretty unpleasant situations.

Up next...camels in the desert.

Marisa at a Jain temple

Jain temples