JAISALMER
From Bikaner it was a four-hour drive on a desolate stretch of road to the city of Jaisalmer, only 100 kilometres from the border with Pakistan. In a land of epic travel destinations, Jaisalmer manages to rise above them all, literally, as the city’s large fortress is built on a rocky hill that juts over the surrounding desert dunes. Exploring the fort’s claustrophobic lanes, teeming with holy men — and holy cows — is an almost unreal experience… and visiting one of the many restaurants located on the rooftops alongside the city walls to see beautiful sunsets over the Thar Desert is another. Though Jaisalmer is compact, I still spent a few days exploring the city. I stayed in a small guesthouse inside the fort, accessible only by foot, and spent my days lounging on rooftops, visiting the nearby palaces and getting ayurvedic massages. One afternoon I ventured out from the protection of Jaisalmer’s walls into the desert for a camel trek. With a sevenyear-old boy as my guide and camel caretaker, we travelled a short distance through the Sahara-esque sand dunes and found an incredible place to see the desert sunset. Back at the fort, I stopped in at a used bookstore to exchange some knowledge and literature with the book-loving shopkeeper. I left Jaisalmer excited to see what other intrigues India had in store, with enough books to last a Rajasthan month.
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