jaisalmer

rajasthan - beyond the registan

2025-02-26

I take an early rural bus from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. It is the sort of bus where having a ticket does not guarantee you a seat, but I still somehow sleep through most of it and get woken up by the conductor more than once.

afternoon

Once in Jaisalmer, we rent a scooty and head straight for Sam Desert.

On the way we pass rows of windmills, stop at a little throne made of stones, and even hop onto an ATV for a ride. After about an hour we reach Zostel Sam Desert and choose the mud cottage dorm because it is cooler than the tent dorm.

We head to the nearby dunes for a camel ride. It is absurdly fun, especially when Sameer gets the camel sprinting.

evening

Later we take a so-called jeep safari to the bigger dunes about 5 km away. The area is heavily commercialised, but walking to the quieter end still gets us a good sunset.

After that there are snacks, a cultural show, and dinner back at camp.

night

The stars tempt us back out again, but our scooty tyres cannot really handle the sand. We end up on a nearby hillock instead, only to realise the light bleed from the resorts ruins the spot. On the way back down we even lose track of where we parked the scooty and have to circle the hill to find it again.

We eventually make it back, shower, and doze off.

2025-02-27

1000

I wake up late, have tea and toast, and head towards Jaisalmer town with stops at Khaba and Kuldhara along the way.

The details that stay with me from around this stretch are a fruit seller in a light-brown top with dark-brown polka dots waving us over, the windmills across NH-50, and a street painting by Maurizio Scabola on 2nd March Road.

#draft