Remind me why we came here???

We had an 8:30 bus this morning to Jailsamer which wasn't too bad, except that at times it was packed full of people, sitting 3-4 in a seat meant for 2 and crammed in the aisles. And the guy in front of us kept spitting his tobacco chew/cardomom concoction out the window, which only came right back into our window to spray us. Since there was no air on the bus, and it was easily 42C outside, closing the windows was definitely not an option. Along the way, the scenery was desert sand and scrub brush. We saw some camels in the shade of trees and a few deer-like animals. It was such a sight to see brown desert, brown desert, brown desert and then all of a sudden the bright, colourful saris of a woman or two walking in the sand.

Arriving in Jaisalmer, we were assaulted by rickshaw guys at the bus stand and had to shove our way through them. We knew they'd try to get commission at any hotel we were taken to, so Nige had the great idea to have the guy drive us to a hotel near the one we wanted. We got out, and he was rather surprised when we headed down the street instead of into the hotel reception. Very smart move. We ended up at the Desert Boys Guest House. Jaisalmer is a town of about 60,000 people, built right in the middle of a desert. It's another town with a huge fort, except that here, part of the town is inside the actual fort. Homes and shops have been built into the walls and old structures of the fort, and the huge gate entries and bricked streets still exist. And instead of the blue homes contrasting with the desert in Jodhpur, in Jaisalmer, everything is the same brownish red colour; the fort, the houses, and the desert all look like one big clump of dirt. Just about the only thing to do in Jaisalmer is to take off on a camel safari into the desert for a few days. Not caring for this sort of adventure (after all, we both grew up in desert-like places and we've ridden on elephants, so we can only imagine how much worse a camel is), we knew we wouldn't be staying long in Jaisalmer.

After a fantastic lunch of pizza and mashed potatoes (sounds like a gross combination, but it was good!) at our hotel's Italian restaurant, we wandered around town for the remainder of the day, went to the bank and allowed ourselves to get lost in the tiny alleys. The people are quite friendly, although it's very touristy, obvious by the shops selling touristy things and the competition for camel treks. We bought a few beers at a liquour shop we passed (one of about 10 in India it seems) and enjoyed them on the rooftop of our hotel as the sun set over the desert. For dinner, we shared another awesome pizza and some pasta, which alone made the trip out to Jaisalmer worth it. Although the hotel doesn't have a carrom board, we still went to bed happy after the cold beers and great meal.