Jaisamler is the Golden City because everything is made of sandstone and the desert sun makes it shine Golden. We are in the Thar desert which is the 18th largest desert in the world, 9th largest subtropical desert. It is the most populated desert in the world and the least populated part of India – funny! 40% of the Rajasthan population live here. It makes a natural border between The nuclear armed enemies of India and Pakistan. Everywhere was military bases and personnel. India has twice the military size of Pakistan but nukes even it up as both have between 110-120 warheads. Yikes!
As a desert lover, I loved the Thar desert. We all loved Jaisalmer too…wandering the old fort was a joy as there was way less people as we had left the pilgrims behind…The fort was inhabited as the last Maharajah let the people living there keep all their homes and havellis ( traditional townhouse or mansion). Prior to the old fort we checked out another man made lake (yup- in the desert!). It had his and hers , or maharajah and maharani, meditation spots and the lake was stocked with big catfish!
Desert Evening
That night we drove out to the Sam dunes ( not auto-correct -these were the dunes by the town of Sam). First came some du e bashing while stand in in the back of jeeps.. Then we had a great camel ride, sat on the dunes drinking Kingfisher beer watching sunset and then a cultural show and dinner. The show and dinner were ok and at the end people got up and danced to the musicians and dancers. We noted there were no females dancing other than the professionals so none of my girls were keen. I got up and our driver Kailash joined me and we danced under the stars. Many Indian men now have a picture of me shakin’ my booty….
Dance party