We've been in Jaisalmer for about 3 weeks now, and been extremely busy setting up our home.
But I guess I should start at the beginning. We flew out of Darwin early morning of the 10th October after a lovely get together farewell dinner at the Airport Resort with our gorgeous family. We will miss them all terribly, but lucky for us some of them are coming over, Matthew and his 8 year old Tayah, and Kellie for her second visit. We also have a number of friends coming, including Daryl and Maureen who will be here for Christmas New Year.
Even though we had 30 kilos baggage allowance each, it was a struggle to distribute the load. One decision was to put Neil's famous golf putting set in his hand luggage - bad mistake. Trying to go through security was a nightmare until they worked out what was in the bag, oh dear it might be a weapon so we had to go back to the check-in counter, rearrange our hand luggage and send one of them through as normal baggage, then proceed back through security! Remember Neil has a new hip and knee so he always has to go separately any way. I was over it by the time we got into the lounge.
We had a good flight on Silk to Singapore, slept like logs in the Transit Hotel and arrived safely in Ahmedabad, north of Mumbai late in the evening.
Our driver was there bright and shining with the news that the hotel we booked, he discovered, was not registered to take foreigners - hmm little problem there for the internet booking agency we all use - can't mention it on this blog! Another hotel had been found for us, so we were glad when our heads hit the pillows.
Jaisalmer is a long drive from Ahmedabad, we left around 8.00 am arriving here around 7.00. Lots of roadworks, highways being built which will be good for future trips. There were all the usual sights that a road trip to India brings, wandering camels, donkeys, cows, tractors full of workers and loads of heavily laden trucks ferrying goods around the country. You quickly understand why foreigners shouldn't drive themselves! Cars do not really have the right of way at all. A tea stop is always a joy, drinking chai with the curious locals who inevitably want a "selfie"!
After being greeted very warmly on our arrival, we settled in to a small "hotel" and the next day set about renewing old friendships.
Friends Fiona, Ros and husband Mark arrived a couple of days later to celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Light. People decorate their homes with strings of colored lights as well as lighting small candles in little terracotta dishes that they set out all around their door steps. Of course many or most go to their Temple to give thanks. Well that's the lovely part, the other part of the celebration is the fireworks. Darwin people if you think we have an exciting time in Darwin on 1 July, it is very tame in comparison. There are kids with Tom thumbs, whizzers, double bungers, and all sorts of fabulous displays going off in the night sky. A puzzle to us, is that there is not one trembling or howling dog, cow, pig, donkey or camel! All the noise seems to be ignored!
We have met an Australian lady here, married to a local and they run a very nice small hotel called Himmat Niwas. They were heading to Jodphur the other day, about a 3 hour drive each way, so we headed off with them. Found a great supermarket where I was able to buy quite a bit of stuff including towels and sheets as well as some groceries. Shopping in Jaisalmer is interesting to say the least. There is no logic that I can see about who stocks what!. So you can get butter in one shop, eggs way down the road, various breads, sometimes not all that fresh, somewhere else and juice and milk anywhere! And don't talk to me about deodorant, I have been searching and as yet have not discovered anything other than perfumed body spray! Ah well it must be somewhere, maybe in the plastics shop!
But I have discovered to my absolute joy, AMAZON. Oh my goodness I just love it. You can get almost anything, including I believe Parmesan cheese - can't get that here. We have borrowed a bed, so I needed king size sheets, bought them through Amazon, and they are such beautiful quality and so much cheaper than home.
Beds here tend to be quite hard, even the softer ones, so I bought a topper through Amazon as well, has made a huge difference to our comfort.
We are living in a delightful "bedsit" up a reasonable set of stairs and we have a roof top that we will be able to enjoy soon. The owner is currently clearing loads of rubble and parts of stone balconies that were stored there. Looking forward to using that.
When we agreed to take this place at a modest rent, the owner agreed to paint it for us, as it hadn't been used for a few years since Fiona D lived here. Well, here they use powdered paint and their painter added a teensy bit too much water, and it rubbed off every time we touched it! We found a proper painter at $16- a day who did a great job. Took 4 days but was worth it as he was a bit of a perfectionist - no paint roller here, good old trusty brush.
We tend to have breakfast and lunch at home and tea out. Many people in Jaisalmer are vegetarians, so we keep our eyes and ears open for non-veg restaurants, and there are quite a few. Coming from the habit of basing my cooking around different and varying sorts of meats it a challenge organising meals. But we manage.
As we are walking around the Fort, built in 1200s from local stone, I remind myself to look up sometimes. It is so easy to keep looking at your feet to miss the cow pats and the uneven cobbles, that you miss the most amazing stone houses with intricately carved stone balconies. Soo beautiful. The fort and the town are almost entirely built from the local stone that glows in the sun, it is called the Golden Fort for good reason. From a distance it looks like a sandcastle that we built as kids at the beach.
I have attached a photo of a young foal, you will notice his curled ears. These are called Murrawarry horses and are unique to this area of Rajahstan.We went to a village about 20klms out where one of our good friends has a family house. Whilst not looking all that big from the outside, inside it was huge. About six large rooms with bathrooms attached to at least four, a large lounge area, big kitchen and it was extremely cool. It was beautifully tiled, a lovely home. Not a lot of furniture except for the beds, they don't need it as they sit on the floor. They always very kindly provide chairs for us Westerners though! Great hosts and delicious food.