Jaisalmer and Camel Ride

We arrived in Jaisalmer and were met with garlands and music!

It is known as the “Golden City” because most of th buildings are built out of sandstone. It has a fort and many Jain temples. The city is near the Thar desert and is 60 miles from the Pakistan border.

Most of the people who live in the city are direct descendants of the rajput warriors. It is known as one of the last cities to sign the treaty with the British.

The fort in Jaisalmer is a living fort and about 1/2 the people of the city live or work inside. The streets are very narrow with vendors on either side, many temples massive amounts of people and animals, It makes it quite difficult to walk but there is so much to see and taken in. You reallly see how people live and work.

There was a Jain temple inside the fort which was very interesting to visit.  Jaisalmer has the oldest libraries  in India which contain rare artefacts of Jain is a religon that embraces a path of non-violence towards all living beings. In philosophy and practice it is about the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness. 

Here is Maya inside the temple and one of the statues:

Here is a glimpse of how life is inside the fort:

 A  woman Jewelry shopping, the favorite pastime!

The city is also known for its “havelis”, these are private mansions  The word means "an enclosed place". They are built  in the Islamic architectural style. The are many stories and quite beautiful.

View from atop of the fort:

Then we left to go out into the desert for the CAMEL RIDE and a Desert Safari Jeep Ride.! The Jeep ride was awesome, Maya and I screamed our head off the whole time. Our driver had been trained in the Dubai Desert and rode up and down those dunes at high speeds just like in a roller coaster. The jeep was fully enclosed and air-conditioned...it is really hot there and the sand was whipping all around. At one point we were sides ways on a dune.

Maya in the desert!

The sun was so hot and bright!

Now for the camel ride!  ere is a picture of the camels and some of the drivers:

Maya getting on the camel

Here we are! I am hanging on for dear life. A camel is very tall and she was kind of trotting. It was a long way down if I fell. There was little boy who followed us the whole time trying to sell me a Coke, he was cracking up because i was so scared. 

Here is a portrait of our camel, he actually kinda grew on me by the end of the ride. They make a lot of weird noises from the front and back!