But Really We Would Like to Stop in Osian!

Temple at Mandore, Near Jodhpur, India
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We had organized to have Ram meet us at the guesthouse, or close to it (as it was possible) around 9am.  He showed up and Nik acknowledged him and then Ram disappeared.  We grabbed our packs and headed out, but couldn't find him.  There was an alley to our left and an alley to our right and heading up to the left we couldn't find him, but the right one was a bit longer, so I dropped my pack and headed off and did eventually find him.  When we made it to the car, I made a comment about not knowing where he was, but he just ignored me!

Temple at Mandore, Near Jodhpur, India
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Nik and I wanted to stop in Mandore, just 9km (approx 5 1/2 miles) north of Jodhpur, which Ram had no problem with.  However, when we also mentioned how we wanted to take an alternative road to Jaisalmer (our end destination for that day) so that we could stop at Osian, he balked and said that the roads were worse that way and much longer.  Nik and I looked at his map and it didn't seem that much longer and the road color was the same as the one he wanted to take, but obviously, we didn't know for sure.  We tried to continue the conversation, but he just didn't answer us - a little passive aggressive perhaps?!

Temple at Mandore, Near Jodhpur, India
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Nik and I decided to let him be and to talk about what we wanted to do outside of the car at Mandore.  Once at Mandore, it didn't take us long to go through it.  There were a handful of temples all very close together that maybe you could go into, but we just walked around, the only ones there.  I guess it wasn't a tourist highlight!  On the way back, we talked about Osian and decided not to push it but would let Ram know that we were disappointed.  When we met up with Ram again and told him of our decision, he admitted that he had never been on that route (so he had no clue about the roads!) and that he talked to another driver and it was a bit longer.

Ceremony at the Temple, Osian, India
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We headed off thinking we were going straight to Jaisalmer but after a short time, Ram stopped the car to ask a local for directions to Osian!  Very odd that he didn't tell us that we were going.  The roads as it turned out, weren't that bad at all.

At Osian Ram dropped us off and we headed up to the main temple, that was up quite a few steps.  At the temple, we saw a bride being ushered around as she had her head completely covered, so I am guessing she really couldn't see much.  A guy started talking to Nik about the temple, but I opted to look on my own, feeling a little guided out.  There was a fire in the middle of the temple that had a few people crowded around it and it looked like they were throwing coconuts into it.  The temple was also a Jain temple with similar exquisite carvings that we had seen back in Khajuraho (or Kajagoogoo as Nik keeps calling it!).  Outside of the temple were quite a few smaller temples some on the main level and some one level down.

Osian, India
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Done with the temple, the guy that had been showing Nik around walked us over to another temple through town a bit.  At this temple, we had to take off our shoes (which is pretty standard), leave our water bottles and take off any leather items.  Once inside, there was some sort of ceremony going on with people singing and giving offerings, but I am not sure what it was for.  Around the edges of the temple were many small rooms with three buddhas in each.  What was different with these buddhas than all the ones I had seen in the past (and that was heck of a lot of buddhas!), were the eyes that seemed kind of googly as they were more pronounced compared to the rest of the body.  Unfortunately, all photography was forbidden.

Temple at Mandore, Near Jodhpur, India
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Nik and I headed back to the car where we thanked Ram for stopping, but he didn't really acknowledge us.  We then headed onto Jaisalmer which was quite a long journey.  We stopped for lunch on the way at a place that Ram picked but really was the only place we saw.  It was definitely the tourist pit stop with crazy prices to boot.  We opted for sharing a sandwich and fries, with some chocolate that we had seen in the hallway for dessert.  We considered splurging on the Lindt bar, but when we were quoted a price of something like $9, I almost choked!  Criminal!  Funny though, because after that, the Snickers and Mars Bar at 80 Rs (approx $2.05) each seemed like a bargain!

Smaller Temple Around Temple, Osian, India
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We headed off again and as we got closer to Jaisalmer the surroundings became more deserty, although most of Rajasthan had been quite dry, much different from Kerala which had been quite lush in comparison.  On our way we saw a few army cars, apparently the army does military exercises out in the desert as one couple found out when they awoke on their camel safari to be surrounded by tanks!

We arrived at Jaisalmer around 4pm or so with Ram dropping us off and mumbling something about a camel safari, but we didn't quite understand, so we told him to pick us up in a couple of days.  At Sahi Palace after checking in (and trying to get us into a more expensive room than I had booked), they tried selling us a camel safari, not to my surprise.  We decided to wait and check out at least one other place as the price seemed kind of high.

Nik about the Head Up the Steps Up to Temple, Osian, India
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Nik and I headed off to the fort which was actually a working fort in the sense that people actually live in it and run businesses, however, the sad thing is that the fort is actually being destroyed due to the lack of conservation of the locals.  We made our way to Ganesh Travels and his price was quite a bit cheaper, but we decided to think about it over momos (Tibetan dumplings) not too far away.  We ended up opting to go with Ganesh Travels and changed our plan from leaving the following afternoon, to the morning as it was the same price either way and figured we would get a better experience.

Carving at Temple, Osian, India
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We then headed back in town, once again, Nik hopefully optimistic he would find an Economist, which he unfortunately didn't.  After walking around for quite awhile, also just scoping things out, we tried to have dinner at a couple of places, but with no luck, either they were booked for an event, or didn't seem open or the food didn't look that appealing.  We finally jumped into a rickshaw heading to Desert Boy's Dhani. When we arrived it looked really dead and we almost turned around, but then decided to give it a try.  The menu was anything but inspiring.

Jaisalmer Fort, Jaisalmer, India
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Done with dinner, it was a little more difficult to find a rickshaw given that the restaurant was not in the thick of things, but we finally did and headed back to the guesthouse for the night.