The golden fort in Jaisalmer

View out our hotel windows of the golden fort in Jaisalmer.
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On the flight back to Delhi, my (Michael) crown became loose and fell out. We had to wait about a day and a half to get a dentist that was open and have it re-cemented. I passed on the opportunity to use one of the street side dentists and actually went into an office for the procedure. A couple of months later the next dentist to look at the crown was pretty disappointed in the off center cement job and the amount of cement left smeared across my teeth. He had to cut off that crown and install a new one. But at the time I was pleased as punch, as far as I knew I only had to pay $6 for the dentist work and everything seemed hunky dory.

Delicate sculpted wall in a Jain temple courtyard.
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At 17:45 that afternoon we rode on a train to Jaisalmar, arriving at 16:00 almost a full day later. The ride into the Thar Desert was great. It is so beautiful. But the last half hour of the ride gave us an impression of what we faced when we were going to alight. A man and his companion boarded the train for the last leg and tried to coax us to stay at his hotel. We said no, we had a place in mind already, and so he moved on. His friend lagged behind a little and whispered low to me: "It’s good you did not go to his hotel, he is a cheat. I know a good place though, do you want to stay there?" I said no firmly. He then said that we should avoid taxis with hotel signs on them because they get a commission.

Carved ceiling in a Jain temple.
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On arriving at the station, all seemed calm, but only because the touts were being held at the front door by guards. Once we exited we were surrounded by the sharks in a feeding frenzy. We had faced touts in action before, but these guys were different because they were so desperate. We were surrounded by men offering free rides to their hotel, and we saw a man holding up a sign for the guest house we had chosen by the guidebook's description. We avoided all these guys and tried to push through to any free rickshaw. But the men separated us and began turning us around to face them by grabbing our backpacks. Most were shouting at us to go with them, but some would shout at us to not go that guy because he was a cheat. And someone else shouted don’t trust him either, he’s a liar! It was getting more out of control than we were used to for India, and so we started yelling back: Hey! Shut Up! Hey! Don’t touch me! Get off my bag! They began to clear some space around us and we pushed to a jeep with a driver in it. We asked what the cost was to be dropped by the front gate of the fort, and his reply was 20 rupees (50 cents), and while we got in he described how his family has a wonderful hotel in the fort that we should stay in and he would take us there for the same price… We said no, just the fort’s main gate please. The crooks got their way though; our jeep was stopped outside the train station and 2 men demanded 20 rupees from each of us for the tourist tax. We didn’t believe them, but the driver said, yes this is paid by all tourists in Jaisalmer. So we paid and got 2 chits of paper for it. When we made it to our hotel, the proprietor looked at the papers and frowned at us for falling for such a ploy.

One of many bats hanging from the ceilings of the Jain temples.
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We found Rajasthan to be full of beauty: the colors of the turbans, the sandstone forts that dominate the cities, and great havelis from the last centuries. Our time there was yet another example of how India gave us simultaneously the most beautiful and most poor and dirty experiences. Amidst the lively markets and rich colors we saw a teenage girl push aside a stone on the road side to reveal a hole leading into the sewage ditch where she would squat to use the toilet. Women were bashful and hid their faces with a layer of their saris, or perhaps it was to protect from the heat. Men were proud and grew huge and fierce moustaches and wore the brightest bulbous turbans you can imagine, and yet we faced terrible scams to cheat us out of our money.

Erin on the streets of the Jaisalmer fort. The man walking behind her is about to give his leftover lunch to that cow. The Sadhu on the ground is legless and begging for money and food.
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In Jaisalmer we stayed in a small room of sandstone blocks with a great view of the fort across the street. We had read in our Lonely Planet guidebook that the unrestricted growth of hotels and water usage inside the fort had resulted in a rapid deterioration of the walls, foundations, and caused the collapse of some of the bastions. We decided to not contribute to that and stay outside of the walls. But when we walked around inside the fort we found large banners saying: "Thank you Lonely Planet for making us unemployed." Probably the hotel business inside the fort decreased as a result of that guidebook having such a big and conscientious reader base.

The Salim Singh ki Haveli.
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We were very pleased with the hotel room we got, even if it was a little spare. Although there was a spigot in the wall, there was no sink! It did not really matter, since water dried so fast in that desert climate. After doing our laundry in the shower one day, we hung it out to dry on our clothes lines strung around the room to find that the clothes were stiff and dry in half an hour.

It was easy to walk about the city, with the fort and the area containing the old Havelis being the most scenic. Inside the fort were a few Jain temples, from as old as the 12th century. These were carved with the utmost attention to detail and the sculptors left no space untouched. We enjoyed the fine sculptures and serene atmosphere inside these temples. They were well preserved and felt like an oasis in the hot dry desert city. In the shadows of the ceilings on the lower floors we were greeted with the familiar smell of bat guano and that high screech of their calls. The bats were not surprised or concerned with our nearby presence, and they seemed to pose for our photos, hanging by one foot or stretching and looking at the camera.

Erin at the front gate of the Jaisalmer fort.
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During its history, the fort had been the scene of many battles, and had resulted in 2 ½ jauhars. A jauhar happens when a siege or war is going badly and the rajput fighters are going to make a final suicide attack on their enemies. In order to ensure that the men do not disgrace the family or king, their wives and children ensure that they have nothing left to live for and commit mass suicide by throwing themselves on a fire. The reason there is said to be a ½ jauhar is that there was not enough time to prepare the bonfire one of the battles, and the men had to kill their wives and children themselves.

The approach up the courtyard to the Jaisalmer fort.
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We also visited the restored palace, which had been built in the 15th century. It had a very informative audio tour, which confirmed the Lonely Planet assertion that the increased water usage was eroding the foundation of the fort and causing the collapse of the walls and bastions. We saw more finely carved sandstone and marble throughout the palace, as well as a decent museum.

On the last day, before we took a late night train, we visited 2 havelis, which were the homes to the wealthy merchants and politicians. The fantastic Salim Singh ki haveli had a cantilevered upper floor on about the 5^th or 6^th level that gave it the pleasing shape of a flower or a fountain. We had a personal guide in this haveli who let us handle the screw-in stone decorations in the shape of flowers, as well as told us some of the many uses for sand that the Rajasthanis had. Some of those sand uses are: in case of an attack, 2 women could defend a room with a knife and some sand. As the attacker stepped into the room over the raised threshold, he would have to duck his head due to the low doorway. As soon as he entered in this compromised position, one women would stab him in the neck. He would fall forward into the room bleeding, but the other woman would drag him out of sight and sand would be thrown onto the blood to soak it up and hide it. The women would take up their positions again beside the door. Another useful property of the fine sand in that region was that you could take sand baths in the absence of water. People would wash themselves with the sand, and only once a month would they actually use water. When they did bathe with the precious water, they did it on a pedestal made to catch the water and allow it to be re-poured for the next person in the house to bathe with. Once the people were bathed, the water could be fed to the animals, or used to water the vegetables.

Erin in front of the interior gate of the Jaisalmer fort.
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The Patwon ki haveli, was actually a series of 5 havelies built to house a brocade merchant and his 5 sons. This was sumptuous and light and airy having been carved with such delicate sandstone lattice windows. The lattice work allows for shadows inside that keep the interior cool and the gives the Muslim women privacy, and allows for a cooling breeze.

A good website with more history on the Jaisalmer fort is here:

http://www.tourismtravelindia.com/rajasthanportal/touristattractions/sonarquila.html