Goodbye Emily!
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
74
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Jaisalmer,
India
Monday, December 17, 2007
If Emily had any hope of getting to Delhi for her plane by Wednesday, she had to grab the overnight train this evening. So while we slept off another overnight bus, she took a trip down to the station so she could get a ticket. Luckily, she was successful. We went over to meet her by the fort after we had breakfast. I discovered my favorite, and most filling, breakfast so far. Two slices of toast with a thin omelette on top with baked beans and french fries. It's great!
The fort at Jaisalmer is enormous, but more importantly, people still live in it
looking down on the golden city
. Nearly 25% of the population actually. It is a living museum. LP describes Jaisalmer as a giant sandcastle with a town attached, which isn't far from the truth. I liked Jaisalmer because it was a small frontier town with big open streets and I could find my way around pretty easily. I was still bitter that I couldn't get from our hotel to the clock tower in Jodhpur without taking a rickshaw.As we walked down the street to the fort people would try to get our attention. My favorite was a guy who would yell out as we passed:
You want WATERPEPSIFANTACANDYBISCUITSTOILETPAPERANYTHINGATALL?
Past the "government authorized" bhang (marijuana) shop you climb up through the gates and wander around the streets inside the fort. There are lots of shops, hotels, and restaurants inside, but apparently building practices and water usage are causing the fort to collapse so its recommended that you don't use the facilities inside. It is fun to wander around and occasionally come across views over town from the walls. Emily had discovered an old man who would ask people what their names were and then sing them a personalized song. Helpfully, she supplied my name when we went with her
the fort
. I didn't quite catch any words in the song though.We took some time to wander through the Jain temple complex inside the fort. It was pretty amazing. There are seven temples, all interconnected. You wander through a forest of pillars and amazingly detailed carving. A bunch of sandstone buddhas here as well. Each temple was more detailed then the last. Definitely a highlight- check out the pictures.
We got lunch at the Fort View Restaurant, which did in fact have a pretty nice fort view. We got special thalis here, big meals with various dishes included. Very good.
After rushing back to the hotel we got Emily all loaded up with the stuff we wanted her to take back with her (quite a bit). Then she was off to the train station and Erin was off to bed.
Thanks to Emily for coming all the way out here to spend some time with us (not to mention act as a pack mule for our extra baggage). We had quite an adventure together!
After going at an accelerated pace for the last two weeks, Erin needed a little bit of a break
government authorized marijuana shop
. I wanted to see the sunset over the fort, however, so I left her in bed while I made my way towards a point marked on the little map as "sunset point."Its funny how nothing is ever simple in India. It turns out sunset point was surrounded by some sort of gypsy encampment. This meant I could not even get halfway up the hill before being attacked by children.
The ringleader was a girl of about 12 who had obviously done this trick before. She came up in front of me, gathered her cute band of children into a photogenic triangle, stood with the fort in the background, and invited me to take a picture. I told them I didn't have any money (I really didn't have any small change and I didn't think it was worth $5). She started at 10 rupees, then 5 (one for each child). I repeated that I didn't have any money. Then she said okay I could take the picture for free. I knew this wasn't exactly the truth but I really wanted the picture so I took it. Then I remembered I had a couple biscuits in my bag so I gave them out (just enough for everyone). I considered this a fair bargain and the other kids seemed to think the same. Their leader however seemed to think I still owed her money.
I picked my way up through the excampment to the actual point
jain serpentine pillars
. There were a bunch more kids here asking for money for pictures as well. Since I was by myself I started taking pictures of the fort and showing them the screen, letting them play around with the buttons as well. They were fascinated, and soon I had a crowd of kids surrounding the small screen and pressing buttons.I waited until the situation shifted from "take a picture of me and give me money" to "take a picture of me and show me the screen," then let the kids make various poses and then look at themselves on the screen. This went on for quite a while, and fun was had by all. At the end the kids actually thanked me and scampered off without any more requests for money. It was a good encounter.
At this point the ringleader came back and started trying to sell me ankle bracelets. She started at 2 for 100 rupees. Then 3,4,5,10,11. Eventually she was offering me all 20 bracelets for 100 rupees. I'm a pretty good bargainer when I have no interest in buying something. With a wave to the kids I had befriended, I headed back down the hill.
~Travis
