Jaisalmer, India
Doug and Papaya in the Thar Desert
The lowdown
Jaisalmer, also known as the “Golden City” due to its sandstone architecture, sits in the heart of the Thar desert. We were both excited about the prospect of spending a night in the Indian desert, so we added Jaisalmer to our India plans despite its far distance from other cities in Rajasthan.
We had a quick and cheap flight scheduled from Jaipur to Jaisalmer that was unfortunately cancelled. There were no other flights scheduled in the three-day period around when we were planning to go, so we opted to travel by car. The 11-hour car ride from Jaipur was long but enjoyable as we soaked in rural Rajasthan while listening to Trevor Noah’s book, “Born a Crime.”
In Jaisalmer, we spent two nights in the city at the Mandir Palace where the current royal family lives (courtesy of Doug’s credit card points) and one night in the desert with nothing but sand and sky in sight. We loved roaming around the sandstone city, chatting with the incredibly friendly locals, and getting a taste of life in the desert.
Day 1: Friendly adventures around the city
No complaints about lazily waking up in the royal palace on our first morning in Jaisalmer – it felt unreal! After a longer week of travel (the distances between places in India are far), we were excited to get our day started a bit later and do a self-guided tour of Jaisalmer. Most of the cities we had been to in India weren’t great walking cities, but thankfully Jaisalmer was different. We immediately loved walking around the city with its beautiful sandstone buildings, narrow but easy-to-negotiate streets, and friendly people.
The first stop on our self-guided tour was Patwon Haveli – a group of five homes from the 1800s with insanely intricate sandstone carvings. As soon as we got to the general area, we were approached by a man who introduced himself as Mr. Happy. He offered to teach us a bit about the havelis and come have a cup of chai with him in his textile shop after (no strings attached). Why not?
After learning about the havelis and life in Jaisalmer, we walked back with Mr. Happy to his shop. He had just taken the reigns from his father during COVID and was eager to show us his collection of quilts, scarves, bedspreads and other textiles. While he taught us about how each textile was made, we savored one of the best cups of chai we had during our time in India. Sometimes the best things come when you least expect them! We ended up loving one of the handblock bedspreads (and had a new appreciation for hand blocking after our try at it in Jaipur), so we bought it. Mr. Happy = Mr. Happier.
We said goodbye to Mr. Happy and set off for our next site – a man-made lake in the middle of Jaisalmer called Gadisar Lake. It was an exciting walk down the busy road dodging tuk tuks, cars, and lots of cows. Maybe not the best place to be a pedestrian after all… We walked into a small Hindu temple off the lake and met a friendly puja (Hindu priest) who was excited to explain the temple’s traditions to us.
Next, we walked to the Jaisalmer Fort which is one of the only live-in forts in the world (over 4,000 people live in the fort today). Soon after entering the fort, a man named Naresh approached us and offered to give us a heritage walking tour of the city for 200 rupees (less than $3 USD). We said “why not” again and took him up on the offer. Naresh explained the history of the fort, took us to several Jain temples, and showed us around viewpoints that were the old parapets of the fort. We enjoyed chatting with him and learning about his family – they had lived in the fort for as many generations back as he could remember. A surprisingly great unsolicited $3 tour!
After parting ways with Nuresh and downing two masala sodas (Jaisalmer is in the desert so it was HOT), we met our next and best friend of the day, Raj. We had our sights set on Bada Bagh (a mausoleum made out of sandstone) for our next stop which was 7 km outside of the city. We originally planned to walk, but hopping in Raj’s tuk tuk sounded like a great alternative with the heat… So, we hopped in, chatted with Raj for about 10 minutes, and arrived at Bada Bagh. Bada Bagh was not in the best shape – several of the mausoleums had caved in which made us a little cautious about the remaining mausoleums. We still enjoyed walking around and happily made it out in one piece.
When we got back to his tuk tuk, Raj said he wanted to take us to his place for a cup of chai. “Why not?” we said again for a third time that day. We ended up at Raj’s cousin’s place – a nice spot on the outskirts of the city. His cousin, Raju, showed us around his wholesale jewelry shop (well-knowing we weren’t in the market), gave us a cup of chai, and spent about an hour chatting with us about life in India, business in the US, and many other topics under the hot desert sun. After a few great hours, we wrapped up our time with Raj and he gave us one last parting gift – a restaurant recommendation for dinner.
Before dinner, we decided to grab a quick drink and watch the sun set over the fort. We walked uphill to Cafe de Kaku, sat down on the comfortable cushions, and ordered two kingfishers. Here, we made friends with a couple from Punjab in Jaisalmer for their anniversary. They had an adorable one year-old with them and told us about their jewelry business back in Punjab as she got up to many antics. We now know where to go if we’re ever in the market for jewelry!
We took Raj’s recommendation for dinner which was a delicious veg restaurant called Chandan Shree. It was a purely local joint (we were the only tourists and got some perplexed looks) with unreal thali sets. We ordered a Gujarati and a Rajasthani thali and happily nodded when asked if we wanted more curry, despite the inevitable impact on our growing “ghee” bellies.
Day 2: A day in the desert
We were very excited for our 24 hours in the Thar desert! A la Everest Base Camp, we decided to only pack what we needed for the short time (really just our toothbrushes) and settled on sleeping in the same clothes we left in. After dropping our stuff at a nearby guesthouse, we were picked up in a small Jeep and crowded in the back with four other people – a couple from South India and a mother/daughter duo from Mumbai. We chatted and exchanged stories on the hour-long drive into the desert, trying to ignore the crazy maneuvers of our driver.
Our first stop was Kuldhara village, a ghost village that was abandoned hundreds of years ago. Apparently the king of Jaisalmer wouldn’t stop pursuing a girl from the village so all of the villagers decided to up and leave rather than facing the sure-to-be rage of the king getting rejected. Our new friends believed that there was still paranormal activity there due to a curse the villagers cast on the village before abandoning it. We were luckily here during daytime so didn’t get too freaked out.
We made another quick stop at a desert oasis before parting ways with our companions. We got dropped off next to three camels and a young guy named Nema, our desert guide for the night. We soon learned that Nema lived and breathed the desert – he absolutely loved taking people into the desert, caring for the camels, and sleeping under the stars every night. We mounted our camels, Papaya and Rata, and got ready for the two hour ride deep into the desert. Jessie didn’t find the camels to be a super comfortable form of transportation (their humps make them a little bit bumpier to ride than a horse), but Doug didn’t mind. The ride into the desert was gorgeous and silent with nothing but us three, our camels, and the sun setting over the dunes.
We reached our resting spot for the night two hours later and hopped off our furry friends. Camels apparently do not need much sleep, so Nema lets them run around the desert at night. Every morning, he runs around the desert looking for them – they’re often more than 5 km away from camp! Our camp for the night was a DIY cot in the sand and under the stars – it was awesome. There was no one within miles and it was completely silent outside of crackles from the small fire that Nema made to cook dinner.
We sat with Nema and helped roll chapati as he prepared chai, pakora, veg curry, rice, and daal over an open flame. It was a simple but delicious desert meal. We helped wash the pots and pans after dinner (you can wash them with nothing but sand) and settled into our makeshift bed for the night. The stars were amazing and the moon was full which provided a surprising amount of light to the otherwise dark desert. No noise, no roof, no bathroom (outside of the sand), definitely no problem.
Day 3: Running back on our camels
We woke up to the sun rising and enjoyed our last few hours of peace and quiet in the desert. Nema left for a few hours to find the camels while we explored the nearby dunes. He eventually came back and we set off on the camels back to civilization.
The highlight of the day was running with our camels. Unbeknownst to us, camels are quite fast and they run/trot similar to horses. Upon learning this, we eagerly asked if we could run while riding the camels. Nema agreed and it was a total blast!
By the time we got back to Jaisalmer, we were ready to get off the camels but not necessarily ready to leave the desert. It was an awesome change of pace after a long few weeks of travel through India.