We started from the Umaid palace at around 10.30 am and stopped briefly at Marwar Restaurant at 12.10 pm for lunch. We had one Tomato Shorba and Dal khichdi. The food was very pathetic. The drive from here to Jaisalmer was about 3.5 hours. Enroute, we saw a lot of windmills, the Jaisalmer Fort, Khaleja movie kind of cactus plants🙂. The very name of the place reminds this movie for any Telugu guy, I am sure. We could see that the forts and the houses are all built with gold coloured bricks, that's the reason probably why the city got its name as the Golden city. The structures have a smooth and rustic texture and look very beautiful. Due to this color, any house gets the look of a fort and looks as if it was built a few decades or even centuries ago. I also heard about Kuldhara village from both my husband and the driver. This village has a mention in the Hidden Hindu book too.
We reached the Desert Fort Safari Resort which is in the Sam village at about 4.10 pm and the manager suggested that we quickly freshen up and leave for the desert safari so that we can complete it before sunset. So, we took our key and took a few steps further and saw a big platform with a dining hall across our left side and a big open area in the center. There are white colored tents on the other 3 sides of the platform where we are standing. We took the steps down from here and there is an open area in the center. This is being set up with lighting, a maggie point and a stage in the middle with little elevated platforms on all sides. The place is probably being set up for some local shows for the night. As we moved towards our room, I saw that the tents until ours have white tent cloths on 3 sides and a roof but the back has a concrete wall while the tents next to ours and beyond have concrete walls on all sides which are covered with tents on the outer wall.
We entered our room and I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep at night in that chilling temperature in a tent. With a lot of questions in mind about the room and the stay, we headed towards our desert safari in Thar desert.
There was a pre-booked Mahindra Thar waiting for us and we got into the car. The roads were not properly laid giving us a safari feel already as we traveled towards one of the three deserts. We reached one desert and saw a lot of tourists there and the driver set on the safari(the ride) as soon as we entered the place. There were a few places where the desert sand was very deep forming a circle around and the driver was at times going into this hole kind of a thing and going in circles sometimes. It was a thrilling experience and I have decided to only enjoy the ride and not get afraid as is my usual reaction(I don't shout out loud in fear but something happens in my tummy with such adventures, but not this time around). Before we realized, the safari was over and I enjoyed it this time.
He then took us to the next desert and I was not following the sequence of events yet. He stopped us at a place and a person came immediately and started explaining about the ATV ride and after some bargaining between him and my husband, we got on to a Camel. I needed help to get on to it, owing to my height😉. As the Camel moved across the desert, my head was also oscillating back and forth just like that Camel and this too was a short ride.
Then came the ATV ride. The driver, myself and my husband got onto it and the first half of the ride was good enough until he stopped at a little farther place so my husband could ride. It's my husband's turn now. He rode it in his own style after which driver took over and then the actual fun began. He understood my husband is good at it and unless he impresses my hubby, he is not going to get a good tip, so, he started showing all his talent while I was flying, literally trying to catch the rod hard so I don't fall off… The driver and I both were happy when he stopped - for the tip he got and for the fact that I am intact after the ride..😜
The driver of the Thar vehicle was watching all of this so it was his turn now to impress my hubby. We got into the Thar and he gave us another ride in this desert. The ride here is different not because the desert was different but because the driver decided to impress my husband. My husband finally got excited and I tried not to get afraid while trying to enjoy the ride. The driver asked us to hold the rod and stand during our first ride, which I did then. But now, as the vehicle moved into the deep holes of the desert, I sat down as I lost grip and didn't dare to get up again until the end of the ride.
While we were going back to the stay after this joy ride, we saw a band playing outside one of the resorts and my husband started to have fomo.. as we reached our Resort, there was a grin on his face as there was a band playing here too. They welcomed us into the Resort.
We saw the night show setup was now complete in the center dias. There was a man playing harmonium and singing along with another person accompanying him with other instruments. There were a few people sitting around this place on the small platforms which had a few carpets spread across evenly on 3 sides along with the round long pillows for the purposes of relaxation. People came prepared with shawls and jackets to bear the cold winds and the maggie guy started selling maggie. There was lighting which was thrown to the sky giving the entire place a perfect atmosphere for partying. It was a great visual. We walked across to our room, spent some time there and got back to this most happening place as it looked like. There were two women dressed in traditional Rajasthani attire and while the music was playing, they performed the dances which was not so enjoyable. I could clearly make out that only one of them was a good dancer while the other was pausing frequently to catch up the next steps from the other dancer and this lady was also pausing so that the other could get the steps. So it was a disaster to watch overall and we almost lost our interest. There were a few other performances by them for our distress. How I wished it was for our de-stress.
Day5:22-Dec-2025
Next morning, we got fresh, had breakfast, and set off for Jaipur from there. We stopped at Kuldhara on our way. The story here dates back to 1835 when the people from this village and the surrounding 83 villages emptied the villages almost overnight. There are different stories behind this - one says the chief of all these villages decided to marry the daughter of Kuldhara village chief against her will, so all the villages have vacated the place, while another says the head was cruel and the villagers left the place as they couldn't pay the taxes. There were mostly ruins of the old buildings, a few that were in the entrance were newly painted and looked beautiful. These structures still look very solid. We left the place wondering how so many villages can stay abandoned for centuries.
Then we stopped at Bada baag, a cenotaph, but we were not sure on whose memory they were built. We took some good pics here
Our next stop was at the Jaisalmer Fort. We met our guide and we started walking towards the fort from the place where cars can't go any further. On our way, we had kachori and Dal Pakwan. This was very very yumm. On a big poori, completely mashed, 4 spoons of Dal is spread and it is garnished with onion, tomato, cilantro and some other spices. There was a long queue and the wait time was well justified.
As we walked towards the fort, the guide started explaining that the fort was built on a Triangular valley. There is a place termed Johar in the fort which in any fort means a place where the queen chooses to end her life in the act of Sati if she doesn't want to surrender to the conquerors of the fort. This is an 850 year old fort and cement was not used in its construction. Jaisalmer was a silk route until 250 years ago. It was famous for trading silver, gold and opium.
The fort is divided into 2 parts - King’s view for the kings and the Queen’s view, obviously for the queens. Jewellery and embroidery designs are the base for the king's view made of single sandstone. Sunlight makes this shine like a gold ceiling and the wooden ceiling is 150 years old and changes in different climates like giving warmth during winters and staying cool during summers. We saw various things like Kukris, which are small swords from Nepal, and Guptri which is a sword stick in a wooden case, Topidaar bandook - this is used for hunting but a single person can't operate this. There is a silver Singhasan made for kings - the King who is swearing in sits on this and this ritual is followed even to this day.
On the top floor, we saw a space which the guide explained as olden days cctv. There was no equipment here but people getting into the fort from every gate are visible from this place. When soldiers saw any threat, they used to play something called Nagada to announce the arrival of invaders.
The main king is known as MahaRawal while his brothers are called Maharajas. There was a king named Shaluvahan singh whose height was 8 feet and he weighed 200 kgs, had 25 queens.
There was an ocean in this area around 400 years ago from where the fossil stones got formed and the same were used for constructing this fort.
Rang Mahal is the place where the King explains to the Queen about the commands used during war and during hunting through paintings made of gold while Murrah is a dance area which has entry only for ladies. Deewane aam is the place where king meets the people to listen to their personal problems. Kings utensils and furniture are all made of gold and silver.
There is a festival called Gangaur mela which is performed during Dasara and the procession is taken till the Gadisar lake by the royal family and they gather during this time no matter where they are.
There were houses built for the soldiers in the center of this triangular valley which were visible from this fort where the families of the soldiers stayed. We saw a wheel on the stairs and this was used to blow air for the Queen during nights. There is only a small slit for the person who is blowing air to move the wheel and he can’t see anything inside.
On the Queen's side, we saw a statue of Gauri devi and a miniature of the fort which was very beautiful. There was 'Het vilas' which was for love and then apartments for the Ranis.
There were also safe passages for queens towards gufas(caves) which were used during invasions to safely transport the royal women.
60 percent of the tourism money goes to the King and the rest to maintenance & renovation. About 600 to 700 hotels are owned by the royal family which is approximately 1/4th of the city.
From the fort we travelled to Pattwon ki haveli via 7 seater auto.
Pattuwa is a title given to people who make silver and gold art on rock - Jains used to do this during those days. Havelis - a building with natural air and light - made by these people with intricate art took 60 years to build. Pattwas used to stay here. This was built by Guman Mal ji Bapna in the 18th century for 5 of his sons - 1 Haveli for each son. Out of these, numbers 2 and 5 were donated to the government during some crisis.
We were told that many bollywood shootings and advertisement shootings happen here.
From this Haveli, we went to the Jaisalmer War Museum of Indian soldiers. This had a lot of details about the 1962 war with China, 1965 & 1971 wars with Pakistan and the brave soldiers who contributed to our victory. We also got to see a few retired and captured war tanks and understood that if the war tank is facing down, it's a captured one. A park with statues of a few prominent veer jawans was built here in their honor. Beneath each statue, the stories of their bravery in war were inscribed. Reading how they inspired their team during the toughest and roughest of the times, not caring for their lives but only putting the safety of the country in the forefront filled our hearts with pride and tears.
From here, we reached a hotel near Jaisalmer railway station which we booked to stay until 2 in the night as our train was at 2.30 am the next day. We bid goodbye to our driver Jay Singh who toured along with us for these 5 days in 3 different cities.
When we came out for dinner, my hubby realized we can travel by bus instead of train to avoid odd hours of journey. So, we cancelled our train tickets and booked a bus. We hired an auto to hotel asked the auto driver to wait, checked out from the hotel and went to the bus boarding point in the same auto. The bus started at 9pm from Jaisalmer.
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