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| Navin, Harsha and Jaisalmer fort |
The road from Bikaner to Jaisalmer is really well maintained. Most of the members were tired from a full day of activity and caught up
on their sleep. There was not much else to do. An hour or so from
Jaisalmer, we saw the town of Pokhran, made famous by the India's
peaceful nuclear tests. Was there ever a bigger oxymoron than "peaceful
nuclear test"? The quality of roads only improved the closer we got to Jaisalmer. We observed many military vehicles when we realized that we were quite close to the border with Pakistan. Anyway, we reached Jaisalmer a little past 8PM and found out that the hotel we were going to stay was another 20 minutes further away.
Suryagarh is an ultra modern 5 Star hotel built to look like an ancient fort. It achieves what it has set out to do; provide an ambience of earlier ages with the excellence of modern amenities.When we arrived it was already quite late and by the time dinner was complete and kids put to bed, it was past 11PM!
Our agenda next day was to go to the Jaisalmer fort, the only living fort. I mean, it is the only fort that still has people living in it. The town is entirely supported by tourism with little or no other industry. It was beautiful. We could exhaust our entire memory card taking pictures of the
workmanship on some of the buildings. I have been to
Belur and
Halebid in Karnataka and I thought I had seen some exquisitely carved structures. This place seemed to built with similar detailed work but on a far grander scale. We walked along the narrow pathways and went in and out of many buildings and stores inside the fort.
The guide we had with us talked about the strong association of Jainism to this town and took us to the most exquisite Jain temple.From there he took us to one of the vantage points atop the fort. We left the fort to walk over to
some of the famous
havelis or private mansions of the former rich folks of Jaisalmer. Near the
Patwa Haveli, we had the opportunity to meet a person who allegedly is in the
Guinness Book of record for the longest mustache.
Kids were tired of walking and so were we. As usual Navin knew of the perfect restaurant here as well. We were taken to the top of
1st Gate. The food was delicious and we were hungry and full justice was done to the fare set in front of us. Navin then directed the driver to Gadisagar. We spent over an hour on the boat with the boatman telling us the history of the place as the sun set slowly. As darkness fell over the lake, we drifted back towards our vehicle to take us back to the hotel. That was the day of the 10th anniversary of Raji and Navin. Inchara and I had secretly ordered a small cake for the occasion. Cake was delicious and it was a fitting end to a beautiful day.
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| Many Happy Returns |
Our agenda next day was to go to the Jaisalmer fort, the only living fort. I mean, it is the only fort that still has people living in it. The town is entirely supported by tourism with little or no other industry. It was beautiful. We could exhaust our entire memory card taking pictures of the workmanship on some of the buildings. I have been to Belur and Halebid in Karnataka and I thought I had seen some exquisitely carved structures. This place seemed to built with similar detailed work but on a far grander scale. We walked along the narrow pathways and went in and out of many buildings and stores inside the fort. 
The guide we had with us talked about the strong association of Jainism to this town and took us to the most exquisite Jain temple.From there he took us to one of the vantage points atop the fort. We left the fort to walk over to some of the famous havelis or private mansions of the former rich folks of Jaisalmer. Near the Patwa Haveli, we had the opportunity to meet a person who allegedly is in the Guinness Book of record for the longest mustache.
Kids were tired of walking and so were we. As usual Navin knew of the perfect restaurant here as well. We were taken to the top of 1st Gate. The food was delicious and we were hungry and full justice was done to the fare set in front of us. Navin then directed the driver to Gadisagar. We spent over an hour on the boat with the boatman telling us the history of the place as the sun set slowly. As darkness fell over the lake, we drifted back towards our vehicle to take us back to the hotel. That was the day of the 10th anniversary of Raji and Navin. Inchara and I had secretly ordered a small cake for the occasion. Cake was delicious and it was a fitting end to a beautiful day.
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