Monday October 15th.
We were given an easy 9:30am start for our journey from Gajner which suited everyone just fine. It was the perfect opportunity to have an early breakfast and then get out and take in some of the wonderful sights on offer on this property.
The lake has a decent turtle population who were keen to pop their heads up hoping to be thrown some bread. The occasional catfish would also make itself known. A small fountain was of particular interest to the many parrots who take refuge in the large trees that abound around the buildings. They came in small waves to have their morning bath and then disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.
Some of the true romantics had taken up the offer on Sunday evening to take a boat tour of part of the lake.
The first hour of the drive was on recently
completed highway with two lanes in each direction and a dividing strip planted
out in Oleanders down the centre. On the sides of the road were big bricked up
guards protecting young trees from the roaming cows. Even though the road is
good, the 80km/hour speed limit is observed by everyone. There is always the
cow or six leisurely strolling along or across the road. Unfortunately, the new
road ran out and the next 40 minutes or so was at just better than a snails
pace on the rough, poorly graded stone surface that would someday soon be
sealed extending the highway. The road then continued on as a fairly reasonable
track but one lane only in each direction.
Our midway toilet stop was at the Red Rock Hotel. It would be better called the Bedrock Hotel as it was pretty primitive. There is no doubt we are out in the middle of the desert as we head further west and closer to the border with Pakistan. It is exceptionally hot even before midday.
We're traveling in a convoy of two buses. Mr Singh in the red turban seems content to follow behind his counterpart driving the other bus with the blue turban.
We have fifteen comfortably catered for on our bus while I think there are only a dozen on the other bus. Our group seems to be mainly from Victoria while the other bus seems to have a mixture. Everyone appears to be getting on well together which is always a good sign early in the tour.
We've been driving through an area where underground nuclear testing was conducted in 1974 and 1998. It wasn't accepted well internationally at the time but India considered it necessary as neighbours Pakistan and China had nuclear arms. It certainly is a remote part of India with a sparsely spread population in the region.
Our tour leader Viv does a great job. His commentaries are well informed and interesting and he makes it really clear what to expect to see and do prior to leaving the bus for every visit. Baggage and passport collection each day is well managed with a reliable and efficient system in place to ensure that all is accounted for.
We were given an easy 9:30am start for our journey from Gajner which suited everyone just fine. It was the perfect opportunity to have an early breakfast and then get out and take in some of the wonderful sights on offer on this property.
The lake has a decent turtle population who were keen to pop their heads up hoping to be thrown some bread. The occasional catfish would also make itself known. A small fountain was of particular interest to the many parrots who take refuge in the large trees that abound around the buildings. They came in small waves to have their morning bath and then disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.
Some of the true romantics had taken up the offer on Sunday evening to take a boat tour of part of the lake.
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| The beautiful gardens of Gajner Palace |
Our midway toilet stop was at the Red Rock Hotel. It would be better called the Bedrock Hotel as it was pretty primitive. There is no doubt we are out in the middle of the desert as we head further west and closer to the border with Pakistan. It is exceptionally hot even before midday.
We're traveling in a convoy of two buses. Mr Singh in the red turban seems content to follow behind his counterpart driving the other bus with the blue turban.
We have fifteen comfortably catered for on our bus while I think there are only a dozen on the other bus. Our group seems to be mainly from Victoria while the other bus seems to have a mixture. Everyone appears to be getting on well together which is always a good sign early in the tour.
We've been driving through an area where underground nuclear testing was conducted in 1974 and 1998. It wasn't accepted well internationally at the time but India considered it necessary as neighbours Pakistan and China had nuclear arms. It certainly is a remote part of India with a sparsely spread population in the region.
Our tour leader Viv does a great job. His commentaries are well informed and interesting and he makes it really clear what to expect to see and do prior to leaving the bus for every visit. Baggage and passport collection each day is well managed with a reliable and efficient system in place to ensure that all is accounted for.
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| Our tour leader Viv, on the left |
We stopped briefly to look at a large flock of
migratory cranes that have started to arrive from China and Mongolia to spend
winter. They originally started arriving in 1970 and their numbers have risen
to many thousands each year since then. They eat about 3 tonne of grain per day
which is fed to them. In what appears to me to be a major contradiction, donors
can contribute to fund that even though there are beggars in the streets
throughout this entire country.
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| Incoming Cranes migrating from China and Mongolia |
We are getting closer to the Pakistan border now
and there is certainly a military presence. Through the desert there are the
occasional army camps. We hear there is a good chance we will see a few fighter
jets performing exercises over the next few mornings and evenings and purely by
coincidence, two Mirage fighters have just been spotted out of the bus window.
We've hit Jaisalmer and had a bus drive up to the lookout to get a view of the fort that we will tour tomorrow. Talk about getting blown away! We enjoyed a jaw dropping experience just roaming around like Indian cows observing activities in the city below us and admiring the view of the magnificent 12th century fort that stood in front of us. We can't wait to tour it tomorrow.
We've hit Jaisalmer and had a bus drive up to the lookout to get a view of the fort that we will tour tomorrow. Talk about getting blown away! We enjoyed a jaw dropping experience just roaming around like Indian cows observing activities in the city below us and admiring the view of the magnificent 12th century fort that stood in front of us. We can't wait to tour it tomorrow.
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| Jaisalmer Fort. what a photo! |
Tuesday. Dad would have been 97 today so he
wasn't forgotten when we had a beer at lunch time.
I'm sitting in the hotel lobby putting this blog together while some have a nana nap or others reflect on this mornings excursion. We're heading out again at 4:00pm for a camel ride. There's more than a good chance I'll post this before we go and catch up on the camels on the next posting.
Our morning started with the odd soul being absent. Bombay bum has hit a few so they decided to spend some recovery time here in the hotel while we headed out to explore Jaisalmer. Unfortunately, they missed a wonderful days touring.
We kicked off by visiting the city's lake. It provided some good scenic sights of the fort and also some entertainment from the hundreds of catfish that put on a show when some bread was thrown to them.
I'm sitting in the hotel lobby putting this blog together while some have a nana nap or others reflect on this mornings excursion. We're heading out again at 4:00pm for a camel ride. There's more than a good chance I'll post this before we go and catch up on the camels on the next posting.
Our morning started with the odd soul being absent. Bombay bum has hit a few so they decided to spend some recovery time here in the hotel while we headed out to explore Jaisalmer. Unfortunately, they missed a wonderful days touring.
We kicked off by visiting the city's lake. It provided some good scenic sights of the fort and also some entertainment from the hundreds of catfish that put on a show when some bread was thrown to them.
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| Catfish |
From the minute we arrived at the fort I knew we
were in for a ripper of a day. There was something interesting everywhere we
looked. The fort is home for about four thousand residents and most of the free space is taken up by marker traders.
Rather than waffle, I'll just say it with pictures. We're talking about a fort
that was built in 1280. It is truly an amazing place.
Enjoy this blog, we're off to ride camels. I
have an order in for a pretty one!
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| Typical India |
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| Is that India I can smell? |
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