Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer sits in the desert in the westernmost corner of Rajasthan less than 100 km from the Pakistan border. We had our first taste of that relationship here: Jaisalmers call their mosquitoes Pakistanis. The main attraction in Jaisalmer is the fort.Above you can see our view of the fort from dinner our first night in town (children were watching a puppet show in front) and below the main pavilion the next day:

Unlike the fort in Jodhpur and the palaces in Udaipur, the fort in Jaisalmer houses not just royal quarters but an entire city. The streets inside the fort are like those of all old cities - unplanned, narrow, lined with formerly fabulous mansions. In Jaisalmer these old havelis are now trapped in a spiderweb of power lines and a maze of open sewers. But the blue walls and carved windows still give it a lot of charm.

I've already mentioned how colorful the saris of the Rajasthani women are, but their jewelry is also remarkable:
Another strange sight in Jaisalmer was the open sale of marijana in bhang shops. This one was at the entrance to the fort, next to the police station. Bizarre in a country that strictly enforces the prohibition of drug use in every other context.


Walking in the fort one day we ran into this procession of boys on camel back, then young girls carrying pots and offerings on their heads, followed by a truck carrying the smallest children and playing religious music with a large crowd of grown men bringing up the rear. No clear explanation as to exactly what was up, but the eye makeup on the toddlers was perplexing. Actually, we've seen this outside a religious or ceremonial context, but it was particularly heavy here.

All this - the nose piercings, the bhang shops, the made-up babies - kept reminding us how far removed our cultural reference points are from society here. It's offensive to wear shoes in a temple, but women's midriffs are normally exposed. It's normal to walk through cow manure in the street and burb in the midst of conversation, but unclean to touch another person or your food with your left hand.

I've been having a difficult time posting about food in India because the fare we generally enjoy most (curries and rice) are just not that pretty. But we have loved the food. There's so much more variety in terms of flavor and preparation here than at home, and some of it - like galub jamuns, rasmalais, pani puri and bhel puri - are totally new to us and too good not to search out when we get back. The best evidence of the quality and variety is that we didn't eat meat for more thana week and never even missed it. Oh, and it's so cheap. To wit: lunch thalis for Rps 35 (~$0.70) and "fancy" dinner of chicken mughlai and aloo matter for a whopping Rps 450 (~$9) for two.

So much for losing weight in India!

xoxo Jessie