{"id":701,"date":"2014-01-16T00:47:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T05:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetanyc.com\/?p=701"},"modified":"2015-01-27T16:58:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T21:58:36","slug":"jaisalmer-india-january-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/192.168.2.119:1984\/svetanyc\/2014\/01\/jaisalmer-india-january-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaisalmer, India. January 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 13, 2014<\/p>\n

Pictures of Sam Sands Dunes and Jaisalmer.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunil and I left Jodhpur <\/a>at 6 am because I have booked an overnight camel safari out of Jaisalmer<\/a> (280 kms away) and had to be there by 1 pm to register and check-in. Nico has decided to come with me on the safari, since he was planning to do it anyway, but he left Jodhpur by bus a day before. Jodhpur stands on the border of Thar Desert<\/a> and we were about to enter one of the deadliest places in India. Jaisalmer, the India’s most western outpost is located in the middle of Thar desert and offers one of the most authentic desert safaris in the region, or so they say. I figured to give it a try and spend at least one night in a desert.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately after leaving Jodhpur I could see the difference in scenery, the trees were becoming more scarce, while white sand and desert-like plants were getting more predominant. It is a wonderful and serene feeling to witness sunset when driving in the desert. When we finally approached Jaisalmer around noon, a car accident on the main road prevented us from driving through to the city (because apparently, there were no other roads and traffic started to pile up at the scary speed), so Sunil recommended me to have somebody from the agency come and pick me up by a motorbike. Luckily, they were willing to do so, but when a guy came to get me, we figured out a better, dirt-road option to the city.<\/p>\n

I used a highly regarded agency,\u00a0Sahara Travels<\/a>\u00a0for my two days\/one night safari (Rs.1350), originating right outside Jaisalmer fort. When I arrived, Nico was already there and so were 4 other European students doing an exchange program in Ahmedabad<\/a>, but exploring India on the weekends. \u00a0Because our overnight camp was located in Sam Sand Dunes<\/a>, about 42 kms away from Jaisalmer, we started our trip in a jeep at 2 pm. About 15 kms to the west from Jaisalmer, we stopped to explore a long abandoned village, which to my knowledge didn’t present any historical value. After browsing for 10-15 minutes, I returned to the car and asked the driver\/guide what was so special about this place and what was it called? Apparently, it was a famous cursed village Kuldhara<\/a> and the story of this place is next.<\/p>\n

Established in 1291 by Paliwal Brahmins<\/a>, Kuldhara\u00a0was the main village in a group of 84. Despite arid desert and scorching summers, Brahmin community was successful in growing crops and became prosperous. However, one night in 1825 all the people of Kuldhara and other 83 villages disappeared, simply vanishing in the dark. What would force them to leave their settlement after 7 centuries? Legend says that the king (or minister) of ruling kingdom, on the way to somewhere passed Kuldhara.\u00a0By some chance, he saw the young daughter of the village ruler and fell in love. He asked for her hand but was denied because he wasn’t of the same caste as Brahmins. So, in order to force his way, the king gave all citizens of 84 villages\u00a0a\u00a0notice that if they don’t give up the young girl, he would punish all of them. The leaders of the villages got together and in order to preserve their honor and purity of Brahmin caste gathered all the citizens and left their settlement forever. Until today, nobody knows what happened to them\u00a0and where they settled after, however, there are rumors that they founded another city near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Despite the abandonment, the villages weren’t re-occupied and the houses weren’t stripped for materials, because, before leaving, the Brahmins sent a curse that anyone who would occupy their land would die. Until now, all the villages stand there alone, cursed and with all their inhabitants long gone. In different state of dissolution, some houses look nothing more than a pile of rubbles, while others still preserved their walls and indoor planning.<\/p>\n

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After about 20 minutes in Kuldhara Village, we continued further into the desert. At some point, we stopped to switch the vehicles and instead of the jeep, we all climbed to our own personal camels to proceed to an overnight camp. I have ridden camels before, in Egypt<\/a> and I really enjoyed it. At first, it seems scary and the height of the animal doesn’t make it any better, however, feeling the slow pace and good nature of your ride, makes it an enjoyable\u00a0adventure. After about 15 minutes of photo-craze, I finally relaxed and enjoy the beautiful ride in the dunes. Later, speaking with a friend who did an overnight safari as well, I learnt that they went to a place that felt as remote as NYC in the afternoon, so I was very lucky to have no one but our caravan of camels mounting the dunes of Sam Sands.<\/p>\n

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After about 1.5 hours of riding, we reached the camp where our driver\/guide was joined by other 3-4 men, excluding the camel boys who accompanied us throughout the ride. While our group was happily and freely running up and down the dunes like children, the camp attendants prepared our beds (6 double mattresses next to each other with 6 heavy blankets on top) and were in the process of cooking dinner on the camp fire. A bedouin<\/a> came to our camp and offered us to buy beer, apparently, we weren’t that far from the civilization, as i hoped, and here I found out that my wallet was stolen.\u00a0Whatever bad could happen to me, happened. After the rape attack in Jodhpur, theft of $1,000 in Agra, that was just another thing missing from my list of misadventures in India.<\/p>\n

Despite all, we had a very delicious and quiet dinner by the fire; conversations, exchange of experiences and just blank star-staring filled the evening way past 10 pm. I went to sleep and even though, I am not big on camping and always have hard time sleeping outside (especially in +0C and wrapped in a dirty blanket), the night was cold but comfortable. Nico was the first to get up even before the sunset to capture some pretty good shots.<\/p>\n

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January 14, 2014<\/p>\n

After the breakfast, we mounted our rides and proceeded back to the pit stop about 1- 1.5 hours away. On the second day, every one felt as a professional camel rider with many years of practice. It is definitely the kind of experience you want to repeat over and over again. I wish I had time to do a multi-day safari.<\/p>\n