First impressions of Jaisalmer (Eleanor)

We arrived in Jaisalmer in the early afternoon. A jeep was waiting to take us to the hotel. Apparently this is the way to do it in Jaisalmer; rickshaw drivers are notorious for dropping tourists at the wrong hotels. Our hotel room was an unfortunate shade of green (the same color as the background in that painting I mentioned – it seems quite popular actually), the beds were itchy, and the manager was a bit pushy – he wanted us to go on his camel safari – so we only stayed there one night before moving to Hotel Golden City, which was much better.
The first afternoon, we went exploring a little bit. We saw one of the three main Havelis in Jaisalmer and walked around inside the fort. Havelis are large, old, intricately decorated mansions. The one we visited belonged to the former prime minister of Jaisalmer. Apparently, when it was built it was as high as the fort but after the prime minister’s death, the Maharaja had 2 floors removed. I found it interesting that the maharaja waited; the prime minister must have been quite a formidable man. The architecture in the Haveli was extraordinary. Because water is so scarce in the desert, there is nothing cementing the various tone blocks together. They fit together perfectly, like legos, and are joined with iron bands. Because of this, the entire building could be taken apart and reconstructed in another place.
Everything had multiple uses. For example, the ceiling of one storey was wood, then there was a slight space, about a foot, and the floor of the next storey was stone. There were five reasons for this. Footsteps echoed so you could hear intruders, the air circulation cooled the house, if there was a fire the entire building wouldn’t collapse, wood couldn’t support all the stories above it but stone could, and there was something else but I can’t remember it.
I especially liked the removable flowers. The prime minister apparently loved flowers, but flowers do not grow in the desert. So he had hundreds of stone flowers decorating his house which could be removed and used for decorations during festivals and other celebrations.
After the Haveli, we ate a traditional Rajasthani meal, with some ingredient that can only be found on the edge of the Great Thar Desert, and it was delicious. We then ventured into the fort. We were immediately set upon by a group of tribal women selling anklets. Personally, I was more interested in the clothes and jewelry they wearing than the anklets they were selling. In any case, we had no money but were interested enough that we said we’d return after visiting the ATM. Thus, we escaped and made our way into the fort.
Jaisalmer is known as the Golden City, and with good reason. The yellow sandstone that many buildings are made of is a beautiful gold color. Mom and I enjoyed just wandering around. We got invited into another old haveli. This one was not recommended in the guidebook, and it needs a little work, but it was quite nice. It belonged to the Maharaja’s secretary. He had the job of entertaining, and sometimes housing, people of all castes and classes who came to speak with the Maharaja. So his house was a fascinating blend of many different styles, catering to rich and poor alike. One waiting room, for example, had two levels – one for an upper caste gentleman and one for all of his attendants. There was also an impressive portrait of the secretary himself. It was 300 odd years old, but still in quite good condition. He looked as though he would have had quite a presence.
After the second Haveli, we were wandering through the back streets and alleys inside Jaisalmer Fort – Lost. (This seems to be a common occurrence.) As we wandered, a women stopped me rather abruptly and told me my sari was tied wrong. She promply began tying properly, in the middle of the street. It wasn’t a real problem, merely somewhat embarrassing. After I was all fixed up, we asked for directions to the Jain Temples. She did give us directions, but pointed out that they were closed after noon anyway, and did we want to visit her shop.
So the rest of the afternoon was spent shopping. It was a good day.