Just over 40 miles from the India/Pakistan border, Jaisalmer is about as close as you can get to Pakistan without risking prisontime. India takes border protection very seriously here, especially after the Mumbai bombings. India's border control would make Rush Limbaugh proud. They have closed a perimeter of about 20 miles from the border and have installed flood lights to make sure nobody sneaks across. To enter this perimeter zone, you need to get a special permit from the Border Protection Department. It is impossible to drive toward the border, much less cross it. They have also closed all rail crossings.
Driving from Manvar to Jaisalmer, we encountered the full force of the Indian military. Over the course of about 100 kilometers, we passed a continuous military convoy headed in the opposite direction. Apparently India rotates its military personnel from the mountains to the desert twice a year. These were the luck guys who got to spend the winter in the desert and the summer in the mountains. Must suck to be the other guys. Anyway, the trucks carried everything from men (by the thousands) to huge tanks. Meanwhile, helicopters buzzed overhead, either on training missions or patrolling the borderlands. Really made us feel like we were in a war zone.
Aside from the military presence, the drive was beautiful. The desert reminded me of my childhood home in Palm Springs. The desert scrub, the dry desert air, and the cragged mountains rising from the desert all looked comfortably familiar. But in Palm Springs, it was slightly more rare to see camels and elephants walking down the street. And the cows all ended up at the Chart House steakhouse and didn’t have the luxury of roaming around town.
When we got into Jaisalmer, our driver showed us a couple hotels, but we passed on them. The rooms had no windows, the beds were rocks, and the showers were mounted directly above the toilet. But the third try was a charm. We ended up in the Nachana Haveli, a former royal palace that is run by the cousin to the current Maharaja. And as luck would have it, we ended up in the Honeymoon Suite.
The suite really was over the top. All of the walls were the original stone from the palace. It had stained-glass windows and the windows that are carved out of stone into a mesh
, which are common in the palaces in Rajasthan. The parlor had a sitting area enshrouded in lace, and fit for a king or queen. The bedroom was the best. A red satin veil hung from the ceiling and flowed all around the bed. The bed was covered by a velvet-and-sequin bed spread. Above the bed hung six Moroccan lanterns, each a different color. Our huge bathroom had the only 24-hour hot water in the hotel (the rest only got hot water for a few hours in the morning.) All this for only $60 a night!For some reason (that probably can only be explained by India’s strange relationship with electricity) our room had about 463 light switches. Each controlled only one tiny light, or the air conditioner, or the refrigerator, or the hot water heater. Many switches controlled nothing at all. Or perhaps we were turning on and off the lights in the restaurant or someone else’s room, who knows. And the switches were in no particular order. So turning the lights on or off involved a time consuming yet comical routine of trial and error.
The most awkward thing about our room (other than us being two guys checking into the Honeymoon Suite) was that it was right in the middle of the rooftop restaurant. When we walked out our door, we were about 3 feet from people dining. Being as self-conscious as I am, I was convinced that the paparazzi was waiting outside to see what celebrities would emerging from the Honeymoon Suite, only to be severely disappointed by two shabbily-dressed and unkempt men.
When we looked in the guide book, we learned that the best restaurant in Jaisalmer was the one right outside the door of our room. We had a great lunch overlooking the streets below (which were best seen from a safe distance) and then set off to the city’s main attraction, Jaisalmer Fort.
Built in 1156, Jaisalmer Fort is the only fort in India that still contains a living
city. It is built out of sandstone, which makes it blend into the surrounding desert. Unfortunately, the sandstone is deteriorating and some say that a large sandstorm could be the end of Jaisalmer Fort. The destruction of the Fort is being hastened by the hotels and restaurants inside the Fort that compete to profit off tourism. Without a modern sewar system in the Fort, the restaurants and hotels pump the used water into the ground. This had caused the ground to rise, and inevitably will result in the Fort collapsing. This is the main reason we decided to not stay at a hotel located in the Fort.The main gate of the Fort serves as an instant reminder to the brutality of medieval times. After each battle, a huge fire would be built in this area. The wives and children of each of the men who died in battle would jump (they say “jump,” but really??) into the fire. They apparently believed that it was worse to live with the shame than to die in the fire. India has come a long way since the days of sati, but it still has a long, long way to go.
We took a very nice tour of the five-story Palace of the Maharawal which is being impeccably restored by Jaisalmer in Jeopardy, a non-profit foundation dedicated to saving Jaisalmer Fort. The views over the city from the Palace were amazing and they are doing a great job of restoring this beautiful palace. .
After finishing the tour of the Palace, we wandered around the winding streets of the Fort. It was relatively less hectic than many of the other street markets we had navigated. While there were still cows, autorickshaws, motorcycles, cars, and bicycles, it was much more quiet than other areas.
At dinner (again on our rooftop restaurant), we were treated to traditional Rajasthani music and dance, performed by what looked like a family (ranging in age from a 10-year old kid to a very old man).. Another large school group-this time an Australian college group-was dining at the next table. They had all gone out an bought saris and were dressed to the nines. The dancer would bring the group up to join her in dance, so that added to the entertainment. The musicians were set up with their drums right next to our table, so the music was deafening, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
The next day we visited Bada Bagh, a cluster of once-grand marble memorials built to honor the former rulers of Jaisalmer. Sadly, the government has let the memorials crumble and they now stand in a barren field of dirt and surrounded by huge wind turbines and cell-phone towers. Like everywhere in India, the ground was covered in trash. It may sound cynical and jaded, but nothing is sacred here. It is really depressing to see that people who live among all of these beautiful and historic monuments have such little regard for simple aesthetics like picking up garbage. If you ask someone to point you to a garbage can to throw something away, they point to the ground. Here, everywhere is a garbage can. Like so many of India’s problems, this is a result of dire poverty. It’s hard to worry about the luxury of aesthetics when you can’t even satisfy the basic necessities of life.
After two nights in Jaisalmer, we left our Honeymoon Suite and made our way away from the Pakistan border.
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