Today was a long travel day with a 12 hour train journey to Jaisalmer, the morning was spent preparing for our journey by buying food from the yummy bakery down the road. We arrived at the station with half an hour to spare only to discover as per usual our train was late by 1 & 1/2 hours. Our time was spent trying to dodge the pigeons that were nesting in the rafters of the station and firing unpleasant surprises on people below. After being the recipients of 2 direct hits we found a safe spot - finally onto the train and our journey began. The train was a sleeper and was relatively empty so we were all able to sleep later in the journey. The weird thing was that there was no food being sold on the train so our bakery supplies had to be carefully rationed - eventually someone came around taking dinner orders by this time Andrew was really hungry (!!) so ordered a dinner - he is now wondering about the wisdom of his decision as he has spent the last few hours experiencing eggy burps!!!...time will tell
We arrived in Jaisalmer at 1am - managed to get a lift to our accomodation - unfortunately the message re our arrival hadn't been passed on and there was no room at the inn.
So we spent the rest of the night sleeping on thin mattresses with heavy blankets on the roof top restaurant - the kids took it in their stride and it was magical to wake this morning to a sunrise over the Jaisalmer fort.
Jaisalmer is probably one of my favourite places in India - I am writing this sitting in the rooftop restaurant in the late afternoon sun with the fort stretched out before me - it is like a scene out of Arabian nights if you can discount the sounds of the pigs forraging in the vacant lot next door!!
We are all looking forward to an early night in a comfortable bed ( we now have 2 comfortable rooms) so we can do some more exploring tomorrow.
Hello you maharajas of Rajisthan, what wonderful times for you all there. I see you are heading south now and you've curved way to the west, big long journeys to get that far across the great subcontinent. Heather's pigeon story highlighted an architectural flaw in one of their buildings, i'd just like to (smugly) say. : ) The Amber fort and jaisalmer looked amazing. Seems also warmer for you all now. I like the segways from one Laxon writing to the next. Example: David's Chritmas Eve cliff hanger "probably nothing" was never a MacGuffin but a warning which left the reader wondering, only to be confirmed by his dad's posting on Christmas Day. David, hope you are well again and all the Laxon stomaches are OK. People like me who have never been there, but would secretely love to, have their fears confirmed by tales like that but I think overall you're conveying something which would leave most people intrigued and thrilled: the most amazing sights and adventures and I particularly liked Heather's "I am writing this sitting in the rooftop restaurant in the late afternoon sun with the fort streteched out before me." So magical. Remeber when Phoebe and her husband went there, Andrew, and did the v long train trip? Where are you off to next, I'm wrondering. south I think. Best wishes for the upcoming New Year, our perfect summer continues. Stay safe and well and keep up the v interesting blogs. Love it all.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Pigeon dodging and rooftop Sleeping....that's what I call adventure! I want to know if you were awakened by the smells of breakfast? That along with the sunset would make the thin mattresses worthwhile. No princesses among you, I presume? Xo
ReplyDeleteSounds like the place to be - love the rooftop sleeping idea!
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