We ourselves were surprised at what we did today. We have built a new threshold for us. This was not in our plans, but we took a step ahead and drove for 650 Kms in scorching heat, passing through the deadly Thar Desert. Even bursting of a tyre due to the super-hot roads could not change our minds to keep driving. We had decided to stop when the sun sets and the odometer told us, that we had driven 650 Kms from the start of this day.

We took a diversion at Bikaner to go to Deshnok, but the long and crawling-at-a-snails-pace queue pushed us back and we decided to leave. Oh man, Bikaner was the most confusing city in Rajashtan, it took us quiet some time and some roundabouts to come out of Bikaner. Apart from this, we had a little refreshing break at the RTDC motel in Ratangarh. And as expected from Rajasthan, the food was amazing. As we were racing against the sun, we were able to make it to the town of Jhunjhunu and again took refuge in an RTDC hotel.

Daybreak:

The most beautiful sunrise of this trip:

A funny slogan:

Our car set against the deserty background:

We are falling short of words to describe this small little palace of Mr. Badal Singh. We can clearly say that this was indeed our best stay in the whole of Rajasthan. Though this place does not offer luxury and modern amenities, but what you get here is hospitality, care and a human touch, which is missing in most of the hotels out there.

The simple nature of Mr. Badal Singh touched out hearts. This man is a man of principles and integrity, he won’t fleece you off your money. What he asks for is a very reasonable and justified tariff. We would recommend that anyone who is visiting Jaiselmer, please don’t miss staying at Badal House. Drop us a mail at contactus@travelwithkorit.com to get the contact of Mr. Badal Singh.

From Khuri we headed to Ludrawa. It was a quiet little place, with nobody around. This place has ruins of some jain temples.

From Ludrawa we came back to the Jaisalmer city. The first place we saw here was Patwon ki Haveli. This was a collection of 5 havelis for 5 brothers. Out of which only one was open for public. These people were businessmen, trading in spices and other condiments. It is believed that these people were so rich that they used to lend money to kings as well. The havelis were really interesting and were made more interesting by our guide Mr. Manmohan. The havelis had beautiful architecture, but were very cramped, narrow corridors, small rooms. We wonder they never felt claustrophobic.

Next stop for us was the Jaisalmer fort. We had high hopes from this fort, but one step inside it and all your hopes are sunken. Literally almost all of the Jaisalmer city is inside this fort. The entire place is full of shops and only shops. You might find some palaces in between but they are in their worst conditions. As soon as we entered the fort, we were desparate to come out and go back to the tranqulity of Khuri.

Outside the fort we met a self-proclaimed guide who won’t leave us, so we hired him for 50 bucks ( we thought he will piss off if we say 50 bucks, but alas!). All he was interested in showing us was his commisioned shops, and once we made him clear that we are not interested in buying anything, his interest evaporated. The way he was showing us the palace was a shame on the guide community. Halfway down we asked him to take his money and leave. That time he revealed that looking at our hired car he anticipated that we will be NRIs and was disappointed to know that we were reliable Indians .

The last stop before we headed back to Khuri was the Gadisar lake. We found this place better than the fort but needs some more maintenance.

And that is – Khuri. This place is so quiet and serene, its hard to believe that its just 90 kms from Pakistan. We went roaming about in Khuri on foot, and imagine we saw it whole in just 40 minutes. Mr. Radhe Shyam Joshi volunteered to be our guide to Khuri. Its a rustic little village with small hut-like houses, but very neatly kept. The village has a small temple, of a guy who used to heal cows! There are two schools in the village, thanks to tourism and attention this small village got from NGOs.

The major source of income for this village is Tourism, Cattle, Handicraft, and Pottery. But tourism has its own downside as well. Tourists, specially foreigners, have spoiled the minds of people here, with their fat wads of money and chocolates that they give away. You click one picture here, and you can hear tens of voices saying “Photo Rupees”. It was really disheartening to see this set into everybody, be it children or adults.

A Shot from the village of Khuri:

The potter lady:

Kids on a break from school:

Life of a Khuri-dweller:

Yesterday night, we had a romantic date in the midst of the Great Thar Desert. We were escorted to the venue by two mighty camels. The food was cooked fresh and served beneath the starry roof. Our bed was layed on the cold sand and we were watched by the moon for the night.

I am not narrating a dream, but a dream-come-true. We can say that the night in the Sand Dunes of Khuri was the most romantic and beautiful night of our lives till date. Some of the pictures that describes it are:

The Amazing Sunset:

The Mystic Sand Dunes:

A Walk Together in the Dunes:

The Beetle:

Our food getting cooked:

Karwa-chauth ka Chand:

Good Morning! In the Desert:

Vikram Singh & Malkhana (the camel-walas) with Ritesh:

Good Bye Dunes! On our way back to the village:

The drive from Jodhpur to Khuri might become the most adventurous drive of the trip. We can never forget the windscreen-breaking moment. Yes! you read it right, we met with a small mishap in the form of a huge bird hitting our wind screen while crossing the road.

What I missed most was to capture the expressions on Kosha’s face when the accident happened. Poor girl, she was covered with small-smaller pieces of shattered glass.

Apart from this, the drive was amazing with beautiful roads and views. We even came across three convoys of Army trucks, each consisting of almost 30 – 40 vehicles.

Overlooking the old city of Jodhpur, is another amazing piece of Rajputana Architecture – Mehrangarh Fort. Some Mr. Mehra was buried alive in the foundation of the fort and thus the name ‘Mehra’ngarh. There was a belief during those times, if a man is buried alive in the foundation, the fort will be undefeated. And actually this fort has never been conquered in any direct attack.

As informed for our guide, Mr. Rajesh, this is the only fort in Rajasthan which is still a private property held under a trust. This can be clearly seen the in the well maintainance of the fort. And can you believe? It even had an elevator!

Overall, it was a nice experience walking through the fort and listening to amazing stories narrated by Mr. Rajesh. We will rate this as the second best fort in Rajasthan, after Amber Fort.

If you are traveling to Jodhpur, don’t miss the dinner arranged on the roof top of Mehrangarh Fort. Though we were unlucky and could not enjoy this wonderful dinner as it was closed due to some international festival

With so many good reviews by foreigners on internet, The Saffron Guest House in Jodhpur seemed an ideal place to stay. But our perception was shattered when we saw the place. It had a striking similarity with “Hotel Decent” of Jab We Met fame. The locality, the exterior and the interiors of the guest house was so shady that we instantly decided not to stay here.

Next moment we were stranded on the streets of an unknown city, wandering and looking for a decent (literally) place to stay. Finally we spotted an RTDC Hotel – Ghoomar and took a sigh of relief.

While we were planning our Rajasthan trip, we saw a huge patch of blue, marked as Sambhar Salt Lake, on the map. The name caught our eyes and we googled about it. The description was so interesting that we made it a part of our itinerary. Sambhar Salt Lake is at a distance of 90 kms from Jaipur. This lake is usually very dry throughout the year with an average depth of 0.6 cm.

Thanks to a blog, one day travel to Sambhar Lake, we knew exactly where to go – Shakamberi Devi Temple. When we reached the temple, we were not able to believe what was in front of us. Confused, we pinched ourselves to realize that its for real and we were not dreaming. There was only one question in our minds – Can such a place exist on earth? For us that place was magical, mystical, romantic, serene and philosophical.

We can go on and on in praise of this place, and lets us stop here and let our pictures describe this place more vividly to you.

The hike up the small hill on top of Shakamberi Devi Temple:

The view of lake from the top of the small hill:

Shadow of clouds on the Lake:

Driving on the Lake

Driving on this lake was so much fun. Never felt this good on any road before this. It was just amazing

Screech goes the tyre:

The car and the lake in same frame:

One snap of us with the lake and the car :

We spent the entire afternoon roaming in the streets of Pink City. Overall Pink City was ok. Funnily, the Pink City is not pink at all, it was brown .

At first, we had a sumptuous and very yummy lunch at Laxmi Misthan Bhandar (LMB), very old experts in this area, now a 3-star hotel. Here we had the best Ras Malai of our lives.

Then was a short visit to Hawa Mahal. Just took some pictures of the Mahal from outside and pushed off.

I was way too excited about shopping in Jaipur, and made “poor” Ritesh walk up and down the Baapu Bazaar. But it was not exactly what I was expecting and ended up displeased and buying very less.