Hello lovely people . . .no. 6

We have thoroughly enjoyed our three days exploring Jaisalmer, becoming adept at dodging unwanted tuktuk rides and guides (well almost) and for Alison M and I bartering (not especially hard or successfully) to buy textiles (throws, clothes).

There is good food including chicken and mutton, curried and tandoor, welcome to we four carnivores after several days of an almost exclusively vegetarian diet. Beers whenever required, glorious weather – mid 30s hot in the middle of the day but not humid, lovely breeze in the evenings, roof top bars inside and outside the fort to admire the views and enjoy the food, the beers and fresh lime sodas 

Exploring the fort has given me what I sense is a taste of medieval life, much more so than holidays exploring well preserved Tuscan hill villages where I have previously sensed the medieval. Here people live cheek by jowl, there are open drains, litter in most corners and all the smells the consequence of that. Cows and dogs roam, shit and sleep freely. Hawkers roll carts and call out their wares, women and children collect and pick over rubbish for anything useful or, I guess, saleable

We can see from walking the streets makeshift homes and stalls as well as more substantial homes and shops. The only distraction from the medieval is the presence of tuktuks and scooters and the constant blare of horns to alert you to their presence

We visit the fort palace museum. Astonishing architecture, carvings, decoration, history. We decide against a guide because of the well publicised, highly rated audio guide (yes, OK – immediately taking us out of the medieval!). Nonetheless we find ourselves attached to a young guide who insists on accompanying us to the ticket desk finally whispering that if he presents us the palace will pay him 20 rupees a head for taking customers…

It is hard to gauge what people earn/need to survive but 500 rupees a day for a driver seems to be a good wage so earning 80 rupees in five minutes for doing very little seems a good return for him (its about 94 rupees to the £1 currently)

The young guide leaving us for his next visitors and we set off to visit the fort palace, ear phones in. Another photographic feast

We read to prepare for a visit to the Jain temples: no leather, dress respectfully, no shoes to be worn inside. Of the complex of seven temples three are open to visitors, the remainder are just for Jains. We arrive and at the ticket desk are told no water can be taken into the temple and a man shows us where we can leave our water bottles for collection later, hands us our tickets and proceeds to guide us through the three open temples …. an inadvertent guide from our perspective but a practicing Jain, apparently knowledgable and with good English

The temples are another visual feast and we learn something of the Jain practices and history: 24 prophets, each with its own symbol (the moon prophet is number 23, the cobra prophet is number 12), all are worshipped for different reasons/potential benefits; Jains strict vegetarians to the extent that no food is taken between dusk and dawn in case bugs (our guide referred to “mosquites”) are eaten and for the same reason Jains eat nothing which grows under ground (mosquitoes may have burrowed into such vegetables/fruits/nuts). Holy men and women (each a sadhu) are celibate and have no physical contact of any kind with anyone other than another sadhu of their own sex. Our guide explained he has a sister who is a sadhu and when she visits the family no one can hug or kiss her or even shake her hand. They are people of commerce and historically funded the Rajput princes providing financing for the forts and palaces, armies and arms. For this reason their temples are found within the fort precincts

The intricately carved stone temples and marble prophets are all photogenic and again I will spare you my complete library but I hope you enjoy this selection

Next stop Jodhpur. Until then Namaste

Alison