The Living Fortress

Day 5 : Odo reading 1350 kms

 We overslept in the tent, only to wake up at half past 10 and headed directly to Jaisalmer fort, There we found another guide(yes, we fell for it again) he took us around the fort and explained that the fort was 400 years old and people were still living inside it, We were spell bound  when we walked thru the front gates of the  fort ,which was on top of a small hill.

King's residence inside the Fort

The fort was built by Jaisal hence Jaisalmer, it had around 3000 people who call the fort their home, with 30 restaurants and a small temple. The lanes inside this fort was very narrow and mazy (very easy to get lost).

Jaisalmer Fort

As we made through this fort the guide mentioned that the King had around 200 wives (what a 'MAN'), and the present King lives somewhere else. The carvings on sandstone were breathtakingly similar to wood carvings, After roaming the lanes for few minutes we got into a temple inside which the carvings were even more alive.

Carving inside the temple

Ceiling inside the temple

After finishing this trip inside the fort, We geared up for the road with jackets,gloves and helmet proceeding to our next destination 'Jodhpur' which is around 300 kms away but we were on a tight schedule as we left Jaisalmer late afternoon.

Riding along the sand dunes was an experience that will stay with me forever, I should also mention here that all along the way I was riding solo with Rakshith and Gopi on the other bike (Poor Gopi couldn't get his hands on any of the bike). We stopped at a roadside restaurant which served fried rice, pretty filling it was.

Mehnagarh Fort, Jodhpur
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It was late in the evening that we reached Jodhpur and could see the majestic Mehnagarh fort from a distance with the setting sun lighting up the west side of the fort. we went there only to find that it was closed for visitors, disheartened by this, we just took a glimpse of the "Blue City" from the hillside viewing spot and returned to the main city where we found some accommodation and went out to buy some liquor (when we were buying beer from a local wine shop, we saw three girls pick up Jack Daniel's....If only we had enough money!).

After all the travelling we had done it was time to sleep but excitement was in the air as we were to meet another friend of mine Mr Deepak Jain alias Setu tomorrow at Rajsamand.