Rajasthan is a popular destination India that gets extensive coverage in foreign countries. Palaces, Desert Camping, Festive colors, Safaris, Fairs, Religious circuits; the state packages everything that ‘The Land’ has to offer. Rajasthan has one of the best road and air connectivity in the country and tempts many in to taking road trips across the state. The blog below, authored by my daughter Rashmi, seeks to capture the beauty of Rajasthan through her eyes and words. The trip was organized towards the closing stages of the tourist season in the month of March. The weather is warmer than usual during the day but the evenings are pleasant with the hangover of winter. This road trip across Rajasthan was done over a period of 7 Nights and 8 Days.
In Part 1 of the road trip, we covered Udaipur. In Part 2 of the road trip, we covered Jodhpur and Ranakpur. Udaipur to Jodhpur is a 260 Km (161 miles) drive via NH8 and NH65 taking approximately 4 hrs and 30 mins. Jodhpur is the “Sun City”, second largest city in Rajasthan and served as the seat of the erstwhile Marwar Kingdom.
Jaisalmer – The Golden City
It was another day with an arrival into a new destination, Jaisalmer. We had an early and yummy breakfast at Ratan vilas and set drove down from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. It was approximately a 5 hr drive (280 kms/177 Mi). Jaisalmer is mostly surrounded by the Thar desert and we had our resort in a desert. It was long but comfortable.
We visited a desert camp in between our journey. It is known as Manvar desert camp. It is a wonderful place with a natural environment,providing rooms and tents set in the desert, to their guests. The tents here are mostly booked and that’s what my mom prefers the most. The tents are 9 to 10km away from the main rooms and they are reached through jeeps. The jeep ride is fun and you see all the villagers and trees and shrubs. The tents are of excellent quality and are of 2 categories: deluxe and super deluxe . Anyone who wishes to experience a desert like stay, can come here and enjoy the essence of the desert.
Finally, ended in a warm welcome with sweets and drinks, at Suryagarh, Jaisalmer . It is a 5 star luxury resort which is in the Thar desert and you will get all the services you need, inspite of being in a desert. This is an awesome place and nobody would ever feel like getting out from here. The architecture of this place is very beautiful and We luckily got a room upgrade, a room with a larger amount of amenities and a better view. The staff are also amazing. The rooms are extravagant, making this place a number 1!
We rested in the afternoon after a long journey and later visited another desert camp, which was just about 20 minutes away from our resort. Its name is Damodra desert camp, which is a small desert camp with 10 tents. This place is very scenic and is a small camp, with a complete view of the Thar desert. This place is a basic 4 star camp, providing spacious tents and good food. Cultural programs take place here every evening with a wide place to sit in the middle of all the tents. The owner of this place also lives here only and is a very kind hearted person. You will also find the camp’s cute dog, who is also very well behaved and moves around all the guests! We saw this property, talked with the owner for a while and headed back to our resort, where we thought of relaxing. We relaxed in the dimly lit open space near the restaurants where there were people relaxing and chit-chatting, clicking photographs which we did too.. Took a few photographs, roamed around the resort and then headed to the restaurant where we were to have our dinner.
We did everything slowly and ordered some delicious food, out of which, some of them were Rajasthani delicacies. I wasn’t in the mood of eating rajasthani food again for dinner and instead had some Mediterranean sandwich, which to my surprise, tasted really very good with all veggies, French fries and a yummy dip. Have a look at my food!
My mom and grandfather went desi..They had the bajro no rotlo, Ker Sangri curry- desert beans that grow only in Rajasthan, crispy Amchuri Bhindi- dry curry of dried ladyfinger with some Dal Makhni. That was indeed a yummy dinner with no desert because we were extremely full…
That was indeed the end of another glorious day….
Getting there – Jaisalmer has a military airport and is sparingly used by Chartered flights. The best way is to drive in from Jodhpur. Jodhpur is now connected via Air. Currently flights to Jodhpur originate only from Mumbai. Jet Airways and Air India are the only airlines offering connectivity, often with a hop at Udaipur or Jaipur. Jodhpur also has a railhead and Indian Railways offers convenient overnight trains from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.
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