Jaisalmer - Hotel Royale
As usual breakfast was not served any earlier than 8am despite we still waking at 6am when the rythmic horns from trucks broke the peace of the night. Previous night, we slept at 10+pm right after dinner at the hotel. The dinner is quite unsatisfactory despite being vegetarian, apart from very oily, small portions, prices are on par with the reputable Trio restaurant. Would not recommend eating anything other than breakfast at this hotel.
The morning view of the fort from the rooftop dining area is superb with the morning sunlight reflected off the stones with a warm orange glow. Perfect for pictures.
The entrance of the fort is 5 minutes away. Again warm glowing sunshine bouncing off the walls and bastions.
The golden fort indeed. Jaisalmer is almost entirely dependent on tourism and they are good with tourists so beware of almost anyone chatting you up. "where are you from?" korea..japan..china.. It's difficult to tell where we are from exactly, ignoring these people totally usually works. If you are unaware, it's a question to gauge your "economic power", the type of cameras you carry, and we have a camera each .. Probably look "delicious". We saw a chinese girl surrounded by 6-7 people on the way out of the fort, the male companion was 20 steps ahead so just a harrasment on a young lady I supposed.
Just wandered off in the small narrow alleys within the fort (free entrance). Don't worry about getting lost as they all lead back to the central square where the entrance to the museum was.
The alleys are intermingled with street vendors, free roaming cows and their dung. ...namaste..anyohaseyo...hello...have a look.. Hundreds of stalls selling more or less the same things. The amazing carvings out of sandstones which you discovered as you start wandering among the alleys, and there are several Jain temples within. After Ranakapur, we did not bother with the hassle of removing shoes to enter, you can heard the chanting from outisde. There are "priests" of questionable motive of offering blessings for a donation as we seen in Ranakapur. The main temple requires entry and camera fee. I suppose if you are not visiting Ranakapur, it's a good experience. It seems a very crowded place with tourists probably the feeling created by the narrow alleys.
Only lunch choice is vegetarian within the fort. They all serve pretty much the same, trying to cater to the various tourists groups .. Pasta, korean, chinese, continental ..etc. I had safe choice of masala omelette and basmati fried rice and M had tomato pasta with cheese which looked really yucking to me as it looked very orangy. M wanted something non Indian with less oil, and quite appreciated the change. I enjoyed my self mixed egg fried rice which omelette was shared with M. They are more generous portion than Hotel Royal. The lunch place was the rooftop of some "Sunset View" Restaurant overlooking the town, the desert to the west filled with hundreds of wind turbines. Jaisalmer is 160km from Pakistan border separated by Thar desert, you can see the military presence around getting in and out of Jaisalmer. From the restaurant, you can see fighter jets landing in the west every few minutes.
After lunch, we visited the fort museum 250rs includes camera fee and audio guide. The state of the guide is not as well maintained as Megrangarh and an indication of the quality of the sights in this museum vs Mehrangarh for the same $. It's still worth the visit, 30 stops with 3 on the rooftop which gives a very good view around from the fort built on the triangular Trikuta hilltop. You can see Gadisar lake from here too. We took 3 hours to finish at a very leisurely pace and walked back to hotel to rest before dinner, telling the driver we'll skip Gadisar.
Apparently internet was not working the whole day in jaisalmer. There is a common PC across the reception but as of any such PC, you never know of virus and dangers lurking on it. I accidentally found that for the suite (room 107) we paid the price for travel agents which includes breakfast and our price don't. The price quoted to us originally was double, whew! Anyway breakfast for 2 of us is less than 100rs. The room was indeed very nice - spacious with good fort view. Hot water is a little inconsistent as most places.
We asked for non-veg recommendations. Trio was suggested. It's at Mandir palace about 10min walk through the local markets. We were tore between tandoori chicken or bryiani. We ordered one portion of bryani lamb and chicken (115rs each) and another mixed vegatables. All very tasty! Probably the difference between a proper restaurant and a hotel "kitchen". 2 hours after a very satisfying non-veg dinner at Trio Restaurant (it lives up to its reputation) for 360rs (includes a 7-up which I added some of my rum) it takes credit card even, we went to bed at 10pm+ ... Only disturbed slightly with a fierce dog fight in the middle of the night. We did not feel unsafe walking back to hotel, just beware of cow dung in the not too bright spots. The only thing I don't like is the live village music which started after I took my seat right behind me. It's too close and the noise gave me a headache and I moved right to the end of the restaurant to have a more peaceful dinner after realizing after the first piece of music it was going on for the whole night! I read that the musicians expect a tip as do most in the industry dealing with foreign tourists, I was not appreciative of the noise and damage to my peace. Sorry no tips ... The musicians were all smiles and namaste when we walked by behind them.
1 comment:
Wasp dudes! Awesome stuff keep it up.
how to get rid of acne
Post a Comment