Diary from Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Tanot, Longewala and Jaipur travel - Part 1

Travellers: Niraj Yadav and Vishwanath Dalvi

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 The plan was Mumbai to Ahmedabad by Rail.  Ahmedabad to Jodhpur by Rail.

Roam around Jodhpur in 8 hours we had. Move to Jaisalmer from Jodhpur.

Stay 3 days in Jaisalmer. Visit Tanot and Longewala border post. Travel Jaisalmer to Jaipur. Roam one day in Jaipur and back to Mumbai.

Short excerpt from the trip -- 

   The tour provided us a first hand experience of cultural and spiritual insights of people living in remote expanse of Thar. It made us feel the high spirit they have to tackle challenges arising from hard surrounding and made even harder by successive governments. Their simplicity, never complaining nature and feel of Indian aesthetics in their daily life are still alive in our minds.

   The tour put our negotiation skills at test. And we are happy we managed it well. We will remember the trip for the experiences which soldiers posted at border shared with us, the never ending roads rolling on the desert hills and high speed wind which makes bike shiver like anything. 

   We will also remember the tour for the time we spent sitting behind the Jaisalmer fort road lost in nowhere.

  We will also remember sipping coffee at Joshi German Bakery and eyes fixed on Jaisalmer fort visible from the small irong caged wimdow.

 And of course for the nice photographs we could manage.

First part of the Jaisalmer trip ---

Mumbai to Ahmedabad:

    ‘Aunty chalo jaldi, train sirf 2 minute hi rukti hai’ with a bit of tension and anger I said to ultra fat lady struggling to cross the door. Heavy bag on my back and with a two person tent in my hand I somehow managed to enter the crowded sleeper class coach at Borivali. Bhagya ne hamara WL 239 se 15 din me confirm kara diya tha. Met Vishwanath who had boarded from Bandra. Tired from days work went to sleep early.

Ahmedabad to Jodhpur:

   Following morning we had to board train for Jodhpur. I remember a strange army guy who was travelling from Bangalore to Jodhpur. We were surprised by his capacity to eat Namkeen. Just as we eat rice and dal that guy decorated his big thali with Namkeen and finished it in one go !! Pata nahi agli subah kya hua hoga ;)

   Following afternoon, that is on 15^th August we were at Bhagat ki kothi railway station. This station is 5km behind Jodhpur.  Autos were charging Rs 100. We walked for 50 rupees and hired auto for 50 rupees. We believe in saving ;)

Big artist on big Ganesh and Small artist on small Ganesh near Bhagat ki kothi railway station

Devotees of Ramdev carrying kanvwar

 We reached Jodhpur station around 16:00. Train to Jaisalmer was at 23:45, so we had close to 7 hours in Jodhpur.  
We stopped our tempo at Janta Sweets Pvt Ltd as the sign board read. Janta sweet home is quite famous in Jodhpur for snacks. We ordered Maakhanyia Lassi.  And yes the spoon stood upright; this is how we test Lassi.

Near Jodhpur main circle. 5 mins from Jodhpur railway station

Jodhpur main circle

Local ladies in discussion

We were late to visit Mehrangarh fort as it closes by 5 PM, so we moved ahead towards Jodhpur bazaar. It’s an old market with narrow lanes and is usually crowded.

Howz my pagdi

Jodhpur main baazar

Ghanta Ghar: 

 From bazaar a right turn from chauraha takes us to Ghanta Ghar. Only information we could get is there was a king who ordered a British company for this clock and paid 1 Lakh for its construction, 1 Lakh for transportation and 1 Lakh for copyright of the design.

Ghanta Ghar in Jodhpur

Lost in thoughts

Walking straight from Ghanta Gharleads to a castle styled hotel and on moving ahead with the road there comes a nice lake surrounded by old architectures and temples.

Lake and temples in Jodhpur

Enjoying motorboat

Vishwanath Dalvi posing

In Dharamshala for 4 hours:

Came back at Jodhpur main circle and started hunting for cheapest Dharamshala. We needed it for 3-4 hours to charge our mobile/cameras and getting fresh. Not far from circle we got one for Rs 75/person for 24 hours. It had everything we needed.

Ajab gajab train kahani (Fiasco at Jodhpur station):

Train to Jaisalmer was at 11:45 PM. We were there at 10:30 PM. Station was heavily crowded with Ramdev bhagwan devotees. People from all over country pour at Ramdevra station which lies between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer route.

With a quick look we saw train was at platform no 2.

 ‘Abe saare ke saare chalu dabbe hain re!’ I said to Vishwanath. Ran again from one end of platform to other. YES, all coaches were general and heavily packed with devotees. We crosschecked train, it was same. We crosscheck our ticket it showed S1 45 and S1 47. Now the suspense where was this S1?

We asked a police standing there he explained. Train will be divided into two parts. Half of the train will leave the station. Half will remain here. The half which left the station will go where the S1 and B1 coach are. Those coaches will be joined and again the train will come back to Jodhpur station and connect the other half. Only then it will leave. As he completed, we completed with wat d dash!

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