Footers Abroad: Jaisalmer Jubilee!!!

We arrived safe in the incredible walled city of Jaisalmer in western Rajasthan, staying at Mud Mirror Guest House. Jaisalmer was founded in the late 12th century and was a vital stop on a major trade route for centuries until the early/mid 20th century. It was then faced with increased draught, competition in trade from trains, ships, and partition sealed its fate. It has been an important military desert outpost and tourist hot spot since the 1960's. Jaisalmer is one of the oldest continuously inhabited walled cities in the world.

Our accommodation, Mud Mirror Guest House is an awesome place to stay and the owner, Lala Surya, is a friendly & gracious host who knows how to run a proper guest house and treats his guests with respect. This place, and definitely the walled city (fort), is one of the most unique, beautiful, and calm places we have ever stayed.

Yesterdays adventures started in a bit of a panic. We took a 16 hr train ride and were happy to get out of Delhi. However I (Jeremy) mistakingly thought we were leaving from the New Delhi train station but the train was leaving from old Delhi. Thanks to inheriting my fathers propensity for being very, very early to flights or for train travel we were able to find an amazing rickshaw driver who weaved his way through the chaotic streets of Delhi (in the pouring rain) so we could get to our train with 20 minutes to spare. We were soaking wet but made our train on time.

We took it easy today, eating a nice lunch and meeting some wonderful fellow travelers from England. We then explored the old Havelis and temple complexes outside of the walled city. We leave on camel safari (w/ Trotters Camel Safari) tomorrow and will be out of contact until Sept 26. We are very excited for our trip in the desert and hope we stay cool, hydrated, and come back as happy as when we left.

Here are some pics of Jaisalmer:

From the Mud Mirror Guest House roof top restaurant