We have fallen in love with Jaisalmer and just can’t seem to tear ourselves away. So we will stay another couple of days. In the meantime we do a little research into our next destination – Bikaner. There is only one train a day to Bikaner which leaves at 23:40 and arrives at 4am and offers only sleeper class cariages (the cheapest and most basic of sleeper acccommodation with no AC). The website Seat61 describes sleeper class as suitable for the ‘adventurous backpacker’ and having witnessed the melee which accompanies boarding sleeper class carriages we feel that we probably don’t fall into that category. The bus is unlikely tobe a comfortable, pleasant or safe experience either having seen the dilapidated state of most of them and the generally poor condition of the roads. So we set about pricing a taxi to take us the 330 kms. There is surprising variation in the prices quoted; from 5000 to 2600 rupees and we can’t fathom why apart from the fact we are tourists and some seem to charge for the return journey. We also make enquiries about a camel safari which we are thinking of doing before we leave. A two-day safari in the desert with a night on the dunes, all food and water included is around 1,100 rupees (14 pounds) each which seems more than reasonable.
After lunch we visit the Saleem-ki-Haveli. The third of the major havelis in Jaisalmer is most impressive from the ouside with an elaborately carved exterior and a cantilevered top floor. The plain and unrenovated interiors are made up for by a thoroughly informative tour conduced by the current owner. The low doorways served a number of puposes: to force visitors to bow as a display of respect; to keep the rooms cool and; to limit entry to one person at a time making defence easier when under attack. The steep steps which are a common feature of all old buildings in Rajasthan were designed to make attack more difficult and steps of uneven depth made mounting stairs more hazardous for attackers Deep spaces between the ceilings and floors allowed noise of intruders to alert the sleeping inhabitants. No cement was used in the construction (although its use is widespread in the renovation of many of the buildings in Jaisalmer unfortunately and the cack-handed application of grey mortar pointing on golden sandstone is a travesty). Instead a combination of metal pins and interlocking masonary held the structures together. Some of the carved stone flowers on the exterior can be unscrewed for use as decoration at festivals, ingenious in a land where flowers are in short supply. Inevitably, there is a shop at the end of the tour, but on this occasion selling very good replica artifacts at reasonable prices, so we buy a scorpion padlock which, as with most pieces, as a number of additional uses including as a hook and a door knocker.
We are getting known around the bazaar and fort and people seem to keep track of our comings and goings noting where we shop and expecting us to patronise their shop as well. Invitations to take chai from people with whom we’ve done business or simply browsed their shop are increasing which makes walking down the street a sociable, if time-consuming business.