This is Day 3 of our 4 day trip to Jaisalmer in December 2018:
Day 1 - An 800km road trip to Jaisalmer
Day 2 - Longewala, Tanot Mata Mandir and India Pakistan Border
Day 3 - This Blog
Sun rose too soon the next day and we wanted to sleep more. But, we had to check out, so needed to pack everything. Our plan was to visit Jaisalmer Fort in the morning and then get to our next stay. However, we were utterly disappointed by the over-crowded fort. So much so that, we came back within an hour of entering it. It wasn’t worth wasting our time in that crowd.
Next, we were going to a small village called Mala ki Dhani to spend the next day. Initially, our plan was to stay in a tent house. To our disappointment, they were insanely expensive. Hunting for cheaper alternatives we came across this place on AirBnB. It had a lot of positive reviews from all around the world. Place looked authentic. The idea of spending a peaceful night in a village without electricity sounded fun. So, we decided to give it a try. By the way, it cost only Rs 790 for one night for 4 people! Yeah, read that again.
Our host Om, came to Jaisalmer to pick us up. The place was around 20 kms from Jaisalmer and in a kind of off-road area.
We reached there around 1.30 PM. We were assigned a small hut with 4 “charpais”. We were given a hot cup of home-made tea and asked to get relaxed.
We originally had plans to visit sam-sand dunes the same day, which would be organised by Om. But we were late to inform him. We were looking for options to stay one more day anyway, because we had not visited quite a few places in Jaisalmer. So, we decided to postpone the visit to sand-dunes and enjoy our stay in that paradise.
The rawness of the place got my inner child excited. I could see a small hill about a kilometre from the village. I wanted to climb it and enjoy the view. It also had a small temple atop it. The lunch was under preparation so we decided to do it before eating anything.
Although the hill was small, it was a fun trek. However, the jaw-dropping view from top of it was the real deal. Miles and miles of barren land with cool wind blowing - I could not appreciate the view enough. There are not many places in India where you can get such a beautiful look of our country. The photography session started.
My mischievous mind thought of a wild idea. We decided to do a treasure hunt with our vlog. The deal was - we would hide a small amount (Rs 100 note) in a sealed plastic bag and hide it somewhere on top of that hill. We will tell where exactly we hid it. Anyone who has seen our vlog could come and there and find it and share it with us. That way the hunt would be complete.
We did exactly that. Hid a Rs 100 note behind the temple about 17 feet away under a stone. We dug deep to ensure nature did not erode it away. We also took a photo of the note to ensure the serial number matched. And, if no one found it, we would visit and find it ourselves. Isn’t it exciting?
Please watch our vlog to find the treasure and find it if you ever visit Jaisalmer.
We returned at around 4 PM and had our lunch. There was still some time left before sunset, so we decided to visit Gadsisar Lake and Bada Bagh. The lake was not worth it - just a lake full of crowd. However, Bada-Bagh was indeed worth it because of the view we got for the sunset. They charge Rs 100 per person as an entry fee, but I think it was worth it. Plus, BSF uses the money to manage the roads around the place.
After the sunset, we returned to our village. A campfire was waiting for us.
It had gotten really cold. Desert weather is extreme - the during the day we were roaming like it was summer and by night it was as if we were in the Himalayas.
The campfire setup was perfect. Four charpies were set up around it and people from other huts were also sitting there. We were chatting and warming our hands. Out of nowhere, someone said, “Yaar ise to mein janta hu” I looked around and found my office college Sankalp there. The level of the coincidence! Of all the places in entire India, we ended up booking same remote village on the same night! Our office has just 20 employees, by the way.
Anyway, we talked about how peaceful this place was, where were the heading next, where did they visit today, and other stuff. Sankalp plays the guitar. So, soon he joined us with his guitar and made us all sing on songs like Iktara, Roobaroo, etc. The night couldn’t get any better.
We had our dinner by the campfire itself and then went to bed.
Vlog
Do watch our Vlog on YouTube. I am sure you will enjoy it. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our channel :)
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