Last year, in the month of November, I was on my way to check off Rajasthan from my bucket list. The cities on my list were - Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner. Before starting my journey, I'd done a thorough research of the places to visit, restaurants to eat in, souvenirs to buy, things to do in all the cities mentioned. While searching for places to visit in Jaisalmer, I came across the name of "Bhang Shop" which a lot of people had recommended. Since I'd never heard about such a place before, I did some research and realised that the govt. approved bhang shop in Jaisalmer is not the only one in India. My curiosity was at its peak and I added it to my itinerary. For all those who haven't been to any such shop before, here's all you need to know before you pay a visit :
After our tour of Jaisalmer Fort, we asked our driver to take us to the Bhang shop which is at a walking distance from the fort. After reaching, we were greeted by Dr. Bhang, the man behind this shop. Dr. Bhang is his nickname and everyone addresses him with the same. From the outside the shop looks like any other small shop in the area. He then took us into a small room hidden behind curtains.
The room had a small seating area and the walls were filled with pictures of famous personalities who had visited the place before.
Dr. Bhang then presented us with the menu card. It looked exactly like the one that you'll come across at any cafe. The only difference was that instead of 1 price column (beside the food items), there were 2, with medium and strong written on top. So basically that denotes the amount of bhang to be added in your order. Dr. Bhang will patiently explain how they make these delicacies and how they mix bhang into it. He'll ask you if you've had any experience with cannabis before so that he'll help you select the best item from the list. Finally we decided to order the most famous items - Thandai and Makhania Lassi (both strong). Other options on the list were shakes, juices, lassi etc. The best thing about their bhang is that it'll take about half an hour to an hour to hit, which gives you enough time to reach your hotel from there.
The makhania lassi turned out to be the best.
The other delicacies at the shop are - chocolates and cookies which you can also carry back to your home. You can safely travel on flights with them. They come in 3 categories - light, medium and strong. The price also depends on the same. We had bits of chocolates and half cookie each there and bought boxes of cookies to carry back with us for our friends.
The cookies were not only delicious but their effect lasted for an entire night!
I'm looking forward to visiting the shop again if I get a chance. If you're ever in Jaisalmer, search for this place and go and meet Dr. Bhang. Trust me when I say that it'll be an experience of a lifetime :)