India's Thar Desert: From camel caravans to a fortress city

JAISALMER, India — "Mind the cows," Little Raj warned as he led me past souvenir stalls through a maze of stone passageways to the home where his great-grandfather once lived.

Just then, a brown-and-white head turned in my direction and knocked me on the shoulder. Cars can't navigate the alleyways inside the Jaisalmer fort, but cows can, and I learned that it was my responsibility, not theirs, to get out of the way.

The 850-year-old fortress sits like a honey-colored sandcastle 250 feet above the town in the Thar desert, 100 miles east of Pakistan, a reminder of a time when the town was an important trading outpost for wealthy merchants catering to the camel caravans traveling between India and Central Asia.

About 5,000 people still live within its walls, running shops, hotels and cafes in ancient stone merchants' mansions called havelis. The buildings are decorated with filigree details so intricate they look as if they were carved from wood.

Jaisalmer

Where

Jaisalmer is in Western Rajasthan, about 100 miles east of the Pakistan border. The airport remains closed to all but military flights for security reasons. Most people fly into Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur, and hire a taxi or take the train or bus from there. The overnight train from Delhi takes about 20 hours and has air-conditioned sleeping cars. See www.indianrail.gov.in for information.

Lodging

Avoid the hotels on the outskirts of town that cater to tour groups, and pick a small hotel either inside the fort itself or right outside the gates in town.

The Mali family runs the Shahi Palace in town near the SBBJ bank, just outside the fort. Sixteen newly remodeled rooms are built of honey-colored sandstone; a few have air conditioning. Rates: $7-$25. The family recently opened the Star House next door with six rooms. Rates are $11-$40. Call 011-91-2992-254293 or see www.shahipalacehotel.com.

The Hotel Shree Nath Palace is inside the fort, across from the Jain temple complex. Four rooms, no air conditioning. Rates: $10-$30 per night. Call 011-91-2992-252907 or e-mail: shreenath52907@hotmail.com.

Traveler's tip

Order a beer and it might show up as "special cold coffee" on your bill. Many Hindus don't drink alcohol, and licenses for serving beer and wine are expensive. Some restaurants get around this by not advertising alcohol on the menu, but letting their customers know it's available, and then disguising it on the bill as something else.

More information

See www.jaisalmertourism.com

Jaisalmer floundered at the end of the 19th century when traders abandoned the desert for sea routes, but the fort, one of few that's still inhabited, attracted tourists drawn by the sight of its 30-foot-high walls and 99 turrets. India's border disputes with Pakistan and the closure of Jaisalmer's airport to all but military aircraft kept visitors away for a while.

The airport is still closed to commercial aircraft, but tourists have returned, and while business has been good for everyone from camel drivers to cafe owners, increased water consumption has put stress on the ancient drainage system and is endangering the old buildings built on foundations of clay, rock and sand.

Om Vyas, 45, an elementary-school teacher and Little Raj's father, opened the Hotel Shree Nath Palace 30 years ago in the home where he was born, a 400-year-old haveli once owned by his grandfather, the prime minister to Jaisalmer's ruling family in the 1800s.

Thirty years ago, says Vyas, "We didn't even have a bathroom in the house. We had to send the people next door."

Saving the fort

After visiting Jaisalmer in 1994, British journalist Sue Carpenter saw that many of the old buildings were in danger of collapsing. She founded Jaisalmer in Jeopardy, a charitable organization that worked with conservation groups to raise money to restore a 16th-century palace and spearhead other clean-up projects.

Given its history and the effort that's gone into saving the fort, walking inside the walls should be a more moving experience than it is.

There's a complex of ancient Jain temples and the royal palace, now a museum but, like many medieval towns in Europe, much of the rest of the old town resembles a souvenir shop with every stall selling the same silk scarves and books made of camel leather.

Signs advertising Internet access and CD-burning cover the carved facades, and touts pester passersby with sales pitches for everything from guide services to camel rides.

Outside the walls

"Namaste. Spend your money here!" I heard as I walked with Little Raj.

"Hello, where are you from? Haven't I seen you before?"

A more authentic 21st-century Jaisalmer exists outside the fort in the noisy market streets near several 18th- and 19th-century havelis that have been restored and preserved as museums.

Wandering those back alleys, I walked past shops selling colorful Indian sweets, and stalls filled with temple offerings, and watched as a woman dressed in bright red robes emptied a green towel filled with grain on the sidewalk for her calf.

Faced with plumbing and sewage problems inside the fort, the Mali brothers, owners of the Shahi Palace Hotel, became the first to move out and relocate their hotel in town four years ago. Staying here, at the base of the fort in a neighborhood filled with temples and banks instead of tourist shops and touts, I enjoyed observing local life.

From the Shahi's rooftop terrace, I watched as the setting sun turned the fort from brown to golden yellow. The man across the street did yoga each morning on his roof. The next-door neighbor kept camels in his yard, and the ladies down the street gathered on their porches to press shirts and sheets with irons heated with glowing coals.

Goats and pigs wandered around freely and, of course, everyone looked out for the cows.

Carol Pucci: 206-464-3701 or cpucci@seattletimes.com