Fri, Nov 6: Delhi to Jodpur to Jaisalmer

Today we fly to Jodhpur then drive to Jaisalmer in the far west of India in the state of Rajasthan, near the Pakistan border.  The flight was only slightly late in leaving.  We had lunch on the plane (cheese sandwich and a piece of cake – technically it is food but not much). 

Upon arrival we picked up our driver and headed out for the 5 hour drive.  We drove through a number of small villages with the usual roadside markets that we have seen all across India.  

And saw the usual interesting farm and transport vehicles.

We saw a number of rock quarries where they were quarrying a beautiful rose colored stone.  Most of the buildings we saw were constructed of this stone and we even saw fences built of it.  The fence pieces appeared to be 5 or 6 feet tall, about a foot wide and 2 or 3 inches thick.  It looked like they dug a trench, placed the planks upright and filled in the trench to make the fence.

We stopped for a snack and bathroom break at a lovely restaurant made of the local rose colored stone.

About half way through the drive we started seeing camels wandering the countryside.  Our first real glimpses of them.

 

A large part of the area we drove through was a military base and the troops appeared to be out on maneuvers…lots of trucks and convoys in the area.  This is the area where India detonated their nuclear bombs during tests in the 1970’s.