Desert & Colour: The Land of Kings

‘The Land of Kings,’ as the state of Rajasthan is proudly named, is a land of true magnificence, where unbelievably impressive and well preserved remnants of former glories loom high over bustling alleys awash with the colours of jewels, saris, spices and, as previously mentioned, even the architecture; palatial palaces of former Maharaja kingdoms awe, soaring high into the desert sky. It is the India that many dream of. Amy is one GhostlyGhostly Ghostly of them. Although the Great Thar Desert is endlessly bleak, the towns and villages it engulfs are anything but.


Perhaps more so than most towns in this state, Jaisalmer allows this wonderful display of riches and colour to be played out in the most spectacular of settings. Seemingly from nowhere, like a desert oasis, the town rises from the sands of the Great Thar, a vast golden fort at its centre where modern life still takes place and thrives amongst the ancient architecture of this beautiful citadel, whose narrow cobbled alleys and tall, intricately crafted buildings provide cool respite from the searing desert sun. It is amongst these alleys that life calmly goes about its daily business, colourful as ever but at a pace quite different to elsewhere in this country.
As such, when exploring the fort and its streets, we happened upon a conveniently

Rajasthani Woman
placed restaurant high on the citadel walls with ranging western views over the Thar, ideal for sunset. Though, any notions of us rushing over here to watch the descending sun would be misplaced and should be dispelled immediately – we literally spent all our time in this relaxing place where we found ample shade and cushioned floors to laze on. Pleasingly, we also happened to find good food and even better company, including one of our old teaching friends from Korea whose path we have crossed numerous times on our travels. Much to Amy’s delight, we also found ourselves sitting and enjoying conversation with the man who began the now famous “World Book Day,” not his only impressive accomplishment (let’s just say we enjoyed his company so much, we’ll be buying our books from Blackwells from now on!).