Jaisalmer, the golden city, is a small town in the desert. Shockingly, there is a large fort on a hilltop. However, this fort contains an old town, where people live with lots of small alleyways filled with guesthouses and shops, primarily aimed at tourists, many of which are Indian. While some of the accommodation inside the fort is quite spectacular, the more socially responsible thing to do is to stay outside the fort. The increased water usage caused by the vast inflow of tourism during the last decade is causing the sand stone foundations of the fort to wither. Seeing how charming the fort was, I had a bit of a debate inside about where to stay, but in the end my good side won and I stayed outside the fort, at a fairly plain hotel, but blessed with a rooftop with an excellent view of the fort and free WiFi.
The heat is picking up by the day, which means that we are at the tail end of the tourist season. The shop owners hence have less to do and are very keen to chat and practice their English over a cup of Chai in their shops. While there is certainly hope of closing a sale at the end of the chat, they are not pushy for this and they seem quite content just to make the time pass and they are very curious to learn about anything western. Since my personality and charm is so irresistible, ha ha, I soon had “friends” in every corner of old town, and simply strolling around shortly became more and more difficult.
Jaisalmer is famous for its stone carving and have several temples and Havelis with amazing facades. It baffles my mind how these stone structures were created. 
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