A Top Day in Jaisalmer

The desert morning air is clear and crispy cool. I wrap up in a wool shawl and wander through the narrow streets, where it's almost quiet.

At the market stalls near the Jaisalmer Fort entrance, I buy some fruit for my day then duck into the simple Llasa/Joshi Café & German Bakery for eggs, fresh baked bread and a glass of warming chai. Fort bound, I pass the Bhang Shop and briefly consider... nah, way too early.

Before tackling the fort's maze of cows, people and shops fronted by wowing tapestries, satiny bedspreads and silver bangles, I stop and listen. From the steps next to Rajmahal arise the foot-tapping sounds of local percussion musicians. Waiting their turn for the limelight, children close by prepare to walk a tightrope.

Later, back in town, my appetite will settle for nothing less than a gratifying thali (keep it coming, boys!) at Chandan Shree Restaurant. I overdo it, of course, and wade molasses-like through the now-busy Bhatia Market.

I think about heading to 300-year-old Salim Singh-ki-Haveli. It's a beautiful building, but the real temptation now is the Ayurveda Hub nearby, which offers a menu of yummy treatments. A massage will better serve me later in the week though, when I'll be on a camel safari - my aching self will certainly need help.

Back in the fort, I spend time in the Jain temples complex, in mesmerised mode. I eventually find myself at Ristorante Italiano La Purezza in the early evening. What it lacks in cosy ambience it makes up for in stellar sunset views. The sinking orange ball and the glow it casts over the sweep of Jaisalmer below are magic pure and simple.

Dinner with a friend is perfectly atmospheric at the abuzz Trio where a band of Rajasthani musicians complement the slow dance on my taste buds with their rhythms.

It's early to dreams for me tonight then, with visions of bopping camels, sweeping sands and starstruck nights in the Great Thar Desert.

Author: Susan Derby

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