Thar's a holiday fit for a king.

Explore a fascinating area of India, the Thar Desert, and marvel at the Rajashtan's 'Blue City' of Jodhpur

The Thar Desert, carpeting the emptiness of India's North West, is a vast, desolate, sand-blasted expanse, dominating Rajasthan - the Land of the Kings.

Here are some of India's most awe-inspiring natural and man-made spectacles, and travellers can explore this wilderness in a style befitting the Maharajas, or great kings of time gone by.

Leggy, cart-tugging camels fill the streets of Jodhpur, Western Rajasthan's major city. This metropolis of one million people is a visual feast, dominated by the Mehrangarh Fort.

Perched on a thrusting, red sandstone outcrop, the steep-sided Citadel of the Sun is a potent mix of architectural might and stoned-latticed beauty.

Built by the region's leading family, the Rathores, 600 years ago, the fort boasts opulent pleasure palaces, secluded courtyards and spiked, elephant-proof gates, providing the Maharajas with protection and a limitless view over their dust-blown kingdom - Marwar, land of death. And it is from the stomach-churning height of the fort that visitors experience a cultural revelation. The toy town far below appears to be blue. Hundreds of rectangular, flat-roofed buildings have been daubed various shades of this colour, which denotes the home of a Brahmin - the highest caste.

Back in the streets of the city, life explodes in the crammed alleyways of the old town. Sacred cows nibble rubbish in doorways, bare-footed children vault open sewers, quick-fingered langur monkeys are chased from market stalls by kohl-eyed beauties veiled behind crimson saris.

Streets throb to the popping cough of motorised rickshaws, revving motorbikes and conversations roar over the hullabaloo.

The delicious tang of cooking jalebis mixes with sewage, exhaust fumes and incense to form a thick gauze of scent, as appealing as it is appalling.

The chic Raas Hotel provides luxury and tranquility only yards from this chaotic excitement.

Built of Jodhpur's signature rose-red sandstone, the boutique hotel boasts stunning sunset views of the Mehrangarh fort glowering above. The muezzin's call to prayer echoes from the pastel rooftops as the fort glows briefly in the sinking desert sun. South of the city, the Mihirgarh Resort is opulent too: within the ochre, mud-styled battlements are nine luxury suites and a mini-temple, a perfect romantic hideaway.

Woken by the peacocks, as common in rural Rajasthan as pigeons in London's Trafalgar Square, guests explore local villages on horseback safaris into the scrub.

But Rajasthan's soul lies in the desert, and many visitors explore the Thar's mystery from the back of a camel. Getting on is the hard part: vaulting your leg over their tent-sized backs can demand bodily contortions.

But once on, the animal rapidly propels you to the perfect height from which to appreciate the acacia-fringed sparseness of the dunes as they melt from gold to rust in the sinking sun.

You then spend a night under the star-smeared desert sky. The area around Manvar is the spiritual home to the opium ceremony used by Rajput, Bishnoi and Marwari communities in the desert environs of Jodhpur.

Life is harsh in scattered desert villages. Precious seeds, grain and gourds prised from the earth are stacked carefully in mounds, while villages raise money by allowing tourists to inspect their way of life. Women, their feet clad in cobra-deterring bangles, peep from behind walls to watch Westerners' clumsy opium-drinking attempts.

Yet in an unforgiving environment, life thrives. Chinkara gazelles flit across the dunes, little green bee-eaters perch conspiratorially together on khejri trees.

Further west, the city of Jaisalmer emerges from the desert like a dream. In the heat haze, it shimmers like a giant, mustard-coloured trifle.

Within 60 miles of the Pakistan border, the city is more brash and showy than Jodhpur.

Honey-hued sandstone lends Jaisalmer the title of 'Golden City'. Enclosed by a fort, the old town rises 80 metres into the air and is encrusted with endless battlements.

Inside, mind-bogglingly ornate Jain temples and sprawling havelis - merchants' homes - resemble a living museum.

Dried chillies, guarding against evil, hang above doors. The city bustles with trade, and rabbit warren streets echo to the chatter of haggling as people barter for 'best price'.

Sanctuary, before long, is the Serai, a tented camp in the desert.

But there are no guy ropes or tins of baked beans in sight, for the Serai's luxury runs to sunken pools and a spa.

A handful of vast canvas tents, with bathrooms bigger than most city flats, sits around a garden of intoxicatingly scented scrub. Overhead, eagles and kites patrol, seeking elusive desert gerbils which patter like clockwork toys across the sand.

On a jeep ride across the dunes from the Serai, the dying sun glinted briefly on the scattered desert quartz. Peacocks began meowing calls in the scrub below; their cries carried by a tamarisk-scented breeze.

This was India's magnetic, riotous pull and I was hooked.

NATURAL WONDER

The nondescript village of Khichan holds the Thar's greatest natural spectacle. A clacking, insistent, bugling call signals the approach of the cranes, silhouetted against the early morning sun.

Twice a day in winter, around 7,000 demoiselle cranes descend on a small gravel square in central Khichan to gorge on grain left out for them.

The black and grey heron-sized birds boast long, white head tufts, which give them the appearance of ageing hippies. They gather in groups on the dunes to invade en masse and are a real must-see.

Travel facts

India is just a short trip from the UAE, with several airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, flying to a number of its cities.

Internal flights connecting to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, are plentiful.

Try to plan your trip between November and March, when daytime temperatures average a comfortable 25C.

If you plan to travel the region by train, don't forget to book your ticket in advance. Also, pack a jumper as it can get cold at nights if spending time in the desert.

2009 Al Sidra Media LLC

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

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Publication:	7 Days (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
Geographic Code:	9INDI
Date:	Oct 11, 2010
Words:	998
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