Our last stop on our road trip of Rajasthan was Jaislamer, known as the golden city. Situated in the Thar desert, Jaisalmer is famous for its golden yellow sandstone architecture.

Sitting atop a hill in the city is Jaislamer Fort, another UNESCO heritage site. The fort is one of very few ‘living forts’ in the world and has approximately 4,000 people living inside its walls. The fort is free to wander inside, with small cafes and shops lining the meandering lanes. From the edge of the fort walls views for miles around can be seen, perfect for defence during the fort’s operational days.

We visited in the winter time, with average temperatures during the day in the early 20s. This is much more bearable than the temperatures in summer time which can reach into the late 40s. Considering the heat was less, the sun was still bright enough to cause harsh shadows on photographs taken during the day which was a challenge to capture shots in the sun.

One evening just before sunset we walked up to what is called ‘sunset point’ from here we watched the sun setting over the fortress. This spot is a popular place for the local children to come and fly kites and also for local musicians to play their music for the tourists. After offering money to the musicians we just had to take photographs with the sun setting behind them, giving the photos a lovely golden hue to go with the title of ‘golden city’.

On another evening at sunset we took a short drive to the outskirts of the city to a lake called Gadisar Lake. Here we walked past all the tourists clambering for selfies in the temples in the middle of the lake and just went to sit quietly whilst watching the sun go down.

While in Jaislamer we took an excursion out into the desert on camel back. We originally booked onto what they called a luxury overnight stay in a camp with a tent and entertainment, but India being India something got lost in translation and we ended up on the budget overnight option; sleeping under the stars.

This turned out to be much better and a more real experience. We made our way out further into the desert by jeep which took about an hour from the city before transferring onto our camels. Riding on camel back sounds better than it was. The bottom gets very sore from the forward and back motion created from the camel walking. After trekking for about 45 minutes we reached the famous dunes. Sand for miles around. Going up and down the dunes was scary on the camel. When going down you have to make sure you lean far back so you’re not thrown forward.

Once we reached our camp for the night, the camels were releived of the load they had been carrying and began on their dinner for the evening after their long walk. Whilst we went to watch the sun set over the dunes, the camel guides started cooking our dinner. During sunset, beautiful cloud formations were visible during this time.

Dinner was delicious. A simple mix of dhal, rice and vegetables. This was one of our favourite meals on the entire trip. After dinner we all sat round a camp fire before going to bed with the milky way over our heads. With it being winter, the temperatures dropped overnight and along with a strong wind we were both shivering all night. However waking up to breakfast being made for us and watching the sun rise made up for the chilly night.

After breakfast, the camels were readied for the off with all the blankets and seats put onto their backs before we got on and started to trek out of the desert to meet our jeep.