Day 5, January 13

On the way, we stopped by the abandoned village of Kudagarh; the entrance fee was 60 rupees for two people plus a moped. Online, they say that 200 years ago the village was prosperous, even though it paid exorbitant taxes to Jaisalmer. But the evil and domineering prime minister of Jaisalmer set his sights on the village elder’s daughter. The girl and her family had no choice, and a decision had to be made within one day. So overnight, all the villagers left it in protest. Where they went, no one knows to this day….
Now the village consists of the ruined walls of houses and two restored temples in the center. Overall, I liked it; we walked around the area a bit and saw an abandoned cemetery among the sands.

In the village, a group of children ran up to us, boys about 10–15 years old. They started teaching us how to greet in Indian style, shouted something over one another, and asked for 10 rupees. They surrounded us in a fairly tight ring, and we barely managed to get away. When they realized there was nothing to be gained from us, they scattered, and one boy stayed behind and began showing us around the temple and the restored house. He showed us where the kitchen was and where the basement was. It was a pity he didn’t understand English at all — we never managed to find out where he lived or how old he was. At the end of the “tour,” we gave the boy 10 honestly earned rupees. And we went on our way.

We drove into the village of Sam, which is a couple of kilometers farther than the dunes themselves. Sam was packed with people; you wouldn’t even say it was in the heart of the desert. Crowds of Indians in turbans were standing everywhere. And not a single woman. Where do they hide them?
We drank some tea, looked for food — but still couldn’t find anything, drove deeper into the village, and saw how people live here. The women are hidden here; they were carrying water from the well.
We headed back to the dunes. They’re visible right from the road — sandy hills with less vegetation. However, these dunes are nothing like the ones our imagination conjures from pictures. We stopped again for tea; we were hungry — so we had some biscuits. The tea was made by the old man’s son, who started asking us about this and that, then offered us a camel ride. Suddenly Volchiy says:
-That’s it, I’m going to ride a camel now.
-But you said you least wanted to ride a camel.
-Yeah, but now I feel like it. Such a nice old man.
And the old man really did turn out to be very pleasant, unobtrusive, calm.

After tea, we mounted one camel for the two of us and set off into the dunes. The man promised that we had walked 2 km; we didn’t walk for long, about half an hour. (The ride cost 200 rupees for two)
Riding a camel isn’t scary, it’s quite fun. At some point you start moving in rhythm with its motions. Though, perhaps after a couple of hours you’d get tired.
Unfortunately, the dunes are very dirty. The man said that farther in, if you go deeper, there are dunes that are more beautiful and cleaner. The man looked about 70 years old, but turned out to be only 52 (and the camel was 10 years old); he has two sons and four daughters.

After the dunes, we decided to stop by the Bada Bagh complex of royal tombs. Expecting nothing special (we had barely read anything about this place and didn’t even remember the photos), we were amazed by the beauty and picturesque setting of the site. Many tombs in the form of carved little towers with domes stood on a hillock. We moved from one tomb to another, admired the ornaments, and enjoyed the serenity of the place (there were almost no tourists).
Then we headed home. We wanted beer, so on the way we stopped by a little shop with a Beer sign (alcohol in India is sold only in special shops). The beer price was a total shock: 110 rupees (27 UAH) for a bottle seemed too much, so we left empty-handed.
We returned the moped without any problems and got back the fake passport. We had dinner on the terrace of our hotel, eating Indian flatbreads with eggplant gravy, overlooking the beautifully lit fort.