Lunch was back on board the train. After a short nap, the group departed on buses to visit an abandoned Brahmin village about 45 km away in the Thar Desert. This village was once a prosperous and well-planned township with fertile farms in its surroundings. 600 Brahmin families once lived in this village until a port was built nearby which made the caravanserai route which passed through this village became less significant. As the trading activity slowed down because goods were now transported in via the coastal port and coupled by the Maharajah's decision to impose a higher tax on the community, the whole community one day decided to abandon this town. It has remained abandoned without a single soul for centuries and no one knew where these Brahmin families had disapperared to.
Today, the main temple of the community has been restored somewhat and a few of the dwellings were reconstructed and restored to give the visitors an idea of the plans and design of the township and their life-style.
a prettily carved wall of the main Brahmin temple...
pakdokter's partner on top of the Brahmin temple...
one of the residential buildings of the village....
the garage, where the bullock cart or horse cart was kept... 
inner courtyard of the residence....
pakdokter and partner on top of one of the dwellings...the temple is in the background...
From the Brahmin village, the group then drove for another 50 miles or so into the desert for dinner and show at a cultural centre. To reach the hotel/cultural centre, the group disembarked the buses about 1 km away and was transferred on camels to the hotel. It was quite an experience to ride the camels through the desert and catch the spectacular view of the sunset across the horizon.
Jess and Dilip Sharma on their camel...
pakdokter took this pic himself.....
pakdokter's camel boy...
Sheila on her camel trailing behind pakdokter...
sunset at the Thar Desert....
Sheila and Segaram....Dinner was a buffet of local cuisines and the group was entertained to a show of traditional music and dances. Towards the end of the show, the audience were dragged out of their chair to join the girls in swinging to the local dance routines....
Mehdi, Siti and Ravee....
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