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Other entries in Jodhpur City

Jodhpur, India

We are happy to report that the train travel did improve a lot - at least for the first couple of trains!  No more creepy crawlies to see, even though we are well equipped with a huge bottle of Raid that we purchased shortly after the cockroach incident.  After leaving Delhi and Agra we made our way to the west and into Rajasthan where we planned to escape into the desert away from the monsoon that was well underway in all other parts of the country.

We were happy to meet some Spaniards, Italians and Koreans on the road since finding other travelers to speak with has been quite uncommon since we arrived.  Our first stop was Jodhpur, the blue city, where the Brahmin caste historically painted their dwellings a stunning blue color, a color that has since been adopted by the majority of the inhabitants, giving the town a very distinct and gorgeous identity.  They also think that this blue color keeps away mosquitos......

On our first ride through the town our mouths dropped open so wide I thought I dislocated my jaw at the site of the most colossal camel we have ever seen!  It was spectacular, and we definitely felt a world away from home.  We never got used to the site of a camel in the streets no matter how many we saw!

We explored the Meherangarh Fort which stands about 140 meters above the city and has a spectacular view of the sites below.  We were even lucky enough to enjoy a candlelit dinner under a full moon in the fort's highest and most spectacular setting.  It was incredibly romantic and even when we weren't in the fort it was always a site that we could access by walking to our rooftop deck!

We were also lucky to have found a beautiful haveli (a small historical mansion) to call home for the next 4 days and Indu's great personality and 'shanti-shanti' atmosphere made our stay complete.  Our 3rd day was filled with an absolute downpour, the likes of which have not been seen here in 30 years!  People could be seen jumping around in the rain on their rooftops, even women wearing full saris and salwar kameez were just standing there in the downpour, literally soaking it all in and enjoying the rare event.   Indu warned us not to walk anywhere once the rain stopped, but to take a rickshaw instead.  She said that it would be dangerous in certain areas since all the snakes in the area will have been flooded from their hiding places and will be looking for dry ground! Yikes!  We took her warning seriously and were reminded of our recent trip around Delhi that took us aback when a street wallah (vendor) wanted to make money from charming his king cobra out of the urn!  He tried to catch our attention by throwing the snake at our feet as we walked by!  Anyhow, we didn't want a repeat episode of the same thing.  On our last night there, our airconditioner caught fire at 4am and scared the crap out of us!!  It burned out soon enough and we were just happy that there weren't any crazy flammables nearby - talk about a way to wake up!

And after 4 days in Jodhpur we made our way to Jaisalmer.......