Choose another map, showing:

• India
• Asia
• Eurasia
• Eurasia, Africa & Pacific
• The World

Other entries in Jodhpur

Jodhpur & Ranakpur

We headed off to Jodhpur at 9am and we reached our destination at around 8pm, it was a long, hot day but our our air conditioned car it was a breeze, getting even closer to the Thar Desert you can feel the intensity of the heat.

We arrived at our hotel, the best so far (as you can see we like to judge our hotels with impunity) we drove down the long tree lined driveway to a large reception area and even bigger moustache smiling doormen, to the right you look out onto an Indian lit garden area with a splendid pool, 2 restaurants and a Rajasthani entertainment area all overlooking a beautiful fountain.

At this point in the tour we were a bit 'templed/forted out' so we welcomed to Jodhpur Forts audio guide, it was spoken by a gentleman that sounded like an old latin teacher from grammer school.  In a cockleshell this is what we learnt.....

After Indian independence in the 40's the new Government had to take steps to make India a more equal society, this meant that the Rajput Kings were deprived of their Royal privilages.  Most of their Forts/Palaces were placed under the control of the Archeological Survey Department, however, Jodhpur Fort is rather unique as this King set up a number of trusts and sustainable schemes by which to keep the history and significance of this place alive for generations to come.

In all of our hotels in Rajasthan, there have been old black and white photos of these Rajput Kings on horseback and thrones looking like an Indian version of the British Royals - sadly these days have gone but it is easy to see why the English made great allies with this noble social group.  The King still lives in Jodhpur in a 6 star hotel on the other side of the city - apparently it cost about 20 pounds for a water!!! we did not visit.

In the afternoon we went to visit some of Tommy's ancestors and found ourselves at the Monkey Temples, being extremely hot and consuming copious amounts of water we did not stay long.  There was a women's convention type of arrangement going on and Jo found herself with many new female friends.  It was interesting to see how the females chatted to each other when the men aren't around, usually it was Tommy being asked questions about his 'wife' as if she was not there. On this ocassion Jo was chatting to a lady who pointed to Tom and said "is that your husband" as if he was not there.  Tom said she was a bloody feminist!! ha ha how the table turned for woman kind in that moment.

We went home that night and Tommy drunk some water from a jug in the room and it was his turn for a bout of Dehli Belly.

We left Jodhpur the next day for a shorter drive to Ranakpur and arrived for lunch.  We arrived in the area and noticed how green it was, it reminded us of Australia with the massive trees and birds you could hear all around.  The hotel we were staying in was a different style of accommodation - it was an old country style manor house that was decked out in country fashions and felt as if we had stepped into a tea room in England.  We had some lunch and then headed off to see some more temples, we stayed for a little while and then decided that we would watch the monkeys for a bit as they seemed more interesting although Tommy keeps trying to be friendly with them and they seem to like the locals but always snarl when Tommy gets close.

That evening we swam in the pool and then had a beautiful candlelit dinner under the stars, since we were out of the city the stars were so bright and again we felt relaxed.  Unfortunately we still have a roll of film with most of the shots on for these two places so when we get that developed we can add some more photos.

Next day Udaipur.

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit

Photos / videos of "Jodhpur & Ranakpur":