Jodhpur

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Yesterday was a bit of a lost day as the train didn’t leave Bikaner until 09:45 and it arrived into Jodhpur around 15:30. By the time we navigated our way across the city and found a place to stay it was early evening and we didn’t get a chance to venture too far from the hotel.

Jodhpur is famous for its fort, which takes pride and place on the plateau of the nearby mountain. The city is densely populated and circles the base of this steep mountain rock. The city itself is also known as ‘The Blue City’, due to the blue walls of the city buildings (funnily enough!). On the first night we met a very old Indian man who told us that the city has been twinned with Larkhall, although we were unable to confirm this in any guide book we have ;-). More importantly, (through pot luck more than anything else) we managed to get accommodation in the hotel with the highest rooftop restaurant and the best views of the fort.

Today we ventured out into the sun and walked up the steep road leading to the fort. Although the daily diet of fort or palace tours are starting to wear thin, the trek up the mountain was good fun and the views over the city and beyond were fantastic. However, I must admit, both myself and Julie found the city centre pretty dirty and twice today I stood in cow dung, and twice I was dumped on by a bird. I was just glad I chose to wear my boots today rather than the flip flops! More of a concern for me though, was the fact that the camera seemed to be taking the brunt of the bird crap. Apologies if any photos appear to have a smudge across the front of them!

Anyway, other than the fort, and the alarming amount of mess in the city (which probably appeared worse as a result of the heavy rain the city has been having) we have decided to make up a day and leave tomorrow morning for Udaipur. The bus leaves at 07:45 and it is scheduled to take 7 hours, but the Indian standard seems to be you will arrive around 1 or 2 hours later than expected. Looks like we are in for another day of travelling without doing much else!

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Comments

[Ruth]

I love the blue