Rajasthan - Part 2

Jodhpur, not just crap trousers, but a splendid city too! The ‘blue city’ (unlike Jaipur it is actually the colour it’s supposed to be) sits deep in the desert in Rajasthan and is hot and dry, so we were over the moon we’d picked a guesthouse that meant we had to climb up an enormous hill. On arrival the climb was worth it, as from the rooftop restaurant the view of the blue town and the fort was spectacular. No need to go trekking off to find a sunset point here, we were staying at it.

Our first day we hid from the sun for a while and then went for a wander round the old city. The trouble with everyone painting their houses and shops blue is they all look the same, so it’s very easy to get lost. We got thoroughly lost, but meandered our way until we found the main bazaar. It was intolerably busy and as we’d got lost we were hungry, so we went home again and ate.

The next day, having learnt our lesson we decided not to walk, but to get a tuk-tuk to the fort. We took another audio-guide and it was another very good one, teaching us lots about Indian culture and history, not just about the fort itself. On leaving the fort the tuk-tuk drivers were asking a ridiculous price to take us into the city, so in a stroppy show of belligerence we huffed at them and said we would walk. It was downhill, not too hot as it was late in the day and we’d save ourselves one pound fifty pence. Of course we didn’t know where we were going and last nights incident of getting lost seemed to slip out of our minds. As it turns out we did splendidly and walking through the outskirts of town it was interesting to see life away from the touristy spots.

On our last day in Jodhpur we took a jeep tour with another English couple (James and Jeannie) to the local villages. We saw traditional pot makers, weavers and artists. We also visited a local elderly couple from the Bishnoi community who live as one with their environment, kind of like extreme vegans, but they drink milk (I don’t know it was very confusing?). Gracious hosts, they toured us round the house, showed us how to make flour for Chapattis and then offered us tea. The tea was opium tea, which is basically the drug mixed with cold water, filtered through some kind of sock and then drunk from the palm. Before our fathers panic about our descent into a drug addled state, it was all rather gimmicky and the Chai (sweet milky tea) we drank probably got us higher due to the sugar content.

That evening was James's 28th Birthday, so we had a few afternoon beers at the guesthouse and they provided him and us with a smashing Indian Buffet in the evening. The sunshine, beer and food left us tired early, so we headed to bed before our 7am bus to Udaipur in the morning.

Hoping the bus was better than the one to Jodhpur (where they squeezed far too many people on and Matt got covered in baby spit and squished against fat old ladies for 6 hours), we set off for Udaipur. It was better and entirely trouble free. Udaipur is another city based next to a lake, with of course a palace / fort. The main palace is exquisite, probably the best we’ve seen so far. We got ourselves a real life guide instead of an audio-guide and he was also excellent. He provided us with tit-bits of insight into the lives of the Maharaja and his family, who still live in a sectioned off area of the palace.

Following this tour we then had a second at a nearby Haveli. A Haveli is a mansion that would have been owned by a local landlord who collected taxes for the Maharaja until Indian independence and the Government banned it. With 138 rooms it was a spectacular house and the guide here was even better than the first. The photos showing the restoration of the Haveli were amazing to see the decrepit state it had fallen into and how it has been brought back to its full splendor. Two days later we returned to the same Haveli to watch a show of traditional Rajasthani music, dance and puppetry. The dance was really entertaining, while the kids loved the puppets. Also on the same evening there was a festival in the town, so we got caught up in a street parade and watched some fireworks. Of course it was all done in Hindi and thus we don’t really know what the festival was about.

Also while in Udaipur we got to see another fantastic sunset while visiting the Monsoon Palace. High atop a hill above the city it provides beautiful views of the surrounding mountains as the sun sets and was romantic. Despite the 50 or so other tourists that had tuk-tuk’d here for the same thing, we found ourselves a little corner of the roof to enjoy it - just the two of us.

Our other day we spent touring the smaller attractions of the city and visiting another ‘staged village’ to show off arts, crafts and music. It was actually very interesting and we ended up buying some traditional miniature paintings from a local artist.

Leaving pretty Udaipur we spent a few days heading through the less touristy areas of Rajasthan to Chittorgarh and Bundi. Both towns are pretty uneventful apart from their forts and palaces, so we got our sightseeing in and hustled away from them. I get the feeling you’ve heard enough about forts and palaces for now (we kind of had!) and these were interesting but not spectacular.

Rajasthan (plus the Taj Mahal) is an awesome place and we would recommend that everyone packs their bags and finds the time to visit it. With some organisation it can easily be done as a two week holiday and I can’t think of many other places where you could see so many sights and experience such a different culture so easily. For us it is onto Uttar Pradesh and the city of Varanasi on the banks of the River Ganges.

Until then…..

Love

Matt and Chrissie
x x x

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