Jodhpur: Lassi heaven

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जोधपुर or Jodhpur is our next stop, one of the largest desert cities in Western Rajasthan. It is also known as the Blue City due to many of the buildings being painted blue. There are several theories behind why this is the case, to repel mosquitos, to reflect the sky, but the correct one according to Papi is that the blue colour signified the house of a Brahmin, the highest caste of Hindu, then others decided to paint theirs blue too. Fair enough, looks good to me!

We had a great day sightseeing first at Jaswant Thada a glowing pure-white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh which sits high on a hill overlooking the town. We wandered round the gardens in the early morning cool looking across to the Meherangarh Fort which stands above Jodhpur. Visible from almost everywhere, the fort dominates the skyline here, and must have given a very clear message of dominance in it's heyday.

As we made our way up to it we were momentarily overwhelmed by the street sellers who were in a frenzy for the first feed of the day. Managing to resist buying what looked like used or antique postcards we neared the fort entrance which is very imposing. We were advised to get an audiotour, not something I was crazy about doing but I have to hand it to them, it was very good and I think we all spent a good couple of hours immersed in history. Being told the stories and hearing music from that time was quite evocative in the splendour of the surroundings so it was well worth it. The chamber of the Maharaja was the most impressive and the opulence of it is difficult to capture in a photo.

Sightseeing completed we headed in Jodhpur town itself taking in the central clock tower, not all that exciting in itself but a good marker of the centre of town and invaluable to us during later wanderings round the town. One of the highlights was also stopping at a famously good lassi shop which Papi recommended. The lassi here were something else and much thicker than lassi that I have had elsewhere and at home. I hate to think how many calories are in one! I also dedicatedly helped finish someone else's as well when they were not so taken. Well, we did do a fair amount of walking so I figure it should be ok.

I'm very excited now as our next destination is Jaisalmer, the place I have been looking forward to most on the trip. We are also going by train, approx 6hr journey so another chance to see the scenery change as we go deeper into the Thar desert!

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