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Published: March 30th 2013
The sleeper train from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur was very smooth and uneventful. I did not sleep much because we were not sure of which was the stop for Jodhpur since the train would continued to Delhi. I read, listened to music and to some meditations to let time pass by.
Day 1 The fort
Jodhpur The Blue City
The train rolled into the station of Jodhpur at around 5 AM and being tired of harassing tuk tuk drivers, hotel managers we decided to take a taxi to the market area where we knew there were a few budget hostels and hotels. The tuk tuk dropped us off at the entrance of the main market. It was still very dark in spite of being almost early morning. The streets were totally empty and silent, but still very dirty and with a very characteristic smell of a mix of pee, poo, garbage and food decomposing. We walked through the alleys and inner streets trying to find a couple of hostels budget like that Lonely Planet recommended. The ones we really liked were all booked so we kept on looking. We saw one really nice and fancy hotel, which was very upscale and above our budget, however there was a guy who owned and told us he knew of a budget hotel fairly new owned by his cousin and he was willing to take us. It was just around the corner to so we agreed to go with him. The hotel was very small but clean and decent and a double room with hot water, wifi (not very well) was 600 rupees so we agreed to stay. While Kyle went to get some cold and throat medicines I stay in the hotel lobby waiting for our room to be ready. Around 7 o ´clock we saw a mid-age American couple leave and staff of the hotel go in the room to cleaned and about 30 minutes later we were completely installed and chilling in our room. We did our last batch of laundry and slept for a few hours and by noon we were ready to explore the Blue city of Jodhpur.
As soon as we went out of the hotel, we realized we were really closed to the Mehrangarh Fort. We bought some water and snacks and headed up a very steep stone made hill to sight see the fifth fort Mehrangarh Fort. This fort was not as huge as others, however it was definitely one that was build with a high security structure , which showed in the thick and tall walls and in the strong and clever designs in its doors, specially in the main entrance Loha Pol. It was clearly build as an army fort to protect the kings and their wives of the Rathore clan.
We enter the main area for free and people could walk in for free to the outside area of the fort, but to go inside the fort, which now was rebuilt into a museum you had to pay a very expensive fee , which included an audio tour. We walked around the outside area observing the walls, and marks of cannons and bullets on them and then continued towards an area where there were different cannons from different eras , We then encountered a Jain temple where some women were chanting, singing and praying. Honestly, we had no idea what they were saying and what they were celebrating or praying for, but the sound of the songs and chants sounded so beautiful. Then we walked through the inner grounds of the fort, which was also a palace for the wives of the kings. There were some corridors and central patios where the women would socialize and others where women could not go and so they would see what was going on through the windows of their rooms. As we were walking and sight seeing the palace and fort we were listening to the audio tour (Spanish and English) and it gave us some information on the historical era, the clans, rivalries and cultural information. We saw some palanquins, elephant saddles, and a few cradles, old rick shaws and weaponries.
We left the fort main area and headed down to the gardens where there was a zip line, but when we got there all the times were booked so we had to wait until the next day.
We headed back down towards our hotel and decided to walk around the city. We walked through the winding and narrowed streets full of people, motorcycles and rick shaws and reached the big market area where we were dropped off in the morning. It was a totally different scenario. People and rickshaws walking and driving in every direction The colors, smells, noises of India were truly present at that moment. We walked a few blocks to the clock tower and general market area to see lots of fabric and saris vendors and bangles extremely overpriced and not good quality. Thinking we were not going to buy anything we headed back to the hotel area and found a good Indian (vegetarian) food restaurant and spend the rest of the afternoon chilling listening to music, chatting and enjoying delicious veggie Indian food.
Day 2 Flying Fox zip lining
We had a very good sleep and woke up to a beautiful sunny day to go zip lining at the Mehrangarh Fort. We walked up the steep hill to the fort and along the sidelines to the gardens to reach the zip lining headquarters. The staff that ran the zip line were truly professionals and gave us a lot of safety paperwork to fill and then we put on our harness and helmets and gloves and did a little zip lining practice. As soon as everyone in the group knew what to do we headed to the first zip line.
The first zip line was short and not too steep and it went through inside the fort area. I was a little scared to go in first so I let Kyle go first and he was so confident and excited I got the excitement from him. I went and it was such fun I loved it! The next zip line was a little longer and steeper, and so were the rest, The zip line number 4 was very steep and it ran across a lake or pond and so it was a little scary to look down , but as it was the steepest you certainly went fast and in less than a minute I was on the other side. The last zip line was the longest and because of this I did not reach the end of the line and the guide had to give me instructions to turn around and pull myself with my hands all the way to the end. I have to say that even though I was a little scared this was so cool and my favorite part of the whole adventure!
After the coolest thing we did which was zip lining through the Mehrangarh Fort we walked about 2 kms to the Jodhpur Taj Mahal palace. A smaller palace made of marble and with beautiful and symmetrical gardens surrounding it. As we were walking back we saw two buses trying to get through a narrowed street. We headed down to the main touristic area to find a roof top restaurant to eat dinner before heading out to the bus stop to catch a train to Udailpur. .
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Jennifer Martin
non-member comment
Mehrangarh Fort
I have been to Mehrangarh Fort especially to do zip lining. As I was looking to book the zipping slot at the perfect time in the evening, so I booked them online from Official Flying Fox website at http://www.flyingfox.asia/destinations/index/Jodhpur.