JOHDPUR

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Another long bus trip later (they just go so damn slow) we made it into Jodhpur the birthplace of those sexy riding pants. The city was dominated by two massive landmarks - on one side the biggest fort/castle cities we've seen and on the other the much newer british designed hotel, now the palace of the Maharaja. Unseen until we visited the heights of the fort was one of the more famous views in India - the brilliant blue coloring of the city below. Originally a way of identifying the homes of the highest brahman caste, most people have now adopted the trademark of painting their houses. Also, claiming that the colour repels mosquitos!

Exploring the fort and old palace inside took most of a day and later we returned for a very romantic outdoor meal on the top of the old palace, overlooking the city by candlelight. We both ordered thali, the common Indian meal with several separate little dishes with different kinds of bread. It felt very exclusive and cost more than any meal we had away, yet came in under AU$40. It was strange that not one India was around for the meal, despite the huge differences in wealth between us and the average people, we couldn't compete with the Indian elite. Inside the 'Foreigner lounge' in the main palace there was a video set up showing visitors how good the Maharaja's lifestyle was. You couldn't help but think it was only a way for him to show off to the rest of the world.

It was an interesting place for the main tourist were not foreigners but were other Indian people (most of them not appearing to be quite poor). The locals did however have plenty of talent at dealing with their international visitors - but we were mostly immune to their exploits! One great 'scam' of sorts was the people who showed you the thousands of types of currency (all paper) they had collected from visitors, however for some crazy reason they had never been give any British sterling, American or Australian dollars. Strange they had met many generous Mongolians and Peruvians yet not one Pom willing to part with a few quid!

Leaving Jodhpur was more difficult than expected. Having booked a train the day before we got up before dawn to make the early trip to Agra. At the train station we struggled to figure out when and which train to catch. As you'd imagine in India there were people everywhere and we worked hard to get to the front of the hoards of people crammed around the information booth. After no luck we went through the back door to gain first hand information from the station master. Sometime you need to remember you're in India and there are certain ways to get things done! Unfortunately the our train was very delayed and would be a few hours - and a few hours later it still was nowhere. We left throwing our tickets (AU$4 each) and eventually made it to a government bus station. The bus we ended up catching took the whole day to get the few hundred miles to Agra where we arrived after dark something like 15 hours after getting up in the morning.

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Photos

The scale of the place was increadable
Sure beats Europe at building sandcastles castle

From above
This view made you dizzy. On a sense of it can be captured here.

Dining like the Raj
Almost as exclusive as it came in India