JODHPUR - THE BLUE CITY


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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jodhpur
June 24th 2009
Published: July 6th 2009
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Our road trip to Jodhpur was approximately 190 km. It took us all morning. On the road our driver put on some old Indian dance music full blast. This crackling out of his tape player was the perfect soundtrack to a backdrop of stony mountains and brightly coloured turbans everywhere. The people we passed were all smiling and waving at us as well. We saw two lorries after a head on collision which looked pretty serious, as well as a few other battered cars at the side of the road. Our driver took us off the beaten track as well to see some wild deers, which was slightly odd as he still reminds me of some kind of gangster!

The Blue City, as it is commonly referred to, was pretty cool. As soon as we arrived we decided to go for some food, and quickly gathered a following of children begging for money. We must be getting more used to this as we didn't get quite as bothered about it as we had before, and after a few shouts from the locals they ran away. We walked towards the clock tower and market area and found a tiny stall by the side of the road called The Omelette Shop, where we were served by the famous “Omelette Man”. These omelettes were amazing! And they cost less than £1 for 2 omelette sandwiches and two cokes. He surely was the egg man (coo coo ka choo).

The market by the clock tower was crazy and really busy with people, cows and action everywhere. There seemed to be all kinds of stuff for sale here. After a look around the market we decided to have a look around the old fort, and the views from the top looked like a watercolour painting. We understood why it is called the Blue City when we looked down from there! We also had someone ask to be “our friend” at the top which was strangely inviting. A few local women were giggling at at us, and although at first I thought that they were taking the mickey out of us and started to feel a bit uncomfortable, I think that they might have just been nervous or excited to see us. I wasn't 100 percent sure though.

On our second outing into the Blue City, I became quite giddy about how friendly the people were. In other places we have visited, when people are friendly it always seems to end with them asking us for some Rupees, but in the Blue City, that punchline never came. A lot of people spoke to us, but no one (apart from the begging kids who were grabbing at my bag and trying to pull my baggy trousers down) really seemed to ask us for money. We did however, get informed by a random man on a spice stall that we looked like John Cleese and Madonna, who were both regular customers of his apparently. I also looked a bit like Shakera another boy pointed out. We've been called worse......

The rains came again for a short while in the evening but they were extremely refreshing. Robbie also tried a Rajhastani Thali and it went down a treat!


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