Jodhpur

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This mornings government bus was still as difficult as the first one we took. The heat of Rajasthan was oppressive in the open windowed tin cans. Arriving to the blue city of Jodhpur at lunch we eventually got to the Blue Guesthouse and took the top floor room with windows looking out to the Mehrangarh Fort. The remainder of the day was left for eating and relaxing into the town.

The following morning we hired a tuk tuk up to the fort which overlooks the blue city. The Mehrangarh Fort is still run by the current maharaja of Jodhpur, and armed with our audio guides we surveyed the fort and its grandeur. It overlooks the old city which is largely painted in light blue, as it’s said that the colour keeps things cool and scares off the mozzies! In the fort we viewed some royal rooms, opium smoking that I declined to try, and unfortunately the resident astrologer seemed to have disappeared. After the fort, we walked a short distance to the Jaswant Thada, a milky white marble memorial to a maharaja and had a look around.
Back at the hotel we met Steven and Glenn, a british couple in their 50’s who had been travelling for the past 14 years! We joined them for dinner where I tasted some makhania icecream, and then walked to the clock tower within the Sadar market to find the world famous makhania lassie’s, absolutely delicious, and I was sure I’d be bouncing off the walls for the next 24 hours. In the morning we would be on a train to Bikaner, our final stop in Rajasthan.

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