The Blue City

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Still wihin the state of Rajasthan is Jodhpur (the blue city) the main attraction here, guess what, a fort. Arriving late at night, passing Mr Masood from eastenders on the way (It was definitely him), we had dinner on the rooftop of the guesthouse. The view was the highlight of the guesthouse here as it boasted a stunning view of both the fort and another point of interest which were both lit up and dominated the skyline to one side. On the otherside there wasn't much in the way of impressive structures but in the distance there was a firework display and having a 360 view of the town of Jodhpur was an unexpected delight.
The room itself was rather pokie, to be polite, and the bathroom/ closet with both shower and toilet left a lot to be desired. Apparently adding an extra foot of piping to the sink drainage was too much to ask which meant ended up with wet feet everytime you turned on the tap. One of the "walls" which lead to the street outside was nothing more than a doorway covered by an iron grill and a piece of Perspex. It did little to block out any noise and I doubt will catch on as the wall construction of the future being less than a centimetre thick and somewhat flexible. The wall and bathroom should have been of little concern as what lay beyond them was far more intrusive. That night was not the best night sleep i've ever had as the loudest wedding in the world* was going on all night and in close proximity to the guesthouse.
*information accurate according to Greg's ears Feb 2015

Mehrangarh fort was first of the days attractions and luckily it was just a stones throw away. Once again the facade was a large imposing featureless block of stone, but many of the rooms inside were beautifully finihed and there were still some artefacts which the British hadn't got their hands on. There was also a few people around the fort itself playing music and showing some of what life would have been like when activity at the fort was at its peak. some of the interior had a somewhat colonial influence and would not look out of place inside buckingham palace.
Within the fort was also the opertunity to have your palm read, it was something I was interested in doing but really only for a bit of fun. I thought it would consist of vague information which would be relevent to anyone but some of what was said was surprisingly accurate and altough taken with a pinch of salt, gives me a little hope for the future.

Just down the road from the fort was the building which had been visable from the rooftop, Jaswant Thada, being a memorial to the father of a Maharaja it wasn't grand in size but was relatively peaceful and offered a great view of the city. The grounds contained a small lake with a modest amount of birdlife, not an overly intersting site but good for photo opertunities. whilst we were there we also met a group of school children who delighted in having their photos taken. This is not a rare occurance in India and people will often ask to have their photo taken with you as some places still enjoy the novelty of white people. I think I must have had more people take pictures of me than I have of myself.

Further down the road we came to Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum, reasonably grand from the outside but is now mainly a hotel so the interior left for the casual visitor is mainly a collection of pictures of the Maharaja and royal family.

An unexpected highlight of the area was Mandore gardens, not touristy at all but within the grounds stood some staggering monuments and also some ruins of previous temples. the area was mainly quiet apart from an abundance of grey langur monkeys within the park and a number of stray dogs around the ruins. we stayed here until sunset as it was really quite a unique place. we even saw some bats when we ventured into a small dark cave like temple/ area of worship. some of the architectural style of the building seemed different to a lot of what we had seen previously and it was nice to end the day with some peace and quiet after all the noise from the guesthouse.

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