An Excellent Fort in the Blue City

Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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From Pushkar, Nik and I headed off to Jodhpur (yes, as the name suggests, it is where the baggy pants originated from!).  Just outside of Pushkar, Ram asked for our second installment of money for the trip so that he could fill up with gas.  What we found funny was that as the tank came to being full, he and the gas attendant starting rocking the car, with Nik and I in it, to try and get that last little amount in.  I guess gas must have been cheaper there!

Once in Jodhpur, Ram said that he couldn't make it to our guesthouse, which was located in the old city.  Oh here we go again.  Not wanting to argue, we got out and got into a rickshaw.  Granted, the rickshaw had to go up some narrow alleys, but the owner had specifically told me that a car could get there.  Anyhow, we made it to Yogi's Guesthouse which was a 500 year old haveli that was brightly decorated inside and had some cool alcoves for sitting in.

Decked Out Camel, Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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Checked in, we headed out in the direction of the clock tower, or so we thought, but somehow we missed it, but we still made it into the new city.  I guess with all the alleyways, we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way.  Jodhpur definitely had a bigger city feel, especially after being in Bundi and Pushkar.

Down the main street there was definitely more pollution than we had experienced before, even in Delhi.  We stopped off at the Reliance World (had to use up all our rupees, especially since we signed up for more, being assured that I could upload photos from any other location - we shall see!) that was by far the worst we had been into.  The computers were a nightmare, so we didn't stay too long.

Nik, Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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Time for dinner, we headed to On the Rocks, which was an immense place with two outdoor seating areas.  We chose a table as close to one of the fires as possible and given that it was a more upscale place and was quite packed, both Nik and I decided to chance it with getting chicken curries.  The food was excellent, although quite pricey, probably one of the most expensive if not the most expensive meals so far at about 770 Rs (approx $19.74), but was definitely worth it.

The next day, we headed to Meherangarh, a fort, which is still run by the maharaja of Jodhpur.  The price of the ticket was 250 Rs ($6.41) but did it include an audio tour that had been recommended.  It was actually an excellent tour with some extras to listen to at certain parts.  The narrator was very clear and had a very pleasing voice, quite a different from some of the guides that we had experienced!  The fort was huge with many different layers, buildings and courtyards that you could have easily got lost in.  The views over the town below were a stunning sea of blue, painted as such as to keep cool in the hot summer heat and apparently acts as a deterrent to insects (maybe in Thailand, I should have painted myself blue??!).  Once again, we saw some fantastic miniature paintings with one that really stood out depicting a war against the demons.   We also saw one room that had some cool stained glass windows that shone brilliantly as the sun came through.

Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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It took over two hours to go through the fort.  We stopped off at the cafe on the way out for a quick bite for lunch.  Then we decided to stop back at the guesthouse to chill out for a bit before heading out again.

Getting later in the afternoon, we decided to motivate to head over to Umaid Bhawan Palace quite a distance away by rickshaw.  The palace now was mostly a very expensive art deco hotel (with rooms going from approx $400 to $3,5000 - a little too pricey for us!) but did have a few rooms for a museum.  The museum wasn't particularly spectacular, but we had hoped to sneak into the bar for a drink, but there was really no way - probably trying to keep riffraff like us out!

View of City Below, Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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With no rickshaws available, we headed down the long road to the main street, but were soon picked up.  We headed back to the old city, being dropped off near the clock tower that was in the Sadar market.  We walked around the many stalls, half looking for an extra bag to carry stuff in.  It was a crowded place selling everything from bangles, to sarees, to produce, to clothes.  After quite awhile, we wandered out of the market and back down the main street, not really having any plan in mind.

Meherangarh, Fort in Jodhpur, India
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Finally we started to get hungry and so we decided to go to Bollygood, the sister restaurant of On the Rocks.  Once there, the place was decorated with large pictures of Bollywood stars, none of which I recognized.  The place was deserted, but granted, it was only 6:30pm.  We sat and had a drink as we waited until 7pm when they started serving food, which seemed to be the same stuff we had seen the night before, but at slightly cheaper prices.

With dinner over, we headed back by rickshaw, knowing there was no way we would find our guesthouse through all the alleyways.