Don't go outside!
- Aug 3, 2016
- 3 min read
We left Jaisalmer first thing after the camel safari, as we were leaving the desert some of its more unusual residents showed up...
Lovely, regular, non terrifying antelope.
Any suggestions for what this is would be appreciated.
The journey to Jodhpur took longer than it should have because, unfortunately, we hit a dog. The poor thing ran out between two cars and didn’t stand a chance. We were distraught. Aside from the emotional trauma, it also completely knacked the car radiator, the car made a valiant effort and got us to the outskirts of Jodhpur before dying.
Greg and Matt gave it push starts to eventually limp into a mechanics where a wait of an hour and a half was given. As it’s India you instantly double time estimates and, as predicted, we left three hours later. Apparently there were no other taxis in the whole of Jodhpur who could come and drive us the rest of the way (sceptical face, our driver would have had to pay so held us hostage in the middle of nowhere until the car was fixed). This is how we entertained ourselves:
We eventually drove through tiny streets full of bikes, animals, and snack stalls to a little back ally with a beautiful hotel! Excited we got out and showed the reception our tickets, only to be told this wasn’t our hotel. Damn. Back in the car, down some more allyways to our real hotel. It was alright, but the view was spectacular.
Perched on the hill overlooking Jodhpur was another enormous fort, and our hotel had a rooftop restaurant right underneath it.
A concern however, was when we asked one of the staff for directions to an ATM. He told us where they were, but also advised not to go out after dark, don’t speak to any locals, don’t accept gifts from locals, keep moving in busy places and keep a sharp eye on your valuables. Right. We stayed in the hotel that night. Luckily we had a few beers and the view was awesome so it was great anyway.
The next day was site seeing and we headed to the fort on the hill. It was pricey to get in but so beautiful and interesting to walk around with great views of Jodhpur, which is also known as the Blue City.
This fort had been heavily repaired too, but some original aspects were still in place. For example, the main doors to the fort had mean looking spikes about halfway up, this was so if an enemy attacked using war elephants (terrifying thought) the elephants wouldn’t be able to barge the doors because they would impale themselves. Delightful.
There was also a turban museum (!) which taught us about the culture of turbans. Turns out that they are used to show/ denote professions, and can mean a variety of different things. For example, if a husband went off to war and another man from the army approached the wife holding his turban, it means her husband is dead and she should, you guessed it, throw herself on a fire! How unoriginal,
Greg loved the turbans.
There is also a huge palace built in the 1940s which is half five-star hotel and half museum about the history of the palace. It started as a project to create jobs in the area and housed a lot of the RAF during WW2, they don’t let non guests into the hotel sadly, so we stood at the gates. Just as good really…
We stayed at the hotel restaurant that night again because the food was surprisingly nice and cheap, and nowhere would have a better view of the sunset behind the fort.
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