The Blue City - Jodhpur
On our journey to Jodhpur we passed through a place called Ranakpur. There is a spectacular Jain temple here, but we did not visit. Here we also started noticing beautiful Indian durries (a coarsely woven type of carpet) for sale by local craftsmen lining the road. No, we did not buy - we can't carry the whole of India in our backpacks! This reminds me of a friend we met on Easter Island who bought 35kg of marble in India (Indian marble is ridiculously cheap) which he carried around with him for quite a while! Anyway - we stopped at a nice peaceful spot for lunch and headed on to Jodhpur - the Blue City.
Jodhpur was a highlight for us in Rajasthan. Our driver fought his way through the tiny old city streets right up close to the fort where our guesthouse (also a very old building) welcomed us warmly. We again opted for a very quaint room (see photo) with a TV and headed to the rooftop restaurant for a view of the Blue City. This old city is really blue and such a treat to behold. Most of the buildings are covered in a mixture of whitewash and indigo powder. Johan had specially worn his blue shirt for the occasion and blended very nicely with the terrain. Janine wore pink!
The next morning was great. We had an early breakfast and walked through the wakening narrow streets twisting our way up to the wall of the Mehrangarh fort. It was one of our more authentic historic site experiences as we walked the ancient trail with only one or two other locals heading their way over to the other side of the city. Once on top we paid our entrance fees and received our audio guides for exploring the fort museum. The audio guides were actually very well done as well as very entertaining. The Mehrangarh fort is a great way to get exposure to so much of what makes Indian history and culture so unique. We took lots of photos and did a tad of shopping. Janine was looking for very specific and very delicate silk shawls for her sister to use for her wedding. The shop outside the fort did not have the exact shade of blood red fading to darker red that she was looking for, but that was no problem. Later that afternoon the shop owner dropped off the three shawls - made and dyed to order - at our hotel. Now that is India!
Culture shocks: Some TV channels display ads in the bottom third of the screen, cutting off much of the scenes; we saw ads advertising pencils that will improve your handwriting; tele-ads also promoted a huge shell with special magical powers; there are frequent advertisements of light switches and bulbs on TV.
Jodhpur was a highlight for us in Rajasthan. Our driver fought his way through the tiny old city streets right up close to the fort where our guesthouse (also a very old building) welcomed us warmly. We again opted for a very quaint room (see photo) with a TV and headed to the rooftop restaurant for a view of the Blue City. This old city is really blue and such a treat to behold. Most of the buildings are covered in a mixture of whitewash and indigo powder. Johan had specially worn his blue shirt for the occasion and blended very nicely with the terrain. Janine wore pink!
The next morning was great. We had an early breakfast and walked through the wakening narrow streets twisting our way up to the wall of the Mehrangarh fort. It was one of our more authentic historic site experiences as we walked the ancient trail with only one or two other locals heading their way over to the other side of the city. Once on top we paid our entrance fees and received our audio guides for exploring the fort museum. The audio guides were actually very well done as well as very entertaining. The Mehrangarh fort is a great way to get exposure to so much of what makes Indian history and culture so unique. We took lots of photos and did a tad of shopping. Janine was looking for very specific and very delicate silk shawls for her sister to use for her wedding. The shop outside the fort did not have the exact shade of blood red fading to darker red that she was looking for, but that was no problem. Later that afternoon the shop owner dropped off the three shawls - made and dyed to order - at our hotel. Now that is India!
Culture shocks: Some TV channels display ads in the bottom third of the screen, cutting off much of the scenes; we saw ads advertising pencils that will improve your handwriting; tele-ads also promoted a huge shell with special magical powers; there are frequent advertisements of light switches and bulbs on TV.
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