Rambling Rajasthan - The Delights of Dewali in Jodhpur

11^th – 14^th November

Jodhpur - The Blue City

The Royale Hotel staff were extremely helpful throughout our stay in Jaisalmer. On the day of our departure the manager introduced us to his brother, the conductor in the AC sleepers of the train we were to catch later in the day. He was trying to catch forty winks but was woken from his slumber and asked to look after us during the journey and let us know when we were approaching our stop. Indian trains do not announce approaching stations. Fine if you are going to the last stop but not so good if you aren’t and you have no idea where you are heading. The manager also arranged for our tuk-tuk driver to escort us to the correct train and carriage – service beyond the norm I am sure and greatly appreciated. During our travels we have  often been called mama and papa and the respect given to us oldies here (and during our time in Nepal) has been lovely. Respect for elders is still very strong in most of Asia, a trait these countries can be very proud of.  

Although it was not an overnight journey we were not to arrive in Jodhpur until late so we had a sleeper to catch up on a bit of beauty sleep during the journey. We approached our bunks only to find that others had taken a liking to them. At first we were looked at blankly but the daughter came up to us and explained that they wanted to be with their mother and another friend. Would we mind if they swapped? That was OK with us as long as there wasn’t a hassle with the swap like we had had in Amritsar. It turned out that there was a problem with their seats but we double swapped with someone else and all was good for the rest of the journey. Neil slept soundly above me for most of the way and I had just scored a new novel so I happily read almost completing the book during the six hour journey.

We arrived not long before mid-night. A short tuk-tuk drive quickly had us in our hotel in the heart of the old city and in the land of nod soon after that.

Our hotel, nestled amongst the narrow alleys and lanes of the old town, was directly below the towering fort. Breakfast and our subsequent evening meals were at the roof-top restaurant from which we had uninterrupted views of the magnificent fort.

The view from our hotel to the fort. The daytime views were verrrry nice, the evening views spectacular!

 

It was a short, steep walk up to the fort and the beautiful palace. The rooms of the palace are probably in the best condition of any that we have seen during our ramblings.

 

Half way up the steep path we reached the bottom of the fort. The main area of the fort still towered above us. Just up ahead is the ticket office and behind that you can pay to get into a lift to take you into the main fort and palace area. We opted to walk. 

 

 

 Damage to the outside fortifications from cannon-fire in 1808. The gates were similarly damaged, but the fort was held.



 

Swallow nests in the last gateway (pictured above) before the palace.

Outside views of the palace from the various courtyards

 

Beautiful outside, magnificent in!

 The baubles hanging from the ceiling

definitely a latter edition





Looking from fort down to old city walls

 

One of the palace workers in traditional attire.

And if you are royal and wish to go for a royal ride on a royal elephant there is of course the royal elephant chair - looked a lot more comfortable than the one we rode in during our elephant jungle safari in Nepal!

 





In the opposite direction to the fort we were able to walk downhill into the shopping district, the market area around the clock tower and the main street beyond. Diwali was now in full swing and the crowds were at their peak. We found a coffee shop that looked down on the jostling throngs so we sat by the window, ate a light snack and enjoyed the sights before venturing down and taking it on.

The clock tower in the middle of the market square

 One of the four gateways into the market area.

The crowds in the market area were hectic - I don't have a word that aptly describes the crowd capacity through one of the gateways on the main road.

 

Although fireworks and crackers had been going off for the last couple of nights our last evening was the biggie. The visuals were not as spectacular as the previous night but the noise had to be heard to be believed. Many of the crackers released in the confined spaces of the laneways sounded like hand grenades being thrown or small bombs going off. The noise continued until the early hours of the morning and it was impossible to fall asleep as our room overlooked the narrow laneway. The revellers finally went to bed and we managed 3 hours of shut-eye before arising for our 7am train journey to Pushkar - no problems, we had another sleeper and would no doubt be fast asleep within minutes of leaving the station. 

 A not so healthy diet!

 One of the many excellent health/safety messages you can find in India