Jodhpur – More than Jodhpuri Pants

DAY 4 – JODHPUR

We started early from #Pushkar after a heavy breakfast towards #Jodhpur. My spirits were high as I have heard a lot about the Mehrangarh Fort.

Jodhpur is a four hour drive from Pushkar.  

We booked our stay at #Hotel Haveli, which was located in the heart of Old Jodpur. We had to go into really narrow lanes and to reach our hotel we had to ask for direction numerous times as there was no scope to take a U Turn or to reverse our Innova. The hotel was nice and we could see the gigantic #Mehrangarh Fort from our room windows. The view from the terrace restaurant was splendid. It felt as if Mehrangarh Fort is standing tall to safeguard the city.

Post lunch we started our way to the highlight of Jodhpur… a very beautiful and majestic fort; truly a must-visit on anyone’s list when at Jodhpur - #Mehrangarh Fort. The fort is located on a hilltop and is huge and gigantic. It is a beautiful piece of architecture and has a lot of work of strained glass, mosaic on the floors and lattice. The closer you get to the fort, the more you admire the fort. Three words that aptly describe the fort are – Majestic, Outstanding and Magnificent.

Mehrangarh Fort

 To reach the fort one has to cross the old city of Jodhpur and then climb up the hill. The walk to the fort is fun and gives you ample photography opportunities.

There were musicians playing Rajasthani folk music at the entrance of the main Fort.

Folk musicians enchanting the tourist

The Palace has many important courtyards and areas. The popular ones are Sheesh Mahal - The Hall of Mirrors, Moti Mahal - The Pearl Palace and Phool Mahal - The Palace of Flowers. 

Moti Mahal

There is a separate ladies apartment where the royal ladies used to stay. The windows of these apartments are delicately carved and has intricate lattice work. The architecture and intricacy was beyond words.

Ladies Apartment where the Royal ladies lived in the Fort

The excellent view of the city from the terrace of the fort cannot be missed. From this view one gets the paranomic view of the city and the answer to why Jodhpur is known as the #Blue City. It’s a sight to behold!

Vew from Mehrangarh Fort

Panoramic View of Mehrangarh Fort 

At the end of the fort, there was a musician playing flute.

A musician playing flute

We spend around two hours in the fort and then headed to the impressive #Jaswant Thada which is some distance away from the fort. It is located besides a small lake and is the resting place of #Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. Beautiful lattice (jali) works adorn the cenotaph. It is built in an open area offering amazing view of the city and the Mehrangarh fort.

At the entrance of Jaswant Thada, beside the lake a musician was playing a rajasthani musical instrument. The music, the sight of the lake, the ducks in the lake, Jaswant Thada on one side and the gigantic Mehrangarh Fort on the other made it a perfect sight.

The impressive Jaswant Thada

By the time we finished our tour to Mehrangarh Fort and Jaswant Thada, it was late to go to #Umaid Bhawan Palace. We were disappointed to miss the opportunity to see Umaid Bhawan and decided to halt at Jodhpur on our way from Jaisalmer to Udaipur.

Umaid Bhawan from Jaswant Thada

For the evening we decided to hit the local market of Jodhpur and do some shopping. We went to the sardar market which is one of the most popular markets of Jodhpur. #Sardar Market was an interesting mix of food sellers, leather items, spice merchants, dye and die (bandani & lahariya), jutis, silver accessories and a general chaos.

The clear rule of shopping in Jodhpur is to Bargain, Bargain and Bargain!!! As a rule, start from half the price quoted by the shopkeeper. After some haggling you will surely have a deal with a much lesser rate quoted earlier.

We could get hold of some beautiful jutis for Rs 200 each after bargaining. We also bought some rajasthani bags and jholas as gifts to family.

Jodhpur is famous for Jodhpuri’s skin tight ¾ length trousers but we were not able to see anyone wearing one.

On our walk from the bustling Sardar Market to our hotel we came across the #clock tower.

We asked a couple of people why the houses are painted blue. Strangely everyone had a different answer. Some said that the colour blue is cool and it helps to keep the house cool from the scorching sun. Other said that in olden days priests wanted to differentiate themselves from the lower castes and decided to paint their houses blue where as the lower castes painted their house white. Another reason is that the colour blue keeps the mosquitoes away.

The Blue City

We had our dinner on the roof top of our Hotel. The fort was lit up at night, making it a beautiful dinner and a beautiful night.

This gets us to the end of our trip to Jodhpur. Next destination is #Jaisalmer – The GoldenCity.

Ravishing, Royal Rajasthan!!!

Kesariya Balam aawo ni padharo mhare des ni Kesariya Balam aawo sa padharo mhare des...
[O Beloved with the saffron coloured turban, I heartily welcome you to my country..]

In 2013, we decided to go to Rajasthan for our Annual Vacation.  Rajasthan – The Land of Royals, The Land of Palaces. The land which is dry and arid but colourful and vibrant in its own special way.

So dates were discussed (16^th Nov – 24 Nov 2013), umpteen links on hotels and locations were sent back and forth, many phonecalls were made, an itinerary evolved and most bookings made. In fact this was possibly the most meticulously planned trip we've ever made.

Rajasthan was going to be a total touristy deal, with places to see and stuff to do in each city, and with our ambitious schedule - Jaipur-Ajmer-Pushkar-Jodhpur-Jaisalmer-Udaipur-in 9 days we had to plan inter-city transfers and everything to the last detail. We did the booking related to travel and hotels 3 months in advance. We were 4 adults and 1 kid - Me, my husband, Nikhil, my friend Pramod, his wife Preeti and their daughter Tarushi.

I have written this travelogue in 9 phases, covering each day of the trip in each phase.

We started our trip from the ‘Pink City’ – #Jaipur, to Darga Sharif – #Ajmer, to the only Brahma Temple – #Pushkar, to the ‘Blue City’ – #Jodhpur, followed by the ‘Golden City’ – #Jaisalmer and finally the ‘Lake City’ – #Udaipur.

Chand Baori - Jaipur - Ajmer - Pushkar - Jodhpur - Jaisalmer - Udaipur

Our detailed itinerary for Rajasthan Trip is as follows:

	Place	Night Stay At	Details
Day 1	Mumbai to Jaipur	Jaipur	Upon Arrival, check in the hotel. Proceed to visit: 1. Chand Baori, Abhaneri - 100 kms 2. Harshad Mehta ka Temple 3. Chokhi Dhani for dinner
Day 2	Jaipur	Jaipur	After breakfast proceed to visit: 1. Man Sagar Lake (On way to Amber Fort) 2. Amber Fort 3. Jaigarh Fort (1 km from Amber Fort) 4. Nahargarh Fort 5. Gaitore (Foothills of Nahargarh Fort) 6. City Palace 7. Jantar Mantar 8. Hawa Mahal
Day 3	Jaipur to  Ajmer – Pushkar	Pushkar	After breakfast, check out of hotel and proceed to Ajmer. At Ajmer visit: 1. Dargah Sharif 2. Dhai din ka Jhopra 3. Taragarh Fort 4. Ana Sagar Lake Proceed to Pushkar: 1. The Brahma Temple & take a holy dip at at the Pushkar Lake. 2. The Pushkar Fair
Day 4	Pushkar to  Jodhpur	Jodhpur	After breakfast, check out of hotel and proceed to Jodhpur. Check in the hotel, then proceed to visit: 1. Mehrangarh Fort 2. Jaswant Thada (close to the fort) 3. Umaid Bhawan Palace (Museum)
Day 5	Jodhpur to Jaisalmer	Jaisalmer	After breakfast, check out of hotel and proceed to Jaisalmer. Check in the hotel & relax. In the evening visit drive about 40 km away from Jaisalmer to Sam Dunes/Khuri.
Day 6	Jaisalmer	Jaisalmer	After breakfast, proceed to visit: 1. Jaisalmer Fort incl. Jain Temple & Tazia Tower 2. Patwaon ki Haveli 3. Nathmal ji ki Haveli 4. Salim Singh ki Haveli 5. Gadisagar Lake
Day 7	Jaisalmer to Udaipur	Udaipur	After breakfast, check out & proceed to Udaipur
Day 8	Udaipur	Udaipur	After breakfast, proceed to visit: 1. City Palace 2. Jagdish Temple 3. Boat ride at Lake Pichola 4. Dharohar - Classical Rajasthani Dance show at Bagore ki Haveli at 7 pm
Day 9	Udaipur to Mumbai	Home sweet home	After Breakfast: 1. Sahelion ki Bari 2. Fateh Sagar Lake 3. Dudh Talai (Near Lake Pichola) Catch the evening flight to Mumbai

To give you an idea of my trip I am uploading few pictures:

Chand Baori - Abhaneri

Gaitore - Jaipur

Mehrangarh Fort - Jodhpur

Patwaon Ki Haveli - Jaisalmer

Lake Pichola - Udaipur

Detailed description of the trip to be followed......