December 24, 2006: Pushkar to Jodhpur; 250 kms

We just did not want to go from Pushkar. The short experience there was the most heart warming one. Probably a picture of one of the great chill holidays we'd had. Wifey kept pushing for another nights stay over. The arse in me made me not see light of the chill. Instead gleamed at the other colours that Rajasthan had to offer.

So the morning drive out from Pushkar towards Jodhpur also known as the blue city was just another drive. Hearts wishing we could've stayed over, minds thinking of the road ahead.

The caravan trundled into the blue city. No blue in the main town. This actually seemed bigger than Jaipur. The roads much broader (despite the traffic) the colonies a tad more organised. We found our way to Newtons Manor a kind of a home stay we found (thanks to Lonely Planet.) This was completely Victorian. But nice and clean. They had a grand total of four rooms. This was actually Mr Newton's house (no relation to Sir Isaac.)

After a quick freshen up, it was time to head towards Mehrangarh Fort on the hills. In a quick 5 minute drive towards the fort we came to realise that we had to drive uphill through a really narrow and winding lane in which one would have trouble moving if there's a car coming from the other side.

In any case the traffic frees up a bit and we trundle across the beautiful blue walled houses which give this city the name Blue City Tag.

And yes viewed from the Fort it is a mass of blue. Apparently this colour scheme was traditionally done to keep the houses cooler in summer months and is still being followed. Sounds good and I am sure works as well.


Welcome the new age audio tour in Mehrangarh fort. Forget guides, rustic talk and blah. This equipment is The Guide in the fort. Take it if you can and each detail point is marked with a number tag stand in the fort. Press it on your walky and you're on.

The counter gives this to you for a limited time. (forget whether it was two hours or three) By which time you have to come back to the entrance. Indians have to submit a photo ID (I had to handover my drivers licence) and Foreigners their passport, which one gets back once you handover the audio equipment. Great fun.

By now we'd experienced three forts, two of mughal origins and one of rajput. Culturally very different and I would go to the extent of saying radical. The Mughals prided in their oppulence and spent lavishly in detailing and designing the facade. The rajputs? Well, they did have their own style, but the class was missing. And somehow, I got the impression that the forts here meant places where one defended oneself and was kind of a warzone. Therefore the fort emanated that warring feel. And the second aspect, was that the scale was not the same levels as the Mughals. Probably not comparing an apple to an apple, but the differences obvious.

This fort had a cafe, a rooftop restaurant, which in the evening gives a birds eye night view of town (other parts of the fort close by 6 PM.) We binged the bugger all food at the cafe and made our way into town. And oh, my trusty camera started giving some problems had to fix it. The entire tour of Ummaid Bhavan Palace and the dusk safari in this town could not be captured due to this.

Jodhpur had experienced the extreme period of famine and drought and this had been aparently a long un. This palace project was taken up to give employment to people! the palace is built on one million square feet of space built with a sandstone variety called Chittar sandstone, that impacts on the very looks.

You have three parts to the Palace. After the long drive and the uphill climb and the shopping run, we were fazed out. So we just chilled around for a bit around the amazing Central Rotunda, the cupola rising to a hundred and five feet high and the Ramayana murals... Absolutely no pictures this was disappointment galore. Could not get a shop that could fix it... I had some serious engineering work to do back at the hotel.

Yet another bad recommendation from the Lonely Planet, the food at Newtons is completely pathetic and it costs a bomb to boot. While we wanted to stay over the next day here, this place, its pseudo victorian shit gave us the creeps. While the world partied, we crawled into the sheets tired, but feeling good about the adventure so far. It had been 4 days on the road so far and we had covered three places... at 12 in the night, the cheering in town woke me up. Good time to wish wifey Happy Birthday she was the lady saved my soul at least! And, guess what she asked me for a gift? Well lets get outa here to the dessert in the morning and not stay over this dump!

That was that. The pictures of Jodhpur? Click here.