A fleeting visit to the Blue City of Jodhpur

Travel
We got the bus from Udaipur to Jodphur during the day. It left at 8am and got us here about 15.00. The bus was non-A/C (definately a mistake) We had the windows open with the hot air blowing in...it literally felt like a hair dryer on our faces...needless to say by the time we arrived our eyeballs were very dry!!

Our Accommodation

We stayed for one night at the Geeta Mahal - which is a fairly new guesthouse (only open around 45 days!) and so the facilities are excellent. Very reliable wifi and hot water along with fluffy white towels and pristine bedsheets-which if you've travelled india you will know are a rarity! There aren't many rooms but all are decorated to an excellent standard. Our room is called the Maharja's suite and looked like a room in a castle! But beware...the doorways are extremely low..poor Gary had a very sore head by the time we left!

We ate dinner in the rooftop cafe of the guesthouse which was actually very good. We had tomato masala and cashew and mushroom curry with rice and naan and it was extremely tasty!

A busy day of sightseeing...

We woke up early to go on our city bike tour. Its wasn't expensive (350rs) and lasts just over 2 hours. Although the tour guides are happy to take longer if your able! We saw lots of the sights in the city and it was great riding around so early and seeing the city wake up. We learnt lots about the culture and in particular the Brahmins, which are a caste in the Hindu system and their homes are distinguished by electric and azure blue coloured walls, due to which Jodhpur is called the "Blue City" of India. My favourite part was seeing the other side of the fort and climbing the steps and walking the wall.

They also do a walking tour in Jodhpur which is supposed to be good, but we didn't find out any specific details.

After the bike tour we returned to the guesthouse for lassie and to get ready to spend some time sightseeing. 

We returned on foot to a few of the places we had seen on the bikes and also meandered round the market. 

For lunch we were able to stop at 'shahi samosa' -A place with a constant crowd of people outside and great tripadvisor reviews- we bought three bits to share a kachuri, samosa and chilly bombs! All were great and surprisingly I loved the chilli bomb so we had 2! 

It was really hot walking around so Gary and Sam (a guy we've met out here) decided to go for a swim with the local boys in the beautiful old 'step well' (water collection tank) where the water is really clear (it still is filtered off and used for drinkibg water) and there's lots of places to jump in! The indian boys are all really competitive and are trying to get the highest/most eccentric jumps off the steps, so obviously gary had to join in!

Fort 

Once the boys had sufficiently dried off and the weather had cooled (ever so slightly) we walked to the Mehrangarh fort. Its very imposing from the outside, and inside doesnt let you down. We wandered round the grounds but didn't go into the museum as we felt a little Museum'd out! But we had something else exciting to do....the Flying fox. 

You will see this advertised in lots of places and it really is worth the hype. Its not cheap..(1650 for Gary and then 1450 for me! Student rate- I was able to pass as under 24 and a student unlike gary!) But you zipline over the fort and the lakes surrounding the grounds. You do 6 ziplines , each very different and they become progressively longer. It was great fun...although a little scary at times!

In the evening we just chilled at the guesthouse. They were great, letting us shower and store our bags there. We had dinner and waited until it was time to catch the rickshaw to the train station to move onto our next coloured city Jaisalmer.

Abi on the Zipwire

The Blue City

Jodhpur Fort

Early Morning cycle tour