Adarsh Niwas Hotel Jodhpur

... walks over and declares you want this world famous lhassi or not. We hurriedly declare that we do and off he goes declaring they have cardamom and saffron and are world famous. We take a spoonfull and it was lovely. Yoghurt and spices and sweet and lovely, it slid down all too quickly like the best milkshake, plus the best smoothie ever times ten. We eat slowly enjoying the flavour and get out our lonely planet for a read. The first man ...

... understandably ******, issued a curse to Jodha. "Your people will always be short on Water and will die of thirst!" This curse was so terrified Jodha, that he called together a meeting of his ministers and priests. They felt the only solution to overcome the curse was a sacrifice of a human life. As luck would have it, there was a volunteer, a local villager who agreed to be sealed into the rock wall alive! They walled him in , built their castle, and ...

... passing breeze would dry you out like a prune. As we get closer to Jodhpur, you can see the telltale signs of civilization. There is more trash along the roads and the habitations get closer together. We only have two nights in this city because we took one of its three nights and added it to Jaipur. Too bad, the city looks interesting. One of the complicated aspects of planning this trip was how many days to stay in each city. Some ...

... in design and workmanship, all in marble and are in keeping with the quality of other Jain temples we have seen. Indeed, this is probably the most stunning we have so far seen. It was strange to see a Mimosa tree growing inside the temple said to be over seven hundred years old and still flourishing. Externally the complex is also very grand albeit in need of cleaning . It has dramatic spires surrounded by cupolas which cover the ...

... most organized attraction in India. They actually give you a free audio tour with your entrance fee. It is a great benefit since you learn so much about the fort. We came back to the fort at night for a free Shakespeare play in the courtyard of the fort. Such a great setting! I can't believe it was free! There is also a dinner there at night but it looked average and overpriced - I'd skip it. From the Fort it is an easy 15 min walk to Jaswant ...

... been ill. With Cipro you take one tablet every twelve hours, but only a total of six doses. Cipro is to bacterial infection what Demerol is to pain.

On the late running train to Jodhpur, Ellen and I chatted about India while Barbara slept. Over the course of maybe five years, Ellen has asked a hundred, perhaps more, travellers why they love India. (almost everyone does love it.) She's mostly been given vague replies about ...

... a very interesting audio tour explaining much of the fortress from the spikes to prevent elephant charges, the purpose of each room to a display of ancient weapons. In the evening we walked to a restaurant that I think was recommended by Lonely Planet. The restaurant was the best I have seen in India with an entrance like it is from "The Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the meal was the best so far on the trip. The only downer was ...

... t really come to india to see the sights. I came more so to get to know its people. So even though I had a good 12 hours in the most horrific pain i've ever experienced, i'm fine with how things ended up. I got to meet people and see a part of the country that mabny tourists usually don't get to see. But basically this means we had to cut a lot out of our itinerary, that had already been cut down from our naive sight-packed plan. We were going to go to ...

... season, but it's deserted (desert-ed, geddit?!) at the moment, and only a handful of us tourists mingle with the locals. The streets are much cleaner, though still full of cows, and it has an amazing fort which looms over the whole city. A man on the bus prevented the driver from cheating me on the price of my ticket; a local shopkeeper arranged to courier all my shopping back to the UK for no charge (and also got me a bargain courier rate according to my ...

... between myself and host, or at least in my understanding of it. a tiny cup of chai in hand is like a magic talisman that allows one to sink a little deeper into this place that is at once so irritating and captivating. and so, hoping to be able to hold this power over my own unsuspecting house guests, i giddily rushed to the corner shop and purchased my own christening batch of tea leaves, spices, powdered milk, and sugar for my initiation into indian domestic ...