Chandra Inn Jodhpur

... so relieved. Being pursued again by the agent, i promptly left and boarded the train.
it was about a 5 1/2 hour trip and i arrived around 11.30, i took a rickshaw to the Pearl palace accommodation where i had some food and settled in, the rickshaw driver had offered to take me around for half the day for 300Rs which is about 8 dollars. So i thought it might be nice, the driver was only 17 and spoke good English and was a student so we got along OK, he was fairly knowledgeable and ...

... from afar, however, was still not enough to make Jodhpur a pleasant place. If not for its magnificent fort, which we visited in the afternoon, this place would have little to recommend it. In fact, on our walk towards the train station in the evening to find a place for dinner, the city reminded me of the post-Armageddon description that I used for Jaipur in my introduction to this blog. Tony went so far as to describe it ...

... and so tomorrow is when I take the train to Jaisalmer - edging closer to the Thar desert, I am concerned about the heat and have promised mam to stick with the AC rooms "to be on the safe side"! I think though in seriousness that I'm not cut out for the heat and by now I am really eager to move further north where hopefully things will get a little cooler. Thanks again everyone for your messages and notes - really nice to receive anything from home!

... go so far and we had to walk the rest of the way and its a pretty steep uphill climb. This time, I did let someone take my backpack...it was really hot too.
The hotel itself is blue and lovely, with murals everywhere and a gorgeous view of the city at the rooftop restaurant.
I got an a/c room because again, the HEAT IS JUST TOO MUCH!!!
The following day we walked to the fort/palace/museum. Oh, it was so amazing! We spent a good 5 hours ...

... case whose left side was innocuously filled with rahjastani dolls and toys. On the right hand side, there were only three items. At the bottom was a large slab of stone marked "sample of soft stone." Above it hung and irregular hunk of charred rock labelled, "piece of flame star, Bhinmal Jalore," and finally, above that, there was a horn of the type that you would expect to see on a young stag, with the leadingly imprecise "torn from woman's ...

... with great views of the 'blue city' - this is what they call Jodphur because lots of the houses are painted blue. The fort is massive, with a brilliant audiotour the tate gallery would be proud of, and a latticed network of courtyards and palaces with opulent interiors. We spend most of the day here before enjoying another delicious thali lunch (is there any bad food in india?) and heading off to catch our bus west, towards the desert....

... nous faisait surtout sentir à nous les filles mais pas les mecs.... J ai adoré sentir et goûter tout ça ! Pas toujours facile de savoir ce que mais bon...Il nous a invité à boire le thé dans sa petite échoppe et nous à raconté un peu sa vie, nous avons fait de même. Nous avons du partir précipitamment car Mathilde à vu un rat et elle a horreur de ça. Nous sommes ensuite allés visiter le fort et la meherangarh. C était très cher (250 roupilles soit 25 francs mais ...

... za meso, zelenjavo, rizote, krompirjeve jedi, caj...). Pri njima sva tudi vedno pila najboljsi indijski masala caj. Anilova mesanica ok. 6 zacimb je perfektna; si predstavljate pravi crni caj skuhan v mleku in zacinjen s scepcem te mesanice (cimet, ingver, klincki, kardamon, crni poper!)? Kot ponavadi ne moreva domov brez zacimb. doma se takih mesanic, tudi po 20 zacimb, pac ne dobi. Ker se ne greva domov, pac paket po posti. Njam ...

... I managed to make it through my first bout of 'sickness' with no major problems. As I said, every small thing in India is a huge triumph so lets recap my triumphs. I have had a courier deliver a bank card, seen a doctor, got medication and had my camera fixed. And these are only the major triumphs not counting the daily small things that are there own minor victories, like surviving the trains, t he rickshaw drivers, and all the many people ...

... I got back on my camel and resumed the slow trek to the golden city.... Day 6: after several days following a highway, drinking chai with bearded truckers, drifting off only to be viciously jolted awake by a large object screaming past me at 120km...I reached the Gypsy fort of Jaisalmer..... It was dusk, and as we climbed the last hill, the city made of sandstone and the old fort glittered, truly a golden city....I have never been so happy to haggle over a rickshaw.....