Kalinga Hotel Jodhpur

... 8221;, and she was as overtly flirtatious as she was attractive. But I was the perfect gentleman. Naturally. In any case, I didn&#8217;t particularly feel like being abandoned at a club five miles out of town&#8230;<br> I&#8217;d booked a sleeper compartment on a night bus to Jodhpur (the westernmost part of my trip), and before boarding I chatted to a hotel doorman. As you do. He immediately took it upon himself to warn me ...

... is home to 52 temples and the "Palace of Cloud". The driver opted to stay in the car while I made my way around, and between climbing to the very top of the Palace of Cloud and visiting just a handful of the temples scattered around, I realised I had spent over 2 hours exploring the fort and hastily made my way back to the car. Being almost 2000m above sea level, the views from Kumbhalgarh fort were absolutely amazing - being on top ...

... 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. <br>The hotel itself is blue and lovely, with murals everywhere and a gorgeous view of the city at the rooftop restaurant. <br>I got an a/c room because again, the HEAT IS JUST TOO MUCH!!! <br>The following day we walked to the fort/palace/museum. Oh, it was so amazing! We spent a good 5 hours ...

... large commercial building, as Indira had said, but it was right across the way from a sweet shop! I spent the afternoon in the comfort of my single room, lounging, watching TV, and trying to take care of my stomach problem, which has still not subsided. :( It feels like it's been more than a week now... At 7 pm, we took the bus to a dinner place called On The Rocks, which had a great atmosphere but my food, although simple, was not that delicious as perhaps others ...

... awaiting sunset. The palace is very beautiful, taking 3,000 workers 15 years to complete. The surrounding desert-like area was populated with local children flying kites and they took quite an interest in us and were definitely not camera shy! Later, seeing if the fort was open at night (as the one in Jaislamer was) we happened upon a Shakespeare performance, Measure 4 Measure, within the fort walls and enjoyed the stirring performances. On the way home, we ...

... and millions of them, no matter which direction you look. I wanted to capture it on the camera with a 2 hour exposure and had set an alarm to wake me to click off the shutter, unfortunately I didn't expect the battery to run flat .. Arghh electronics. Thers is no electricity at the camp, no hot water, no lights ... We go to bed when the camp fire died out (burning ...

... blue to 'reduce insects' and for 'cooler temperature'. Cooler would be great as it gets into the 90's daily. In the center of the city is a abruptly projecting rock with 150 ft cliff sides on which rests a majestic fort built in early 1400's. The architecture is fabulous, especially when sun hits it, creating geometric patterns that dazzle the eye. Colors of red sandstone prevail, contrasting selectively colored white a blue ...

... microwave burrito on high....time to cover up...the heat combined with the constant bobbing of the camel lulls me into a sort of lucid dream...here in this crossroads of consciousness I passed the rest of the day. Occasionally, strange shadows would stretch out of the rare shade to touch me before melting back into the sunbleached landscape...trees withered and beaten melted into the background like a Dali work.....every so often I would be alerted to something ...

... we were upgraded to suites-and really don't feel like leaving. Trust me, you wouldn't have either. But, we're only here for a night and if we want to see the city we'll have to meet our guide in the lobby for a tour of Jodhpur's bazaar. Once we stepped out of the car it was apparent that our 5 minute car ride had crossed every societal boundary I could have imagined, and a few that I couldn't have. Immediately we were immersed in ...

Because the ride from Jaipur to Jaisalmer is incredibly long and the bus leaves at an incredibly inconvenient time, I've elected to go to Jodhpur first. I've decided to look into the role of storytelling and folklore in Raika communities as well as doing an ethnography of the tribe/family I would be staying with. Jodhpur is where the institute for Rajasthani Folklore is located and so I'm going to take a day and see what I can dig up ...