Blue City and the Hill Station of Rajasthan
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
30
48
Trip End
Aug 2009
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Having said all that, we enjoyed Jodphur. This was the first place in India where we could walk from our guest house to the sights and the bazaars. The view from the roof top restaurant of our guest house was of the old city (little cubicle like box houses sitting on different levels, mainly blue in colour) nestled against the Meherangarh fort. At night, the twinkling lights from the houses and the fort made the place look like something out of a fairy tale.
In the morning, while we were having breakfast, there were bhajans and chantings playing on the loud speaker from the nearby mandir (temple)
street in Jodhpur
. Not everyone will agree with me on this but it sounded just so wonderful and relaxing listening to the chantings in such an open space. We have also had bollywood type music playing all night on loud speakers and that was not fun!We spent our time in Jodhpur touring the fort and browsing through the bazaars. We also visited a Bishnoi village. The Bishnois are a tribal sect whose belief in the sanctity of the environment and the need to protect trees and animals dates from the15th century.
Our first stop at a Bishnoi home was a wonderful experience. The family was very warm and welcoming. They served us tea, showed us around their home and explained their farming methods and way of life. In almost all villages, there is no waste - everything that is produced is used and recycled.
We also visited a potter, weaver and block printer. Those were okay but we did feel a little pressured into buying their stuff.
Our last stop in the state of Rajathan was Mount Abu. Mount Abu is the hill station of Rajasthan with much cooler temperatures
grinding flour on the wheel - Bishnoi village
. This is where people escape to in the summer to get away from the heat. We arrived in Mount Abu at 9:30pm and took a taxi from the train station. It was about a 40 minute drive up the mountain in a continuous ¨S¨ fashion - very windy and hilly and throw in a huge dose of Indian driving into that mix and the result is a not very pleasant experience. Rajiv and I were very relieved to arrive at our hotel in one piece!
Mount Abu is quite different from the rest of Rajasthan - very green, rocky and mountainous. It is known for its Jain temples with its extraordinary marble carvings (no pictures allowed so no photos), where the carvers were apparently paid by the amount of marble dust so very very intricate carvings.
We also did a 3 hour trek with a guide and some other tourists from our hotel with the hopes of seeing some wildlife but the only exotic animal we saw were wild monkeys.
We did not have time to visit Jaisalmer and Udaipur in Rajasthan - will have to leave those destinations for another trip!
