Jeep safari's and desert oasis in the blue city of Jodhpur

After spending two lovely days in Udaipur, it was time to move on to the blue city of Jodhpur. We talked about flying or taking a bus, but given how Vanessa fares on buses with motion sickness through the mountains, we then determined to hire a driver to take us the 6 hours to Jodhpur. Great decision and worth every penny!!

The scenery was worth it along. We traveled through mountains on a newly paved four lane highway, to a single lane country road winding through the mountains, across the desert and then arrived safely in Jodhpur. Let me explain the driving here: car/truck/motorbike/a person walking overtakes your vehicle, you can a.) pull onto the shoulder to let them pass you in the middle of single lane where three cars are already sharing the lane, b.) speed up and pass other vehicles at the same time as the car behind overtakes you, c.) honk your horn a thousand times to say I'm here, don't kill me and d.) flash your lights to say I'm passing you, you better move over because I'm coming through. Small vehicles yield to big vehicles and somehow everyone is okay with the constant horn honking and driving on the shoulder the whole time. Good thing we had a good driver, although he kept throwing garbage out the window the whole time, much to our dismay.

Interesting sights included: camels walking in the desert, women working in the fields in beautiful colourful saris and seeing the landscape change.

Jodhpur was a big, dirty city, tons of garbage everywhere. India makes you a vegetarian just by seeing the cows and pigs mowing down on garbage. We did take in an awesome fort which is way up on the hillside with walls as high as 6m to 36m high, called the Mehrangarh fort built in the 16th century. The old city is enclosed within the walls and the walls are pained blue to keep the buildings cool and free of bugs. Amazing architecture, artefact's and history of the royal maharajas.

The clock tower is where the main markets are located, more for locals than for tourists, although we did buy some spices and took in the local tradition of having a makhania lassi (saffron lassi), very delicious!

The jeep safari was awesome. A 1952 land rover was our safari vehicle and we had a great guide named Raj. We were gone for a few hours to see the wildlife and the local villages, which consisted of visiting a local pottery maker (Vanessa got to make a little pot!), a rug maker (Jack threaded a few stands), a textile workshop made up of local people and we visited a Bishnoi village. The Bishnoi people have been revered as conservationists from hundreds of years ago and have done quite a bit to save the trees in the area. Considering that they're in a desert and there's not many trees, we could see why this is a big deal for them. They did an opium ceremony, which was crazy. Don't worry we didn't partake.

Our stomachs are doing better, had a great meal at a place called "on the rocks", where you literally had a table on a bunch of rocks, nice atmosphere and a busy place which is a good sign.

The place we stayed at, Devi Bhewan, was like a desert oasis in a big city. The rooms were beautiful and we had a pool!! Ah, the pool. We didn't want to leave the place, although we didn't mind leaving Jodhpur. The gardens were absolutely stunning so you could relax and not feel hassled.

Still getting lots of stares from people. We took a overnight train to Jaisalmer and just from walking the platform, people would fully stop, stare and start taking pictures. Not just a few seconds of staring, but literally staring until you leave. A little unnerving for Vanessa. Most haven't seen a white person before. It actually gets quite annoying as most times when you're out and about, people usually see you as a huge dollar sign or a freak because you're white. They think you use the whitening lotion and hair dye to get light skin and blond hair.

We arrived in Jaisalmer at 5am, it's freaking hot. Literally has to be 40 degrees. We're in the desert and boy, it feels like it. Camel trekking tomorrow, yeah!


I've attached a link of a map and pics of Jodhpur from google, so you can see where we were.

Unfortunately we haven't downloaded any photos, the computers are dicey. Hope to do this though in the future.

Take care!