Loving the architecture in Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Our overnight, or rather, 1/2 night train pulled into Jodhpur at a sprightly 5:30am. Who arrives into a new town at that time? It seems we do...more and more frequently!
We came out of the station, the boy (maybe 13 years old?) that was (presumably) sent by our guesthouse to pick us up cruised his rickshaw through the windy streets of the Old City at breakneck speed in search of Cosy's Guesthouse. We arrived at the foot of a very steep hill...doesn't look like a guesthouse to me!
Of course, I had to pick a place that wasn't accessible by vehicle, so we had to walk a kilometer up a hill with the tuk-tuk driver behind us demanding payment. He assured me that he was the brother of the woman at Cosy's Guesthouse at the station, which meant a free pickup, and now here we are and he's telling us something very different. Here are your 50 rupees, you b*stard. I hope you get reborn as a rat.
The fort overlooking the city
We were accompanied by a local boy just coming home from school and was telling us a little about his home
Sati marks, coated in red powder, are still widely revered today
A couple great musicians to help distract us from how horrific the handprints were. The smiley guy on the right was a great singer...the guy with the flute sort of needed some work.
A couple of the nicely dressed guards
Jaswant Thada
The Jaswant Thada is a stunning white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. We had decided to walk up, and it was a heck of a walk but we were rewarded with a great view of the city.
This cenotaph was built in 1899 and is surrounded by other memorials for the Maharanas (Maharaja's wives) and his children.
A local girl doing traditional dancing
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Umaid Bhawan Palace
From this high vantage point, we spotted a huge pink palace in the distance. After a close inspection of the map, we worked out that it couldn't be anything but Umaid Bhawan Palace (or the Chittar Palace).
Built with local pink sandstone, this monstrous complex was designed by the president of British Royal Institute for Architects and took a whopping 3,000 workers & artisans over 15 years to complete. The maharaja that it was built for, Maharaja Umaid Singh, died in 1947, but the royal family still live in part of the palace.
I really loved this picture of a young Maharaja (very Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...)
The palace also holds a royal museum and a huge hotel. When we headed out to see the palace, we never intended to see the museum, but rather just go to the hotel for an expensive drink and poke around a little. It was probably a good thing that we saw the museum though as our original plan was about to go awry.
A much loved pet of the royal family (now lovingly stuffed) & displayed in the museum
We were welcomed at the door to the actual hotel by a large group of doormen and security guards. While they were very nice, they informed us that the bar wasn't open yet for the day, however both the bar and restaurant had a $50 USD minimum spend. Yikes.
Hmm, we knew a beer wasn't going to be cheap, but that's crazy. Oh well, guess we won't be seeing the inside this time. Next time we're in Jodhpur...
The very chic Rajput doorman (Loved the curly moustache!)
Our rickshaw driver - a real pain in the ass as he kept changing his fare after we'd agreed to it.
Overall, we had a great time in Jodhpur. More than any other city we've been to, not only in India but in our entire trip, the locals wanted to have a chat with you. People were always talking to us, kids wanting to know our names and where we were from.
Some other visitors posing for us
Parents encouraged their kids to practice their English by talking to us, a few also asked for our autographs - it was really lovely. We have found Indians welcoming all along the way but here more so than anywhere else.
Udaipur
Our next stop was Udaipur, the “Venice of the East.” That was a big call so we were interested to see what the fuss was about. Apparently Udaipur is the only major town in Rajasthan that's not on the train line, so we had to slum it on the bus. ;) Hmm, I guess we got a little spoiled with the trains....
We arrived to Udaipur in the late afternoon just as the roads were being closed for the nightly parade during the Ganesh Festival (god of good fortune with an elephant head - my favourite Hindu deity). This unfortunately meant that we had to hoof it about a kilometer to our guesthouse. I know, it really wasn't very far at all, but in the late afternoon heat, 90% humidity and our heavy packs it wasn't the best walk ever.
A view from our rooftop of the locals celebrating in the streets
We were happy to find our guesthouse, the Lake View Guest House, on one of the windy alleys not far from the banks of Lake Pichola. We had a nice big room, private bath, a TV with cable (woo hoo!) and a window overlooking the stupa next door. A bargain at 400 rupees per night ($10).
A cow coming in for a look around
The highlights of Udaipur were Lake Pichola with the Lake Palace in the middle and the City Palace on its shore. It was a beautiful sight to see the gleaming white palace reflected in the calm water (007 fans should remember it from Octopussy).
While some of the river was quite low and mossy, I thought that it added to its beauty.
We had worried that there may not be any water in the lake, as it has been mostly dry in recent years, but we got lucky. Life along the river at Gangaur Ghat was captivating.
We got lucky enough to catch some filming for a Bollywood film , so the ghat was filled with color, craziness and animals dressed up in the Bollywood best. Pretty cool.
The Bollywood scene on the Gangaur Ghat with the Bagore-Ki-Haveli & the City Palace in the background
The female lead getting primped
Meeting a couple well-dressed elephants in front of Bagore-Ki-Haveli
We were only meant to stay for a couple nights, but we were enjoying it and getting to know it quite well, so we hung around for a few days to chill out. Besides, we had finally found a computer where we could upload our photos to our blog (the first in India) so we took some time to work on our blogs. Another bonus was finding a cafe that brewed amazing coffee and the best brownie a la mode sundae that we've had since the States. Yum!
City Palace
The City Palace is officially the biggest palace in Rajasthan, 244 meters long and 30 meters wide. Not too shabby. It was nice, but in my opinion, not nearly as impressive as the fort in Jodhpur. Parts of the palace have been converted into crystal and royal car galleries, but they charged an absolutely outrageous admission price, so we gave them a miss.
Entrance of the City Palace
An intricately carved entrance (Side note - It was right next to a large tiger cage. Used to guard the gate in ye olde days?)
The Maharaja's personal armchair-like toilet, complete with footrest. But do you wonder what the extra cushion in front was for as much as we did? We could speculate but it would be rude...
Catching a couple glimpses of the beautiful cupolas and balconies
And getting my vote for Most Gaudy was the Sheesh Mahal (aka Palace of mirrors) which "is known for its breathtaking mirror work". Breathtaking, yes. Actually, we were gasping for air.
We couldn't believe that someone would put so many mirrors into one room and think that it looked good! So difficult to capture the extent of the gaudiness on film...
Not the same room, no, no. They had a second equally over-the-top room in gold from top to bottom.
Also, throughout our entire walk through in the City Palace, there were signs everywhere advertising “The Biggest Ganesh Gallery in the World”.
I like elephants and I like Ganesh so I was keen to have a look. 2 hours later, we finally found the gallery only to discover that it was closed! It didn't just look like it was closed for the day either but for renovation. So disappointed. This place sucks. Let's go to the cafe. (Just joking... kind of).
A sculpture gallery made completely from styrofoam - people with time on their hands...
As we were leaving the palace, we passed a post office. Since I had been carrying around a bunch of post cards to send since our meditation camp, it was past time to actually drop them in the mail. When we got there, we found out that 3 days before, the overseas postal rate had tripled. Shit. You're kidding me... It wasn't so much the postage, as it was still really cheap, but more the fact that by putting on all the extra stamps, my postcards would effectively become unreadable. Fabulous.
Interesting dialogue followed:
Post office clerk: “Well, maybe other post offices didn't know about it to tell you, but WE do, so now it's more expensive. However, some people are sending them with the old postage because they didn't know.”
Steph: "Um, OK. Well, that would be my situation as well."
Post Office clerk: “But I've just told you, so you should pay more.”
Steph: "What you're telling me is that you would like me to pay the new, elevated price, but you can't enforce it as like 30% of the country actually knows about it, therefore seems to me that it's optional.
Post Office clerk: "Look...just put them in the pile and stop hassling me."
This situation is a classic example of how changes are introduced in India...it just sort of seeps through the population until it catches on.
After our post office experience, we headed down for a very lovely evening down on the waterfront, enjoying the changing colours on the palaces & meeting a few locals.
A very friendly Indian woman thrust her grandson into my arms and insisted we sit and chat with her for awhile. She was lovely.
Jagdish Temple
View of Jagdish Temple from our rooftop
This beautiful 17th century Hindu temple was just around the cornder from us, so we passed by it everyday but didn't go in until the day we were going to be leaving. We could tell from afar that the carvings were fantastic, but they were even better up close.
The pigeons loved to land on the roof on it, and with every little sound, they would all fly. Freaked me out. Don't like pigeons. (Flashbacks to walking through Boston Common and fearing for my life.)
Ink for blessings, swastikas for good fortune (yes, they are an ancient good luck sign that unfortunately got polluted by the Nazis)
Bagore-Ki-Haveli
Bagore-Ki-Havelli is an 18th century mansion located on the waterfront. It was left vacant until 1986 as they currently are working to renovate it. When we were there, it was completely empty. It was so weird to be the only ones in a tourist sight in Udaipur. Is there something wrong? Is it closed, we're actually trespassing and we''ll soon learn what the inside of an Indian jail looks like? There was nowhere in India that was as completely empty - there are just too many people here!!
Anyways, while some parts left much to be desired, there were a couple lovely courtyards to wander around, and 138 rooms facing onto them.
A very fancy turban adorned with diamonds, emeralds & pearls
And last, but certainly not least was "The World's Largest Turban"" (Not a joke, it's official!)
Looking down on Jodhpur - see why it's called the "Blue City"?
Our overnight, or rather, 1/2 night train pulled into Jodhpur at a sprightly 5:30am. Who arrives into a new town at that time? It seems we do...more and more frequently!
We came out of the station, the boy (maybe 13 years old?) that was (presumably) sent by our guesthouse to pick us up cruised his rickshaw through the windy streets of the Old City at breakneck speed in search of Cosy's Guesthouse. We arrived at the foot of a very steep hill...doesn't look like a guesthouse to me!
Of course, I had to pick a place that wasn't accessible by vehicle, so we had to walk a kilometer up a hill with the tuk-tuk driver behind us demanding payment. He assured me that he was the brother of the woman at Cosy's Guesthouse at the station, which meant a free pickup, and now here we are and he's telling us something very different. Here are your 50 rupees, you b*stard. I hope you get reborn as a rat.
Well, this place couldn't get much bluer. The signs were blue, all the buildings in town were blue, the bedrooms were painted blue, I wondered if the beer would be blue. Interesting place.
Jodhpur is known as the "Blue City" as all the Brahmin-caste houses in town were painted blue with indigo, and there were so many Brahmins in this old town on the trade route, that it became very blue overall. The city has expanded quite a lot since 1459, and so only those into tradition and those that have realized that tourists come here to see blue houses have painted their houses blue (apparently it also helps keep the mosquitoes away).
Mehrangarh
Flag of Jodhpur
Mehrangarh is a huge fortress sitting on top of a 125 meter tall hill overlooking town. Still looked after by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, this fort was really fantastic. It's not often that you can say this, but we got the audio guide (that was again including in our pricey ticket) and really enjoyed it. Go figure!
Mehrangarh
Flag of Jodhpur
The fort overlooking the city
We were accompanied by a local boy just coming home from school and was telling us a little about his home
There are 7 gates guarding the entrance to the fort. With cannonball dents and other scars to show for them, looks like they did their job of protecting the fort.
The spike covered doors designed to deter attempts to ram them with elephants
Just inside the final gate was an eery sight... the sati marks (handprints) of the Maharaja's Man Singh's widows. (When the Maharaja committed suicide to avoid being captured in 1843, all of his wives threw themselves onto his funeral pyre, a tradition known as jahaur)
The spike covered doors designed to deter attempts to ram them with elephants
Just inside the final gate was an eery sight... the sati marks (handprints) of the Maharaja's Man Singh's widows. (When the Maharaja committed suicide to avoid being captured in 1843, all of his wives threw themselves onto his funeral pyre, a tradition known as jahaur)
Sati marks, coated in red powder, are still widely revered today
A couple great musicians to help distract us from how horrific the handprints were. The smiley guy on the right was a great singer...the guy with the flute sort of needed some work.
The inside was loaded with beautifully intricate, traditional Rajput architecture. Lattice-work galore.
These sharp, down-turned awnings are designed to capture precious rain water.
Some vibrantly-dressed women touring the fort
Indian-style scaffolding (We hoped that the buildings were more structurally sound...)
An adorable local girl that we saw inside
The museums (coupled with the interesting audio commentary - he sounded like an Indian Richard Burton) were really fascinating. Not just pretend-interesting as when I'm pretending to be cultured and like abstract art, but really interesting. Good stories all around. In the museums were lots of howdahs (seats for carrying the royals on elephants' backs) and ladies dumbbells and ivory carvings on everything.
A Royal howdah
Ivory inlaid dumbbells, used by the women of the harem to keep their shapely arms
While I did think the ivory carvings were exquisite, I'm a “Save the Elephants” kind of girl, so it didn't really work for me. Fake ivory would have be better.
A very cool helmet
Paraphrenalia for smoking opium, which used to be a part of daily life
The fort was loaded with different palaces included the Phool Mahal (the Flower Palace), which was decorated using a mixture of gold leaf, glue and cow's urine. Oh well, I guess you use what you have!
Chamunda Devi Temple is located at the far end, but we didn't walk all the way down. We were just knackered! (Sadly, two weeks after we visited, a wall near the temple collapsed during a prayer gathering, causing widespread panic that led to the trampling death of over 250 people, with more than 400 injured.)
These sharp, down-turned awnings are designed to capture precious rain water.
Some vibrantly-dressed women touring the fort
Indian-style scaffolding (We hoped that the buildings were more structurally sound...)
An adorable local girl that we saw inside
The museums (coupled with the interesting audio commentary - he sounded like an Indian Richard Burton) were really fascinating. Not just pretend-interesting as when I'm pretending to be cultured and like abstract art, but really interesting. Good stories all around. In the museums were lots of howdahs (seats for carrying the royals on elephants' backs) and ladies dumbbells and ivory carvings on everything.
A royal palanquin (This one was used to carry the Maharaja's head wife during her first trip to the UK. She was meant to be completely concealed at all times, so when the Brits caught a glimpse of her ankle when she got out, there was scandal!!)
Another lovely glass enclosed palanquin
Another lovely glass enclosed palanquin
Ivory inlaid dumbbells, used by the women of the harem to keep their shapely arms
A couple more notable items from the museum - 2 very impressive royal swords & a very scary weapon, where when the aggressor released the handle, the apparent single blade would spread apart into 3 blades, shredding some poor guy's guts. Yikes!
A very cool helmet
Paraphrenalia for smoking opium, which used to be a part of daily life
The fort was loaded with different palaces included the Phool Mahal (the Flower Palace), which was decorated using a mixture of gold leaf, glue and cow's urine. Oh well, I guess you use what you have!
Chamunda Devi Temple is located at the far end, but we didn't walk all the way down. We were just knackered! (Sadly, two weeks after we visited, a wall near the temple collapsed during a prayer gathering, causing widespread panic that led to the trampling death of over 250 people, with more than 400 injured.)
A couple of the nicely dressed guards
A well-coordinated group of ladies
Walking through the zenana (the women's quarters), pretending to be a lady of the harem
Walking through the zenana (the women's quarters), pretending to be a lady of the harem
Jaswant Thada
The Jaswant Thada is a stunning white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. We had decided to walk up, and it was a heck of a walk but we were rewarded with a great view of the city.
Smaller memorials for family members and an unfortunate peacock (peacocks are considered good luck) that accidentally flew into a funeral pyre
A local girl doing traditional dancing
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Built with local pink sandstone, this monstrous complex was designed by the president of British Royal Institute for Architects and took a whopping 3,000 workers & artisans over 15 years to complete. The maharaja that it was built for, Maharaja Umaid Singh, died in 1947, but the royal family still live in part of the palace.
I really loved this picture of a young Maharaja (very Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...)
The palace also holds a royal museum and a huge hotel. When we headed out to see the palace, we never intended to see the museum, but rather just go to the hotel for an expensive drink and poke around a little. It was probably a good thing that we saw the museum though as our original plan was about to go awry.
A much loved pet of the royal family (now lovingly stuffed) & displayed in the museum
Hmm, we knew a beer wasn't going to be cheap, but that's crazy. Oh well, guess we won't be seeing the inside this time. Next time we're in Jodhpur...
The very chic Rajput doorman (Loved the curly moustache!)
Our rickshaw driver - a real pain in the ass as he kept changing his fare after we'd agreed to it.
Overall, we had a great time in Jodhpur. More than any other city we've been to, not only in India but in our entire trip, the locals wanted to have a chat with you. People were always talking to us, kids wanting to know our names and where we were from.
Some other visitors posing for us
Talking to some locals and signing an autograph for kids who collected them from foreigners
Heading to the rooftops to find the clock tower
Working our way through the mobs of people in search of a snack at the market
Fruit stalls
We did a bit of walking around town, always in search of the clock tower for orientation as it's quite a confusing place! Very crowded with lots of alleyways that all look exactly the same - it was tricky to not get completely lost!
Heading to the rooftops to find the clock tower
Working our way through the mobs of people in search of a snack at the market
Fruit stalls
One of the scores of "bangle ladies"
(Every married woman in India wears 10 bangles until the day she dies.)
(Every married woman in India wears 10 bangles until the day she dies.)
Udaipur
We arrived to Udaipur in the late afternoon just as the roads were being closed for the nightly parade during the Ganesh Festival (god of good fortune with an elephant head - my favourite Hindu deity). This unfortunately meant that we had to hoof it about a kilometer to our guesthouse. I know, it really wasn't very far at all, but in the late afternoon heat, 90% humidity and our heavy packs it wasn't the best walk ever.
A view from our rooftop of the locals celebrating in the streets
A cow coming in for a look around
The highlights of Udaipur were Lake Pichola with the Lake Palace in the middle and the City Palace on its shore. It was a beautiful sight to see the gleaming white palace reflected in the calm water (007 fans should remember it from Octopussy).
While some of the river was quite low and mossy, I thought that it added to its beauty.
We had worried that there may not be any water in the lake, as it has been mostly dry in recent years, but we got lucky. Life along the river at Gangaur Ghat was captivating.
We got lucky enough to catch some filming for a Bollywood film , so the ghat was filled with color, craziness and animals dressed up in the Bollywood best. Pretty cool.
The Bollywood scene on the Gangaur Ghat with the Bagore-Ki-Haveli & the City Palace in the background
The female lead getting primped
Meeting a couple well-dressed elephants in front of Bagore-Ki-Haveli
We were only meant to stay for a couple nights, but we were enjoying it and getting to know it quite well, so we hung around for a few days to chill out. Besides, we had finally found a computer where we could upload our photos to our blog (the first in India) so we took some time to work on our blogs. Another bonus was finding a cafe that brewed amazing coffee and the best brownie a la mode sundae that we've had since the States. Yum!
City Palace
Entrance of the City Palace
An intricately carved entrance (Side note - It was right next to a large tiger cage. Used to guard the gate in ye olde days?)
Here are some of our favorite parts...
A beautifully restored Mor Chowk, depicting, in exquisite mosaics, Rajasthan's favorite bird, the peacock, during India's 3 seasons (winter, summer, monsoon)
The Maharaja's personal armchair-like toilet, complete with footrest. But do you wonder what the extra cushion in front was for as much as we did? We could speculate but it would be rude...
A traditional Maharana sitting area
Catching a couple glimpses of the beautiful cupolas and balconies
And getting my vote for Most Gaudy was the Sheesh Mahal (aka Palace of mirrors) which "is known for its breathtaking mirror work". Breathtaking, yes. Actually, we were gasping for air.
We couldn't believe that someone would put so many mirrors into one room and think that it looked good! So difficult to capture the extent of the gaudiness on film...
Not the same room, no, no. They had a second equally over-the-top room in gold from top to bottom.
I like elephants and I like Ganesh so I was keen to have a look. 2 hours later, we finally found the gallery only to discover that it was closed! It didn't just look like it was closed for the day either but for renovation. So disappointed. This place sucks. Let's go to the cafe. (Just joking... kind of).
A sculpture gallery made completely from styrofoam - people with time on their hands...
As we were leaving the palace, we passed a post office. Since I had been carrying around a bunch of post cards to send since our meditation camp, it was past time to actually drop them in the mail. When we got there, we found out that 3 days before, the overseas postal rate had tripled. Shit. You're kidding me... It wasn't so much the postage, as it was still really cheap, but more the fact that by putting on all the extra stamps, my postcards would effectively become unreadable. Fabulous.
Interesting dialogue followed:
Post office clerk: “Well, maybe other post offices didn't know about it to tell you, but WE do, so now it's more expensive. However, some people are sending them with the old postage because they didn't know.”
Steph: "Um, OK. Well, that would be my situation as well."
Post Office clerk: “But I've just told you, so you should pay more.”
Steph: "What you're telling me is that you would like me to pay the new, elevated price, but you can't enforce it as like 30% of the country actually knows about it, therefore seems to me that it's optional.
Post Office clerk: "Look...just put them in the pile and stop hassling me."
This situation is a classic example of how changes are introduced in India...it just sort of seeps through the population until it catches on.
After our post office experience, we headed down for a very lovely evening down on the waterfront, enjoying the changing colours on the palaces & meeting a few locals.
A very friendly Indian woman thrust her grandson into my arms and insisted we sit and chat with her for awhile. She was lovely.
Views of the Lake Palace & City Palace at dusk
We even scored a fireworks display during dinner!
Jagdish Temple
View of Jagdish Temple from our rooftop
This beautiful 17th century Hindu temple was just around the cornder from us, so we passed by it everyday but didn't go in until the day we were going to be leaving. We could tell from afar that the carvings were fantastic, but they were even better up close.
The pigeons loved to land on the roof on it, and with every little sound, they would all fly. Freaked me out. Don't like pigeons. (Flashbacks to walking through Boston Common and fearing for my life.)
Ink for blessings, swastikas for good fortune (yes, they are an ancient good luck sign that unfortunately got polluted by the Nazis)
Meeting a couple of the gurus...
Bagore-Ki-Haveli
Bagore-Ki-Havelli is an 18th century mansion located on the waterfront. It was left vacant until 1986 as they currently are working to renovate it. When we were there, it was completely empty. It was so weird to be the only ones in a tourist sight in Udaipur. Is there something wrong? Is it closed, we're actually trespassing and we''ll soon learn what the inside of an Indian jail looks like? There was nowhere in India that was as completely empty - there are just too many people here!!
Anyways, while some parts left much to be desired, there were a couple lovely courtyards to wander around, and 138 rooms facing onto them.
I would have to say that the highlight was the turban collection...
A very fancy turban adorned with diamonds, emeralds & pearls
And last, but certainly not least was "The World's Largest Turban"" (Not a joke, it's official!)
After spending some fantastic days in Udaipur, it was time to get on with the rest of our Rajasthan tour. Luckily, we were able to catch another very comfortable overnight train from Udaipur to Jaipur, the largest city and capital of Rajasthan.
