It may have been the fact that everybody to whom we mentioned our itinerary to seemed to dislike Jodhpur, and told us that there were no good restaurants, enough for only one day of sightseeing, and that it was a city that had all the (bad) things you thought about Indian cities that made me want to like it even more.
That and the fact we’d booked in for four nights and our itinerary in Rajhastan was pretty inflexible with all our hotels and trains booked in advance that detouring from it would be pretty difficult.
Our driver (hired from Jaisalmer, how very decadent!) dropped us off at the end of Nai Sarak – the main commercial street in Jodhpur and admittedly quite busy – and just in from of the Old Town Sardar Market. Again, trying to look like seasoned travellers we lugged our backpacks through the market and into the streets of the Old Town. I was pretty confident our Guest House was pretty close by, and we ignored the inevitable touts and scams we were certain they were trying to pull us into.
I guess it’s a sad thing to feel that way, and it does feel a little unfriendly and rude barking a disinterested “No” at people – many of whom I’m sure genuinely want to help – but the Lonely Planet warns you about people coming up to you wanting to give you directions only to tell you that the hotel you have booked into has closed and can help you find another one. As we neared where we though our guest house was near, and looked decidely lost, we were approached by a gentleman enquiring about our destination. After rudely ignoring him, and shouting “Heaven Guest House, we know where it is” he started following us, saying it was our lucky day as he was the owner – yeah, right.
Well, he actually was the owner. If he was offended he didnt let on, and thankfully showed us the way to our second guest house.
By chance, a lot of our first hotels have been much more family-run that we realised. This man and his wife ran the guest house with their family living on the ground floor. Business seemed to be done in their living room and as we settled in I began to understand the way of the Indian people a bit better. Initially I found their directness a little strange, and bordering on rude. Although everybody has been incredibly friendly and overly helpful, quickly you realise just how bloody polite British people are. How we scowl when somebody doesnt say please or thank you; doesnt it make our blood boil when the person in front of us lets the door slam in our face; how invaded we feel when somebody dares to invade our personal space by bumping into us on the street and doesnt even apologise.
Well, in India don’t expect any of that. “please” is an oft-used word. Instead of would you mind sitting there, or please come down later and if you fancy I can recommend some nice restaurants, you get – “Now sit” and “I know a good restaurant. You go.” It’s just a very economical way of communicating.
Our room in the Heaven Guest House was small, but nice and quiet. It had either cold or scalding hot water in the shower, but this was a marked improvement from Jaisalmer. However the main thing was that it had another lovely rooftop restaurant that looked out onto Mehrangarh – Jodhpurs magnificent fort – and with four days in the city, this was perfect. I’d go as far to say that a decent outdoor communal space should be high on your check list when it comes to booking accommodation in India. It can be a frenetic place, and having that little bit of sanctuary that’s not your room is very much a necessity.
So, having settled in we decided on where to eat. The food in Jaisalmer was OK but we hadnt found that beautiful Indian experience wed been hoping for. So, we opened up trusty Lonely Planet and plumped for their “Top Choice” Indique. This wasn’t expensive by UK standards, but it was pricey compared to the other restaurants. Located in the plush Pal Haveli, and featuring a stunning rooftop bar (reminiscent of the wonderful rooftop bars in one of my favourite destinations, Istanbul) I almost felt transferred to somewhere far more cosmopolitan than North India. Some other travellers were nearly killed by more of those “side-ejecting” Indian fireworks that went off out of nowhere – but that did little to distract from the disappointment of the food. It wasnt very nice, and it was expensive!
A wise friend gave me the advice, “In India, you have to go veggie all the way” Indeed, even in this fine establishment I opted for a veggie (potato) curry. James thought he could beat the system and ordered what turned out to the most scrawniest piece of butter chicken Id ever seen. As usual, he ate it anyway and didnt complain until after – whenit was too late and the damage was done. I wont go into detail, but while I was fine – he was not, and the only difference was the butter chicken. It was a mistake to be repeated a couple of times more I regret to say.
So, what of Jodhpur – the city that needs only one day? It must be to do with different tastes but I loved it. It was like India on steroids – cow dung everywhere, four cows for every person, streets of dirt, rabies filled dogs around every corner – but it was just one of the most fascinating places to just, wait for it, wander about. And that’s all we did for the first day – wander. The old town is painted blue and theres just so much to look at and absorb. With India still a novelty it was intoxicating to suck it all in. We also had a much better experience dining that day (or at least I did, somebody else was a bit too fragile) at the Nirvana Cafe. Half the price, and double the taste than the previous evening.
Day Two was tourist day as we headed up to the fort. The audio tour was magnificent and made the whole thing come alive. Im not going to bore you with details but its been my favourite tourist attraction in India so far and provided amazing views of the Blue City over which it looks. The day was ended on an adrenaline high as we signed up for the Zip Line tour around the fort.
In a rather bizarre match, while visiting Jodhpur fort you can get yourself harnessed up to a Zip Line – or flying fox – and soar out of the fort and over the lakes surrounding it on six different lines. Anybody who knows me well will instantly know this was something I HAD to do. It is rather pricey, but it is such an amazing experience its well worth it. I only felt sorry for the poor Australian woman whose zip seemed to fail half way down one of the lines and had to be rescued. Actually, if Im honest – it was quite funny.
Our third day was the last in Jodhpur and again, gave me one of the best days of our whole trip so far. Id stumbled into a shop looking for some water and saw a small cookery class taking place inside. Id wanted to learn how to make a proper Indian curry so signed us up for one of the lessons. When we got there there was an Australian couple taking part as well and we went through the basic lessons of Chai Masala, Vegetable Biryani, Daal, Channa Masala, Panner Masala, Naan, and Chapati, Raita, and Saffron Lassi. It was a whole day of knowledge and eating tasty food. This would certainly be top of my Must Do activities in Jodhpur – and only 850 rupees (£10) – bargain!
Udaipur was next up on the itinerary, and it had a lot to live up to. In all the pre-planning it was probably the city I looked forward to the most. The most beautiful city in India? I couldn’t wait to find out.










































































































































