In short, Rajasthan is awesome. If you only have a week or two in India then go to Rajasthan. Agra is great for the Taj and the ceremonies in Varanasi are interesting but Rajasthan has something to it. Wandering through back alleys of a 1000 year old fort made me feel I was really somewhere different, somewhere that is still clinging onto its past even as the modern world rushes in. And Rajasthan isn't short on ancient forts and windy alleys.
To save you from reading all of this and catch you up a bit, here's the quick version. Cities are helpfully color coded due to some weird historical quirks or the whims of once mighty maharajas. Jodhpur the Blue City is a busy city but has amazing, twisting alleys and a truly imposing fort up on the hill. Jaisalmer the Golden City also has a fort and is a much more laid-back city with lots of desert around it. The camel trek was amazing. Jaipur the Pink City is a big piss-hole of a city with some of the most annoying touts I've found in India. I have nothing nice to say about Jaipur and my mother always said...
If you're still reading good. It means you love me. Or at least have a general affection towards me that compels you to find out what I'm doing right now. You may actually be stalking me. Too bad I'm two weeks behind on my updates, sucka.
I think my stay in Jodhpur was made better by a stroke of good luck in getting accommodation. A friendly English bloke at the bus stop was just coming from there and recommended a family run place called Heaven Guest House. It really was their home with the mom and dad sleeping in the lobby to hear late arrivals like myself. Networking as the business folk say can work wonders. My New Year's Resolution was actually to be more social on this trip and since my stomach has been behaving that has helped. I'm pretty good at meeting and chatting with strangers but when sick would prefer to sit in my room and feel sorry for myself. I imagine that makes me interesting dinner conversation.
This is the main market square in Jodhpur which was nice enough. I did have a guy spit on me but I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to. Better this pissing on me or god knows what else; it all happens on the street here. In the background is the fort I was mentioning No way to express it in JPEG form but you really felt its presence looking down on the city. Inside it was really well preserved and had an interesting museum. And in this museum was the mighty gun-sword!
After doing the tourist thing the first day I got dinner and met a nice Chinese couple who were traveling for Chinese New Year. We chatted and I headed off to bed. The next day I got incredibly lost in the alleys and even ended up eating at a McDonald's because it was there. No beef and no pork in it but the Chicken Maharaja (their Big Mac equivalent) wasn't half bad. And then getting even more lost trying to find my hotel again I saw the craziest sight I've seen in India so far. I round a corner and there's a cow who had just given birth licking baby juice off its newborn calf. I'm sure the Indian people laughing at the expression on my face were justified, I was shocked.
To save you from reading all of this and catch you up a bit, here's the quick version. Cities are helpfully color coded due to some weird historical quirks or the whims of once mighty maharajas. Jodhpur the Blue City is a busy city but has amazing, twisting alleys and a truly imposing fort up on the hill. Jaisalmer the Golden City also has a fort and is a much more laid-back city with lots of desert around it. The camel trek was amazing. Jaipur the Pink City is a big piss-hole of a city with some of the most annoying touts I've found in India. I have nothing nice to say about Jaipur and my mother always said...
If you're still reading good. It means you love me. Or at least have a general affection towards me that compels you to find out what I'm doing right now. You may actually be stalking me. Too bad I'm two weeks behind on my updates, sucka.
I think my stay in Jodhpur was made better by a stroke of good luck in getting accommodation. A friendly English bloke at the bus stop was just coming from there and recommended a family run place called Heaven Guest House. It really was their home with the mom and dad sleeping in the lobby to hear late arrivals like myself. Networking as the business folk say can work wonders. My New Year's Resolution was actually to be more social on this trip and since my stomach has been behaving that has helped. I'm pretty good at meeting and chatting with strangers but when sick would prefer to sit in my room and feel sorry for myself. I imagine that makes me interesting dinner conversation.
This is the main market square in Jodhpur which was nice enough. I did have a guy spit on me but I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to. Better this pissing on me or god knows what else; it all happens on the street here. In the background is the fort I was mentioning No way to express it in JPEG form but you really felt its presence looking down on the city. Inside it was really well preserved and had an interesting museum. And in this museum was the mighty gun-sword!
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| Furthest one of the left. Tremble at its power. |
that is quite a bit of baby juice.
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