Jodhpur

Monday 2-3-2009
Jodhpur--western Jajasthan
Also know as ‘Blue City’

This is the second time we come back to Jodhpur- the first time, we came at night and leave; this time, we reach in the morning where all the shops and markets are still closed. The hotel we booked is Shivam paying guest house. As the name indicates, it’s run by a family and because we reached there in the early morning, there is no rooms for us to check in. So, we went to the rooftop restaurant again to watch the sunrise, the wall of Meherangard Majestic Fort and Chittar palace in fog. Besides that, its where I stopped ordering tomato soup in the trip--I could say it’s the worst ever? No tomato taste; but the MSG only!

After the breakfast, we went to Jaswant Palace. Its actually a milky white marble memorial which is a better place for the city as well as the fort’s views. Away from the hubbub city, its not only peace but also quiet. Even we are barefooted, walking on marble stones is still comfortable besides that we need to be careful on bird droppings on the floor. Besides the palace, there is a lake which seems supplying the water to the people staying for the palace or near the palace. Then, we walked to the fort which is sprawled across a 125m high hill, 2 km from the Jaswant palace. Though they are on the hill, there doesn’t have many trees and hence we have to suffer from 12 noon sunlight!

The exterior of the palace looked very modern: entrance is very big and the roads are wide; a café at the side, ticket counter for local is separated from foreign one as there are many packages for the foreigners, providing the headset for explanation as they visit later; and also a sign showing ‘escalator’. Sai hmm sai ar? Escalator!! After we bought the local ticket, we started visiting. The first thing we saw is the bomb holes on the wall. As the fort is at the hill, we can actually see the meaning of Blue City--all the wall of the houses are painted blue. So, from the fort, we can see different levels of blue colors all over the city. Then, we went to see the defense walls where there are holes for the gun and a stage to spot the enemy.

We didn’t enter the garden as we can view it from the stage itself and also, its full with normal trees, not flowers! Next, we have to walk to the palace and museum. Along the way, we are very careful in taking photos as we didn’t pay for camera till we reach the museum and the guard is helping us to take photos--camera is free to bring it in!

The palace is very very new and certainly, renovation has just done. Varies type of cars for King, queen, prince and princess are shown, different types of weapon, the living hall, the bed rooms, the hall where the kings meet others are presented. 鬼斧神工 is again used to describe the carving on the building. There is also a palace’s souvenir shop at the exit. Wow, the things there are just too expensive!! CC even went to tell a lady not to buy the auto model as she has to pay 200 plus for a 30 model. Maybe its because of the weather, or we had been walking up and down hill for a long time at 12 noon or we are very hungry already, everyone especially jiejie looked uncomfortable. I’m quite worry about that so I suggested to go for lunch since non of us will buy anything there. Before we leave the fort, we saw some politician or head of air force army coming out from the door where the ‘escalator’ sign is pointed to. Now, we understand why the escalator is necessary, for not exhausting yourself!
Omelets shops is the place we are going next, a roadside stalls selling different types of omelets and 1000 eggs are going to be sold per day. Before we left the hotel, I had already ask the manager about this shop’s location and he also told me which one is the real one--the ah pak one is the real one while the young guy one is the imitation. Seriously, he cooks the eggs very nice! The taste of different orders are dissimilar yet the taste of egg is not lost. Thumbs up for the meal and we spent 300 plus for eggs only!?!! Next, we went to have a look in the market and give up the original plan of going to Chittar palace. HOT, HOT, and VERY HOT are my summarized comment about Jodhpur because of the evening. The heat is coming in every direction and there is no way for you to cold down, not even having cold drinks under shade or having a 5 stars fruit juice. But, as we were having juice, a guy came and asked whether we are interested for tea. We followed him and he started to tell his history and the feedbacks from the customers from all over the world after buying his tea and the famous spices in Jodhpur (spice is the 土产）. According to him, after we drink his tea, we will say ‘ulalah’ but the tea is actually Ilachi tea which has a superb strong and bad smell for most of us!! So sorry but we are not interested now and we seriously need to leave already!

Our room is very big--A unique design room with 2 queen size beds. But, we never expect that the room is so poorly ventilated and sleeping inside is definitely a suffering as you will feel like you are inside a oven! It’s cooler when you open the door and walk outside along the corridor! I realized this when I went to tell the manager that the water supply in bathroom is stopped suddenly while WC is taking her shower. Poor her, cannot come out! As our train is at 8 pm, we left around 6 for dinner at Kalinga restaurant. Who knows before we leave, jiejie vomit. I don’t understand why she feel so embarrassed about this? Its normal that her body cannot get used to the food and water in India seeing that she has been here for one week only. Even we, who had been staying for 2 years are worrying about food poisoning, or having some vomiting or diarrhea when we travel too! We didn’t order much for dinner but soups only as we know we will sleep as soon as we are in the train later. Sadly, jiejie vomit again and so have to force her to take medicine. HA! SE is testing my knowledge about drug and pharmacology. He expected me to know the usage and side effects of the drugs? Fine, expected I will be mentally challenged by him but it is a surprise that I actually can remember some of the drugs’ side effects. J
(if I am not mistaken, we have a A1 couch for the train to Agra. Meaning there are 4 beds in a room in the train so you are separated from other noises and people. Poor cc, has to stay with others again; poor wc, cannot sleep because have to chit chatting with SE since he doesn‘t feel sleepy easily; me? Sleep like pig~~^^)