Jodhpur, Rajasthan

On October 2 we drove to Jodhpur, about 6 hours away, but I think it took almost 8 hours because we got caught in some traffic. We literally stopped for about 45 minutes because the road was jammed up. Folks in India like to pass cars and even though there might be a reason why the lane you are in, is stopped, the driver doesn’t care – he (or she) will just get in the lane next to you (which is for oncoming traffic) and go as far as possible. So you take this mentality and multiply it by 100 and divide it by a road that barely fits 2 lanes – what do you get? TRAFFIC.

I was fascinated by the different animals we would see on the road 

We are slowing down

And...we're going nowhere - everyone got out of their car to see what the problem was

We got back on the road after 45 min and almost ran into a cow

We stayed at a place called Mandore Guest House in Jodhpur – a bit hard to find but totally worth it because the food here was delicious. Despite the bed not being super comfortable, I would still stay there, just for the food.

Mandore Guest House garden area

We hit most of the sights the next morning – Jaswant Thada, Mehrangarh (Jodhpur) Fort and Old Town. We skipped the Jodhpur Palace which is also a hotel and museum.

Typical taxis aka "tricycles"

Grounds of Jaswant Thada

Jaswant Thada is a white marble memorial built by Sardar Singh in 1899 in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The views from here are amazing!

Panoramic view from Jaswant Thada

Main building

Different angle

View of the Jodhpur Palace

Jaswant Thada and Mehrangarh Fort in the distance

Rao Jodha Ji Statue pointing towards Mehrangarh Fort

Of the forts we visited, this by far, was the most impressive. 

Amazing!

Admiring the fort from Jaswant Thada

We've arrived - time to walk around!

Looking up

I've asked Paul to grow a 'stache like this

Cannonball imprints by the second gate 

Close up of door

Original door

Locals

Jodhpur is known as the blue city

Wide angle shot

Kilkila cannon

In China, everyone wanted pictures of/with Paul. In India, I was the subject. These guys were taking photos of me
so I snapped one of them!

Awesome fort

In case you were wondering, yes, it was really hot

I love the bright colors

Palanquin

Decorative cannons 

I liked this one because it's a hippocannonmus

Opium den

Slinky shot of inside the fort

Colorful!

This guy demonstrated how to put a turban on

Making adjustments...

Voila!

Chiq screen

Red door inside the fort

Weapon of choice - katar - a punch dagger

View from the fort

Jodhpur Palace

Wide angle shot of the city with Jodhpur Palace in the background

While royalty slept, the fan above would be pulled back/forth by someone...

Cannons and pigeons

More doors

This one is pretty cool

Wolverrine inspired or Wolverine's inspiration? Either way, the facial hair in these pictures are amazing.

Ladies courtyard

Yes, another door!

The view of the fort as we are leaving

We decided to walk around Old Town to get a feel for the locals before calling it a day.

Before leaving Old Town, we went into a spice store with no intention of buying anything....we had to go in because our driver parked by the store so we were obligated to at least go in and look around. It wasn't that kind of set up though - the owner sat us down and talked us through all the different spices he offered while making us a special tea with saffron, cinnamon, and coriander - which was delicious! What a salesman...we bought a good amount of spices including the special tea and some extra saffron.