Saturday, August 1, 2015

Rajasthan Travel- Day 2 - Jodhpur

2nd Day:

We reached Jodhpur in the early morning. The weather was not that hot.  I could see the mighty Mehrangarh fort looming in the skyline - our tourist destination for that day. As we carried our luggage out of the station, to find that our chariot was waiting in the adjacent parking lot. It was a white Toyota Innova which stayed with us for the rest of the tour (till Bikaner).

Rajasthan is pretty costly place, so sticking to our plan, we headed for the  Mehrangarh fort (soon after freshening up a bit in the hotel). In the mean time, my friend's mobile phone was recovered which he accidentally dropped while entering the hotel. Not a bad start, per se. 

Places I visited
  • Umaid Bhawan
  • Mehrangarh Fort
  • Jodhpur Market (evening visit)

The following photos should tell you the story of the rest of the day. Hope they add to your visual pleasure.

For the account of Day 1 please visit this link: Rajasthan Travel- Day 1

Umaid Bhawan Palace:


The Umaid Bhawan Palace at Jodhpur, was constructed between 1929 and 1944. Presently, a part of it is the residence of Gaj Singh II, the present head of erstwhile royal family of Jodhpur. A large part of it is a luxury hotel and another part houses a museum.

 Jodhpur Rail Station

 Our chariot for the rest of the tour - a AC Toyota Innova.

 The Palace and Lawn

 Approach roadway and the palace

 A Corridor...

 Corridor beside central courtyard

 My son taking some rest

 The central courtyard

 Outside view of private residential part of present owners

 One of the domes- photographed by son

It's a posh location, beside the palace ground

 Mehrangarh Fort:
Mehrangarh Fort, is one of the largest forts in India. Built around 1460 by Rao Jodha, the fort is situated 120 m above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls.
Entrance of Mehrangarh Palace

Entrance of Mehrangarh fort
 
The Blue City- Jodhpur as seen from Mehrangarh Fort. Traditionally, Brahmins of Jodhpur city paint their houses blue, hence the look and the name.

Abundant food attracts these cute redents

I wish he had a e-mail, so that I could send him this photo. Mr. Indar Kumar, a traditional local healer obliged me by posing in front of my camera. We interacted for few minuts, but what a nice gentleman he was.

 
Musicians are employed by the fort management to play traditional/ folk music to entertain visitors. Visitors sometimes tip them, but they never ask for.

One of the musicians (Sanai/flute player) waiting for his turn

 
A private guard employed by the fort management. notice the insignia on the cap
On the steps...

A window carved out of rock

The ceremonial seat for every newborn boy child, as he is included in the family

A living display for the visitors. I tried to talk, but could not understand him, though he agreed to be photographed

 An arched doorway

Royal palanquins on display, with gold work and photo of king and queen.

 Royal Hawda (seat on top of an elephant) on display, with silver work

 Royal palanquins on display, with gold work, generally used by the queen

Wrought iron staircase

Jodhpur city as seen from the fort

Windows...

 
King's court - Dewan e aam (General Court)

King's court - Dewan e Khaas (Special court, meeting place for inner circle)

 Parts of Fort

 
Inside the fort, there are shops selling local and traditional products like these "Juttis"

The road on the left leads to "Rao Jodha Desert Park" which can be visited after buying separate tickets

Mehrangarh Fort

When you have women in your travel team, you can't actually avoid markets. Jodhpur was not an exception. As soon as the sun went down, the urge for visiting the market rose in the minds of two beautiful ladies accompanying us. I tried to shake the boredom off with few snaps.





Note that there is no Government shops in Jodhpur (Rajasthali). So please be careful with the product and price. It is better if you visit the main market rather than the large shops near your hotel. Jodhpur has a bustling market which your car driver should know very well. there you can find large shops selling products at much cheaper rates. Compare prices before taking a plunge.

Travel suggestions:

You can complete the following three places in one day (if you start by 9:30AM), the day you reach Jodhpur, in the following order:


At Umaid Bhawan, you can give a try to traditional ice-cream (Kulfi), it's pretty good.
Though Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park has separate tickets, but that is not much and one should visit it with Mehrangarh Fort.

Please note that every place has separate entry tickets for persons and cameras, so inquire beforehand. Ticket prices are different for foreign nationals and domestic tourists. Like many other places of Rajasthan, there are not much information about the different parts of the fort, so if you can afford, go for an audio guide from the fort counter. It would really give you a much better insight. Some other forts (like in Bikaner) provides official guides, that is also a very good option. This way visitors not only encourage tourism related employment generation, but also supports maintenance of these grand and historic monuments. Though some places do charge a lot, which I found completely illogical, and refrained from visiting those places. I also felt that the charges (separately) for the still camera is pretty high for the domestic tourists.

Thank you for reading till this line. If you are interested, you can find more photos here and Prints of all these photos are available for sale. Do contact me please if you require.