Our new friends Nikki and Lindy
After staying 3 days in Udaipur, Blake and I felt like we should move on. We got some bus tickets to our next destination, which was Jodhpur.
Jodhpur is another “smaller” city in Rajasthan about 6 hours northwest of Udaipur. The city itself isn’t that big, but the population is about 1.7 million! We wanted to go there because the pictures of it are really pretty. It’s known as “The Blue City,” because a lot of the houses are painted blue.
We had to take a bus to get there because Udaipur is notorious for their slow trains. We booked a “Super Deluxe” bus. The guy who sold us the tickets gave us the best price and he assured us that there would be “no music, no movies,” and that we would arrive in Jodhpur in 5 hours rather than 6 because this particular bus didn’t make stops along the way. I’m not quite sure why so many bus companies use the “no music, no movies” as a selling point, but they do. Everything sounded pretty perfect, so we booked the tickets; needless to say…it was a horrific experience.
The “Super Deluxe” bus was actually an old clunker with dents everywhere! The seats didn’t have an inch of padding anywhere, and the windows were practically falling out. Blake and I couldn’t believe it. When all of the passengers got settled in, the bus driver cranked up the Indian tunes, and we set off.
The ride would have been beautiful, but I think everyone was too busy watching the road for the bus driver. We had to cross quite a few mountains to leave Udaipur, and as with all mountain roads, the ones we were on were really curvy. The bus driver was constantly trying to pass people while going around the curves!!! He jerked the bus to stop and he almost collided with a few other buses. It was a game of chicken! And the thing with Indian drivers is that they are all really aggressive; so, no matter what the circumstances are, nobody slows down. I think it’s better to just close your eyes the whole way if you’re a passenger.
Aside from the crazy driving, the bus constantly made stops to pick people up on the side of the road, and it didn’t take the promised 5 hours to get to Jodhpur, it took 6.
I’m really just thankful that we arrived in Jodhpur alive.
The upside to the bus ride was the fact that we met some friends. There were two other travelers that were sitting in front of us on the bus and they ended up staying at the same hotel we were staying at in Jodhpur. Their names are Lindy (an Australian) and Nikki (a New Zealander.) They both finished up their 2 year working visas in England, and are now traveling for 6 months in India and S.E. Asia.
Once we got to Jodhpur, it didn’t take long to find a hotel. Blake and I kind of ran into this place called “Yogi’s Guest House,” which is situated kind of close to the Jodhpur fort. We walked inside, and pretty much knew right away that we wanted to stay there.
This place is SOOO cool!!! The people that work there are really nice – I think 4 brothers run the place, and they are all kind of young. There are really nice simple rooms, and tons of travelers! The whole place is really colorful and it’s sooo cheap. We only paid $6 per night. (There were rooms for as little as $2, but we wanted our own bathroom.) Staying there was a great place to meet people. On the roof of the hotel there is a great terrace and a pretty good restaurant. There are couches and tables everywhere, and the view is amazing. Blake and I could have sat up there for ages. On the first day, we went up to the roof to play some cards and get some chai, and we saw monkeys on the roof next door eating fruit! They would just jump from rooftop to rooftop. It was really great.
As for the city of Jodhpur, well, it definitely isn’t as clean as Udaipur. There is a lot more cow crap in the street, and lots of trash mounds. There is no garbage collection here in India. Everyone just dumps their garbage out on the street, and when the mounds get large enough, they burn it right there in the city. Kind of nasty if you ask me. It’s also not uncommon for the cows to feed on the trash mounds.
The people in Jodhpur aren’t as pushy as in Mumbai or even Udaipur. Nobody really tries to get you to go into their shops, which is nice. Jodhpur is known for their textiles and antiques. A lot of people come here to buy for big companies like IKEA and Pier 1, which is cool. All of the stuff that Blake and I have seen though doesn’t look that nice. There are a lot of carpets and Indian cushions, clothes, and tons of spices…but we don’t really want any of that. We haven’t found a lot of great shopping, but maybe we are going to the wrong places.
We went to the Jodhpur fort yesterday, and it is amazing! The fort sits on top of a mountain and you can see all over from the top. We were able to take an audio tour through the museums on the inside, and everything was so interesting. The history and stories of the Rajputs are really interesting. Some of it is just like a fairy tale. There were princes and princesses, kings and queens, snake charmers, dancers, warriors, etc. This fort was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far.
We have stayed here for 2 nights, and tonight we are taking a night train to Jaisalmer and it leaves at 11pm. We’ve gotten to know Lindy and Nikki pretty well and they have decided to travel with us for a little while. They are coming with us to Jaisalmer tonight, and when we get into the train station, we are all being picked up by a hotel owner. We asked the guys at Yogi’s Guest House if they knew of anywhere to stay in Jaisalmer, and they recommended a place. We called them, booked a room, and now it seems that everything is set up. Not too shabby!!!
Right now, in Jodhpur, we are on the edge of the Great Thar Desert. Once we get into Jaisalmer, we’ll be in the middle of it! Jaisalmer is supposed to look a lot like a giant sand castle rising out of the desert. I think we’re going to stay a little longer there because Blake and I want to take a camel safari!!! (Every hotel does them, as well as the one we’ll be staying at.)
Only 9 more days here in India! Time has gone by really fast here. Overall, I think it has been a perfect amount of time, and I’m glad that we still have time left here, even though it’s really really hot.
Anywho…as usual, I hope everything is going well with you guys! Talk to you later!
Private Notes
Muslim convo. with Yogi