More than anything, I was super excited to go check out the desert. After a week chilling out in lovely mountainous Pushkar, I left the rock climbing and the markets for desert life. My first stop was Jodhpur, which I reached at 3pm yesterday. After setting up in a hotel, I went out to check out the town. Jodhpur is magnificent, with a fort looming over the village below. Walking backwards from the hotel as I admired the fort, I made landmarks for myself so I could get back - a row of outdoors toilets, two black cows, and an advertisement. After going on the internet and a nice fried rice (or Kashmiri Pulau as it could also be known) in a very atmospheric restaurant, I headed back to my hotel. Wait a second... where was it! I found the first two landmarks, but lost my way after that, was was the final landmark again... oh that's right two black cows. Who makes cows landmarks!!! Ridiculous! Trying each lane seperately, I tried to make a grid search pattern for my hotel. The only problem being, Jodhpur is a total maze - the streets do not run in any sort of grid format! Hopelessly lost, I wandered for 3 hours, asking many people directions to the hotel (which name I had forgotten). Due to their own commercial interest, I was unavoidably directed to their cousin's or uncles guesthouse, which saw me end up three suburbs over, now more lost than ever. By the incredible kindness of two strangers who saw me walking around and lifts on their bikes, I managed to get back to the restaurant where I ate dinner when the second gentleman recognised it in a photo in my camera. This time, carefully retracing my steps, I managed to reach my destination, despite the two cows having long ago relocated to a different spot. Massively relieved, I was finally in my room and could calm down a bit (many Indian people told me I should book somewhere else for the night and search for it in the morning, as the streets were very dangerous in Jodhpur at night). Thankyou, lucky stars!!
Early the next morning I awoke and had breakfast at a rooftop restaurant with an excellent view of the fort. It was a great experience. After some quick shopping around the Clock Tower (I bought a blanket and a tapestry for the family), I hopped a bus to Jaisalmer. Having arrived at 6pm the afternoon, I have found a nice place for 150Rp a night, and have booked a 3 day camel safari starting tomorrow. I'm very excited, and have already bought a white turban and shirt to authenticate the experience :P
Wow, that sounds really scary! Being in such a big town must be a little worrying; for me it was easy as there's two main streets in Vila and all roads lead to them, and in the smaller places we went there was like one street! He he he.
ReplyDeleteWhat kinds of breakfasts have you been having?