jodhpur

From Udaipur, we decided to hire a driver named Samir to take us to Jodhpur. There are no direct trains that go there and we thought it would be pretty cool to stop at some places along the way. As you drive farther away from cities, the further and farther between any villages come around. Some things we saw were very intense. We saw a bat tree, more trees who secrete liquid that is used to make wine, a small village where they use oxen to go in circles to pull pails of water up from a well. We bought a fruit that was leche-like from a small, old village woman from the front of her home. We saw many huts built of straw and hay and many fields. it’s a hard life for them. It gets really hot as you approach west towards the desert and they are working long and hard. They all pretty much use the old fashioned way of using bulls and ox to plow their fields. Along the way, we started a list of all the animals we have seen roamin’ along on the streets:

Goat
Cow/bull
Oxen
Buffalo
Monkey
Bats
Camel
Donkey
Sheep
Boar
Pig
Peacock
A bull with a tiara

All were interesting to say the least, especially the later. On our way we also stopped at a Jain temple in the city of Ranakpur . It was so beautiful and was a nice little break. There, before entering the temple I met this girl .Can I say that instantly, I loved her? She was about 7 years old and the most beautiful child I have ever seen in my life. We just sat there, smiling at each other. I wanted to take her home with me, keep her safe keep her clean. There was some connection there that went beyond words. Funny how that happens.

We arrived in Jodhpur (mind you I had just woken up from a good 30 minute nap in the car) and it was craaaazy. We got dropped right off in the market place to take a rickshaw because the streets go very high and are too narrow for cars. Long and winding roads for sure. We jump on in and the rickshaw goes up up. Away from most of the chaos. At the hostel we met a bunch of cool people, some of them telling us of their travels and stirring us in all different kinds of directions. Our route is going to be changing up a bit coming up. In general, sometimes I liked jodhpur, sometimes I just wanted to leave sooner then later. The best experience I would say we had was walking around one evening and meeting this boy. He was 17 years old and his opening line after finding out where we were from was ‘Ahh America, they have lots of weapons!’ after chatting with him for a few minutes he pointed right where we were and said this is my house, please come in for tea. So we took the chance and walked into his front room, his bedroom. What an experience! To be invited into an Indians house and check it out. He made us chai (the best we have had so far in all of India), gave us biscuits and we started talking about all sorts of things for maybe around an hour. He got in depth about the caste systems which was really interesting to hear. By far, he spoke the best English of everyone we have met. I was very much impressed with his vocab too, some of the words this kid used was surprising. He wants to either be a scientist or a cricket player. Cool. On other days we just tripped around the city making our way around and exploring. The school kids all see you and yell ‘ello!‘ from the rickshaws and just want to talk to you. The other kids who don’t go to schools in other caste systems can be as friendly but usually look at you with sad eyes., sometimes wanting money. The main attraction in Jodhpur is the Meherangarh Fort. Its quite impressive. From there you get a glimpse of the ‘blue city’. most of the buildings in old town are painted different shades of medium to dark blue, all to keep the desert city cool. It is just beyond amazing. After checking out the view from the fort, we ran into this guy Eddie who we had met in Mumbai at the train station (he was the first non-Indian we had seen in Mumbai) and his friend Claire. They were leaving too and we all hopped on the rickshaw and went to the clock tower to get the supposedly best lassi in jodhpur. Funny thing about India is, when a business opens and starts doing well and gets in the book, aka lonely planet, a bunch more with almost the exact same name will open luring foreigners. We definitely didn’t end up at the best lassi place, I can tell you that, but it was good none-the-less. After us all hanging out for quite a bit we parted ways and exchanged info in hopes of seeing each other again in Varanasi. We also met this girl from new york at the hostel who we are going to try and meet up with in Nepal. It’s nice to meet cool peeps at the hostels, we have been doing that quite a bit. It was time to leave Jodhpur, and I couldn’t say that I was all too bummed.