There is no time to rest! Cases out of the room ready for collection at 7.30, breakfast and on the minibus for 8.00!
This morning it’s a tour of the old city of Jaipur, recently recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site, joining the Amber Palace and Jantar Mantar, a stone observatory, the largest of the 5 built by Jai Singh.
Our first stop was to look at the Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds. It is in the old city, also know as the Pink City as all the buildings are painted in rose pink which was done to welcome Prince Albert in 1863. It is a 5 storey building on the main street of the city, built to enable the women of the royal household to watch the everyday life of the city or processions, from behind latticed windows!
Whilst there I spotted a snake charmer and managed to take a surreptitious photo of him! I didn’t want to pay for the privilege!
The Pink City was designed in a grid system, covering an area of 9.9 sq km. All the shops in the city are numbered as that is the easiest way to find them in streets that all look the same, not least because of their colour.
Then onto the Jantar Mantar. A somewhat odd sort of place but fascinating to see the technical ability in terms of astronomy and astrology of that time.
Our final visit of the morning was to the City Palace, part of which is the home of the current King of Rajasthan. He is just 21 and lives there with his Mother, Grandmother, brother and sister.
We looked in the museum where clothes and textiles were on display dating from 16/17th century. There was a bit of a hard sell in the arts and crafts hall where we were given a demonstration of some of the artwork done with fine brushes made from the hair of the squirrel tail. I was the lucky recipient of the elephant drawing done for the demonstration! Even that tempted no one to part with their cash!
A welcome cup of coffee was on offer before we started what will be a long drive to Jodhpur, probably 7 hours! It’s a pack up lunch on the bus for us today!
Lunch not bad! 2 sandwiches, 1 sort of coleslaw, the other toasted on one side and cucumber and tomato in the middle. Not eating unpeeled salad stuff so filling taken out 😢 Vegetable pakoras, a thick batter with slices of onion or potato, a piece of cauliflower or a whole green chilli. Yes it was a bit spicy!! Crisps that were in the lunch box (and it was a box too!), but loose and going soft, 3 cashew nut biscuits, a banana, satsuma and a local fruit that I have yet to eat as it needs peeling.
We just drove and drove. The scenery sometimes changed and became a bit more hilly but generally it was flat. We went through or past towns and villages of varying sizes. To start with the road was quite good, a 6 lane highway, 3 in each direction (not that that makes any difference here!) We stopped after about 3 and a half hours at a little cafe where we had a cup of tea. To do this Ravi, our driver, had done a u turn on the dual carriageway. The question was what would he do when we went back onto the road. Turn left and do a u turn further down to get on the correct carriageway or turn right and go the wrong way up the dual carriageway? Yes, you’ve guessed, it was the latter and I have a video to prove it!
As an aside we have quite a lot of videos to put on the blog but the WiFi hasn’t been good enough for a while to do it!
That little excursion was without incident, thank goodness, and we carried on heading west to Jodhpur. Geoff has been reading, sleeping and helping me with some puzzles. I have played sudoku, worked on my puzzle book and had a doze. We have both watched the world go by too and it is amazing how time passes.
A short while later we seemed to turn off the main road, onto a smaller road which was less well made. At times it looks like they are doing an upgrade as there are sections that are in the process of being dualled, and even though they are not finished they are still being used by some. So there are ramps, chicanes, unfinished surfaces, and more towns and villages to pass through.
We stopped again at about 5.30 for a cup of tea on the side of the road. There were no suitable roadside cafes on this section so flasks of hot water had been brought. People passing by gave us some strange looks, and some waved! No toilet facilities here unless you fancy the ditch, with observers! No thanks!
At 6.24 the overhead sign says 51km to Jodhpur. I wonder how long it will take?🤔
As the sun sets the scenery has changed a bit. The land is more scrubby. There is more grazing rather than crops, and more trees too in places. Everywhere is arid and most of the grass is sare. The roads however remain the same, even though men have been spotted in high viz jackets looking at the road, but they won’t be able to see anything for much longer!
7.29, arrival at hotel, somewhere in Jodhpur! We quickly checked in, got to our rooms and had a shower before meeting for dinner on the rooftop restaurant. There was a bit of consternation here tonight as people were unclear about whether we were paying for this meal or if it was included, and there was a wedding going on and some of rooms looked out onto the outdoor party so it was very noisy. People are tired after a long day and a hectic week so tempers a bit frayed I think!
As soon as dinner was done it was back to the room as I had washing to do. Running out of essentials!! A cup of tea then bed, or so we thought! First problem was the telephone by the bed with the flashing red light. Cover that with a tee shirt. Then the tv has a logo on it which we can’t get rid of. Cover that with another top but it looks spooky as there is still background light. It took ages to work out where the switches were on the tv and to find out how to switch it off properly. Now in bed lights switched off, but we have left a gap in the curtains and this beam of light is shining through from where the party was (thankfully finished now!). Can’t put the lights back on. No switch seems to work. Fumble for phone to get torch on. Aha! There is a master switch which we switched off! Lights done and off, but have we really left the bathroom light on? 🤦♀️ No it’s a low level light so you can see if you get up. By this time I am in stitches. What a palava!!!!
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