Jodhpur, India

COLOURS
Rajasthan is a colourful place. The people dress colourfully; the women in their saris and the men orange and red turbans. A number of towns have adopted colourful identities; Jaipur is the pink city, Jaisalmer the golden city and Jodhpur blue. It was for Jodhpur I headed after Pushkar taking an early morning public bus.
Jodhpur is dominated by a massive fort, called Meherangarh, on top of a rocky ridge in the centre of town. The old city is surrounded by a 10km long wall with many of the buildings painted blue - a colour said to deter mosquito's. From the narrow streets you don't really get a good idea of the colour but from Meherangarh the city comes alive with different shades of indigo. The fort was superb with a quality self-paced audio tour, excellent views and a reasonable entrance fee for fake International Student Identity Card holders. The streets were narrow and typically filled with all sorts of action. Riding a bicycle through the old city was a challenge firstly to avoid being hit by the auto rickshaw drivers and other cyclists but also to avoid the cows, children, rubbish, potholes, open sewers etc.

Jodhpur from Meherangarh

When I first arrived in Jodhpur I knew that there were a few guesthouse options close to the bottom of the road leading up to the fort so I just wandered around aimlessly for a while, slowly heading towards the fort in the hope that I would stumble upon one. Before I did though I met a couple of fellow travelers; George, an Arnie look-a-like from Austria, and Jo from Australia, both were staying at the Shivam Guesthouse just around the corner so on their recommendation I checked in there. It turned out to be a good choice. The rooftop restaurant commanded fabulous views of the fort, the rooms were really comfortable (mine even had a television) and the family running the guesthouse were wonderful. George, Jo and a French chap called Etienne were all leaving town the next night so I decided to join them on the overnight train to the desert town of Jaisalmer. I only had one night in Jodhpur but I saw what I wanted within the day and a half I was there but I left thinking that this would be a nice place to return to someday. It was the first time I had thought that about an Indian town.

The beautiful blue city