I got the local bus from Pushkar to Jodhpur on Monday morning. But to my bad luck, this bus would go by a local road, translated super-bumpy road, through all villages and small towns to Jodhpur. If one wants to go from Pushkar to Jodhpur, I think it is better to go via Ajmer.

Anyways, in the bus, a Bhopa guy sat beside me, and I knew it because of his eyes. Incredible eyes they have! Very similar to the ones of the famous Afghan Girl. I still wish I could take the photo of that little Bhopa girl! So I talked with the guy and showed him the photos I took the previous day from that Bhopa family, and he recognized them and laughed. I wanted to take his picture, but he left the bus soon. I was not so lucky with them!

Anyways, I arrived in Jodhpur, and upon arrival, I was struck by the massiveness of Mehrangarh fort, situated on top of a hill in the middle of the city. I haven’t seen such a humongous fort before. Jodhpur is also known as the blue city, after the color of the houses in old town. The blue color gives a cool atmosphere to the city, and makes a very nice backdrop for photos!

I took a room in Yogi’s guest house (for 450 INR) which has a rooftop restaurant with a great view over the fort. The hotel is nicely located in the old town, though I didn’t like the attitude of the owners.

In the afternoon, I went out in the bazaar, as usual, to see the people, chat with them, and take their photos. It’s funny, everyone goes to the bazaar, looking at goods, and to buy stuff, but I go for looking at the people and taking their photos! I met this nice old couple whose job was to dye textiles, like turbans. They could speak very little English, but we managed to communicate anyhow. I took their picture while working and the guy made a turban and put it on my head! We had a great time, without them asking me to buy something from them or so. They gave me their address to send them their photos! I shall do that when I go back home.

I carried on walking and chatting with the locals and taking their photos. But I have to be more careful with kids! It’s enough to show that you want to take a picture of one of them. Suddenly, a swarm of kids run to you from the neighboring alleys and all want to be in the picture and in another one, and so and so! It’s fun, but photographically not very interesting to me. And some in the end start asking you for money and chocolate which is not nice. I will write about this topic extensively in the near future.

Next morning, I went to visit the Mehrangarh Fort. The fort is situated on top of a hill, so there’s a steep walk from the old town to the fort. When getting the ticket, I came to know that for still camera there is a surcharge of 100 INR! Another ridiculous thing imposed on photographers. Anyways, the fort is extremely large, with a perimeter of 3 km. The fort has never been occupied by force, even after very long sieges. The visit was nice and the audioguide was quite informative.

In the afternoon, I again went out walking in the bazaar and old town. I could have gone to visit the palace and garden and etc, but what’s the point? I very much prefer to go and see people! So I walked all around this complex maze of houses, shops, and workshops, and talked with shop keepers and craftsmen, and took their photos. It is so easy to start talking with the people here and in a minute, they get all friendly and share their laughs with you! Priceless!

In the evening I met this young couple, the guy was Australian and the girl was English, who had a charming baby boy of 2 years old. We went out for dinner, and chatted a lot about Iran and India. The guy was very well informed on Middle East issues and we talked quite a lot about it. When walking in the city, the main attraction was the baby boy! You may not believe it, but every 10-15 SECONDS, there was some Indian coming to us to take a picture of the kid, and/or pinch his chubby cheeks! Incredible! He was so sweet though. He once told his dad “Daddy, you’re so special”! :))

The next day, I headed for Bikaner to visit Karni Mata, or notoriously known as “Rat Temple”!

Side Notes:

  • There has been this Maharaja in Rajasthan who upon his death, 84 women including his wives, mistresses, concubines, maids, and performers, committed Sati at his cremation site! Sati is the act of being burned along with the body of the deceased husband. Can you imagine that scene???

  • There are some damn biting mosquitos here! The biting spot itches badly for a couple of days! I am applying anti-mosquito creams at nights! Hope I don’t get malaria. I’ve seen many tourists taking preventive pills for it.

  • The amount of pollution is horribly bad in the cities. The main reasons are the auto-rickshaws and motorbikes that cross every possible alley. Put this beside the dust, and the smell of cow dung and putrid waste, and it sometimes gets unbelievably difficult to breathe!

  • I had my first non-veg meal after 10 days. And it was no steak. 2-3 small pieces of chicken! I had the feeling that the food here is not nutritious enough, or maybe I’m not taking the right food. Maybe that’s why you rarely find a large person here, and certainly no obese one!

  • The amount of rubbish and waste on the streets is sometimes extremely high. This is firstly because there is almost no dust bin in the streets (shamefully even I have to drop my rubbish on the ground sometimes, though I tend to avoid throwing plastic down). And secondly, there are no sweepers and no organized system of garbage collection in the cities I’ve visited so far! There are so many unemployed people here, why not get them to work to enhance the hygiene condition? Oh, and the cows, don’t let me even start with that!

  • When you enter Rajasthan and go deeper in, you gradually see a change in the clothes and facial features of the people. Men tend to have BIG mustaches here, and some of them wear turbans, and regularly wear earrings. When you go into the desert region, they wear white cool loose clothes, similar to Baloch people in Iran. This trend is more obvious in the rural areas. Women wear colorful clothes, especially vivid red, pink, and violet. They also wear colorful bracelets which is very typical of this region. Some wear very delicate head ornaments, composed of gold or gold-like chains that goes around their head, and a golden piece on the top of the forehead, and sometimes another chain that attaches a ring pierced in their nose to the other chain on the top of their ear. It is so beautiful! Men tend to sing for themselves when sitting somewhere together or in a bus. Both men and women have dark sun-battered faces that made them look older than what they are.