Part 5
Jodhpur: Meherangarh fort08.09.2005
Jodhpur stand at the edge of the Thar desert and was citadel of the ancient Marwar kingdom. This bustling desert city is the second largest city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and has landscape dominated by the massive Meherangarh Fort topping a sheer rocky ridge.
The old city is fenced by 10 km long wall with eight Gates leading out of it. The new city is outside the walled city. We left Udaipur that night, the post bhang lassi night and arrived at Jodhpur, in the dead of the morning, somewhere around 4.30 am. We took a auto rickshaw to Sardar market. The market was completely empty and was without a slight of human being, except for band of pariah dogs, roaming around the market, marking and preserving their territory. The weather was cold and chilly. The dark sky was in the midst of transition to bright sky. There was an empty cart somewhere nearby the clock tower. I was unrest and I laid flatly, my nose facing up the sky and without I realize it, I fall into darkness and my soul left me to his better place until I heard someone were talking. We were approached by a nicely dressed gentleman who wanted to show us his family guest house. The guest house was Gopal guest house. After we clean ourselves and, we went to the rooftop for a round of breakfast. The sun was still shy away from the face of the earth, hidden behind the thick clouds. It was simply amazing/beautiful. There it was, the majestic view of the blue city. There I stood tall and proud and lay my eyes on the blessed blue city. According to the local, The Brahmin used to paint their roof blue but nowadays, every one also follow the tradition irregardless of caste. I ordered a noodle onions, strawberry milk and half fried eggs. We were served by a very cute little girl, daughter of the guest house owner, Shalu. Her younger and playful brother name was Sunir.
The first place we went was Jaswant Thada, the graceful marble cenotaph of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. This main memorial has been built like a temple with intricately carved marble stone that is sculpted by the genius artesian. After hanging around and did nothing but enjoying the atmosphere and surrounding from the top of the square, we left the structure and walk alongside the rocky uphill towards the majestic Mehrangarh fort. The infamous fort was built by titans and colored by the morning sun.
This fort is one of the largest fort in India. This magnificent fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres atop a 125-metre high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan. To commemorate historic victories three gates are found in the fort. Within the fort, several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces are found. After the fort, we went downhill through the villages of blue rooftops houses until we found a roof top restaurant. Outside the guest house, there was this twenty something dude were showing us his collection of foreign currency. He was asking about Malaysian notes. We didn’t have anything but a RM 10 note. The trick was, we gave him the note and he invited us to the same amount of RM 10 worth of meals. Well, the funny thing was, the trick work on so many people. We met this bearded, completely Rastafarian guy, name Amir, from Israel. Then I went on to ordered Rajasthani thali and glass of banana lassi after few pages of Shantaram. Then an English traveler were tricked to the rooftop as well. His name was Gavin and his all time number one favorite British band was Queen.
We left soon after and in the evening, we were wandering in the bustling bazaar. We arrived at the guest house around 6pm. I used that time to read up the rest of Shantaram and we had a our dinner at the rooftop before entrained to Jalsalmer that night itself.
The journey to Jalsalmer by train took us about 7 hours. We arrived at Jalsalmer or the golden city at 5.30 in the morning. We took the sleeper class. The ride was smooth and nap was good until we woke up slightly before we arrive. Sands were everywhere- because the journey to Jalsalmer did pass through the desert.
We took a jeep from railway station to Hotel Renuka. After checking in, we went straight to the rooftop restaurant where we met two kitchen helper from Kashmir, Suvinder and Darson. This rooftop offer us one of the most fantastic view towards Jaisalmer fort, one of the world’s finest and greatest fort. This for is now under UNESCO list of endangered fort and it’s under severe protection and perseverance. This fort otherwise known as SONAR QUILA or the Golden fort, rising from the sand , the mega structure merges with the golden hues of the desert ambience and the setting suns in its most colorful shades gives it a fairy tale look. The name Jaisalmer induces a dramatic picture of utter magic and brilliance of the desert. The hostile terrain not with standing the warmth and colour of people is simply over whelming.
We were busying chatting with Darson and Suvinder. It was raining that morning and the weather was kind of chill. Darson and Suvinder was obviously a funnyman. They served us two glasses of hot masala chai.
Jodhpur stand at the edge of the Thar desert and was citadel of the ancient Marwar kingdom. This bustling desert city is the second largest city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and has landscape dominated by the massive Meherangarh Fort topping a sheer rocky ridge.
The old city is fenced by 10 km long wall with eight Gates leading out of it. The new city is outside the walled city. We left Udaipur that night, the post bhang lassi night and arrived at Jodhpur, in the dead of the morning, somewhere around 4.30 am. We took a auto rickshaw to Sardar market. The market was completely empty and was without a slight of human being, except for band of pariah dogs, roaming around the market, marking and preserving their territory. The weather was cold and chilly. The dark sky was in the midst of transition to bright sky. There was an empty cart somewhere nearby the clock tower. I was unrest and I laid flatly, my nose facing up the sky and without I realize it, I fall into darkness and my soul left me to his better place until I heard someone were talking. We were approached by a nicely dressed gentleman who wanted to show us his family guest house. The guest house was Gopal guest house. After we clean ourselves and, we went to the rooftop for a round of breakfast. The sun was still shy away from the face of the earth, hidden behind the thick clouds. It was simply amazing/beautiful. There it was, the majestic view of the blue city. There I stood tall and proud and lay my eyes on the blessed blue city. According to the local, The Brahmin used to paint their roof blue but nowadays, every one also follow the tradition irregardless of caste. I ordered a noodle onions, strawberry milk and half fried eggs. We were served by a very cute little girl, daughter of the guest house owner, Shalu. Her younger and playful brother name was Sunir.
The first place we went was Jaswant Thada, the graceful marble cenotaph of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. This main memorial has been built like a temple with intricately carved marble stone that is sculpted by the genius artesian. After hanging around and did nothing but enjoying the atmosphere and surrounding from the top of the square, we left the structure and walk alongside the rocky uphill towards the majestic Mehrangarh fort. The infamous fort was built by titans and colored by the morning sun.
This fort is one of the largest fort in India. This magnificent fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres atop a 125-metre high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan. To commemorate historic victories three gates are found in the fort. Within the fort, several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces are found. After the fort, we went downhill through the villages of blue rooftops houses until we found a roof top restaurant. Outside the guest house, there was this twenty something dude were showing us his collection of foreign currency. He was asking about Malaysian notes. We didn’t have anything but a RM 10 note. The trick was, we gave him the note and he invited us to the same amount of RM 10 worth of meals. Well, the funny thing was, the trick work on so many people. We met this bearded, completely Rastafarian guy, name Amir, from Israel. Then I went on to ordered Rajasthani thali and glass of banana lassi after few pages of Shantaram. Then an English traveler were tricked to the rooftop as well. His name was Gavin and his all time number one favorite British band was Queen.
We left soon after and in the evening, we were wandering in the bustling bazaar. We arrived at the guest house around 6pm. I used that time to read up the rest of Shantaram and we had a our dinner at the rooftop before entrained to Jalsalmer that night itself.
The journey to Jalsalmer by train took us about 7 hours. We arrived at Jalsalmer or the golden city at 5.30 in the morning. We took the sleeper class. The ride was smooth and nap was good until we woke up slightly before we arrive. Sands were everywhere- because the journey to Jalsalmer did pass through the desert.
We took a jeep from railway station to Hotel Renuka. After checking in, we went straight to the rooftop restaurant where we met two kitchen helper from Kashmir, Suvinder and Darson. This rooftop offer us one of the most fantastic view towards Jaisalmer fort, one of the world’s finest and greatest fort. This for is now under UNESCO list of endangered fort and it’s under severe protection and perseverance. This fort otherwise known as SONAR QUILA or the Golden fort, rising from the sand , the mega structure merges with the golden hues of the desert ambience and the setting suns in its most colorful shades gives it a fairy tale look. The name Jaisalmer induces a dramatic picture of utter magic and brilliance of the desert. The hostile terrain not with standing the warmth and colour of people is simply over whelming.
We were busying chatting with Darson and Suvinder. It was raining that morning and the weather was kind of chill. Darson and Suvinder was obviously a funnyman. They served us two glasses of hot masala chai.
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