Jojawar

some Langur monkeys along the road

Today we leave Ranakpur and go to Jojowar, no idea what we're going to do there because again nothing can be found about it in the traveling guides. I guess it's gonna be a surprise ;-)
Along the way Raju stops for his tea break and again I draw all attention because of my tattoos.
While Hilde takes pictures from the locals I share a biri and some tea with Raju.

Raju and a local kid

yours truly

A couple of hours later we reach Jojawar and our beautiful new hotel, again it seems to be an old fort. This little garrison fort was once a major principality of the Royal house of Marwar. Bestowed with the title of Rao, the nobles looked after this little fiefdom for about 2 centuries after its construction in the 18th century.
Known by the name of Rawla Jojawar the fort is now converted into a heritage hotel.
The whole hotel breathes the history of its former owners, pictures of long forgotten times hang everywhere and give each room its own character and beauty.
And guess what, again we have the opportunity to have a massage and we don't hesitate to book a session before dinner ;-)

Our hotel (pictures taken from their website)

But it's still early and there's nothing on our planning so we decide to take a peek in the village, accompanied by our "bodyguard" and my personal huggybear Raju.
As soon as we leave the hotel we are swarmed by schoolkids who all want their picture taken and show a high interest in .... yep, my tattoos, who could have guessed ;-)

While Hilde disappeared in a shop again (psssst, I think she's a shopaholic) I buy some sweets and hand them out to the kids, increasing my popularity by a shitload.
During our walk through the village Raju tells us about normal village life, about the meaning of the different colors of the turbans and most important how I can recognise married women ;-)

the market place

the local barber

After a tour through the village we spot a tea shack and Raju and me go for some tea while Hilde is off to some shop again.
Soon the locals start asking Raju some questions about me which he translates for me and before we know it we're having a lively conversation, mostly about my tattoos again which starts to bore me. To amuse myself and to avoid having to give the same answer over and over again I start being creative in my answers and let my imagination run freely. So everytime when they ask me a question I answer it with what pops op in my head first.
If they don't ask me about the tattoos they mostly want to know what I do for a living and up till now I've been a soldier, an IT geek (how funny), a firefighter, a contract killer (you should have seen their faces when I gave this answer ;-) ), a garbage collector and a teacher.
One of these days I'm gonna tell them that I'm a clini-clown and see how they react ^^
Well we're having fun, a good laugh with the locals and some of the people even go to get their kids to take a look at that strange white dude.

woooo, look at that scary white dude !!

After a while Hilde retreats to our hotel room because she's feeling sick, since a couple of days we're both having tourista and neither pill we tried so far seems to work.
Luckily our bowels have good timing so we never have to fight about who can use the toilet first, atleast one good thing.
But we're always on the lookout for a toilet and toilet paper has become a standard item in our bags.
Anyway, while Hilde left for the hotel Raju and me continue our tour through the village.
We end with sharing a beer in the stables behind the hotel together with some of the guys who work there.

Old man who wanted his picture taken

the shoemaker and a client

making an ice cone or what we call een ijslollie

local boy

At 6 it's time for our massage, woooohooo give it to me baby, I'm ready for ya !!!!
Seems that the local barber and his lovely wife are gonna give us the royal treatment but to my huge disappointment I get the guy instead of his lovely missus :-(
Although he's not my type the guy knows his stuff and it doesn't take long before I'm purring like a big lazy kittycat under his skilled hands.
What a massage this is, all muscles get the necessary attention and after an hour I feel like reborn. Definitely one of the best massages I ever got and almost as good as the massages I got from Rachmat on Lombok.

During diner we get a courtesy visit from the owner of the hotel, while asking questions he constantly stares at my tattoos (what do these people have with tattoos ??) which makes me think that this polite conversation is nothing less than an excuse for him to check out my skin paintings from up close.

local school

kids lining up and getting ready for morning gymnastics

Udaipur

GOOD MORNING INDIA !!!
Damn I love being here, nice people, lots of beautiful things to see, plenty of sun and heat, cheap prices and lets not forget the stunning women in their colourful sari's !!!
What a nice place to spend my retirement ;-)

Anyway, today we're off to Udaipur, a city only 2 hrs driving from Ranakpur.
The last few days we got to know a much cleaner India, not so much dirt along the roads as in the beginning, actually the roads look pretty clean apart from a wrecked truck now and then.
We already saw a couple of those, one hit a tree which smashed it's cabin and another hit the "vangrails" and got literally ripped apart. For most passengers or drivers of these trucks it means certain death because nobody stops to help, there's no police coming to the rescue nor are there ambulances to rush you to the hospital when you're injured.
Frankly spoken, once you get involved in such a grave accident you're left to die which is pretty sad.
But with a population of well over 1 billion I guess they aren't bothered with one more or less (being cynical here).

Another thing I noticed is that I'm immensely popular with the locals, gosh I wished the women at home gave me as much attention as the locals do here ;-)
Apparently my tattoos fascinate them and as soon as I leave the car people come to me to watch and even touch them. I even had one guy who tried to rub it off, he thought it was just a painting on my arm ;-)
When I explain that the ink is inserted in the skin with needles their eyes grow and their awe for me grows even bigger.
Yeah, for these Indian dudes I'm one tough motherfucker !!
Although I quickly loose that tough status when our driver comes to me for his daily dosis of hugs (and no he's not gay !!).
Raju and me get along pretty well and for Indian guys it's common to show their affection with a hug, I encountered the same in Thailand when I gave one of the locals a cigarette, the guy jumped me and gave me a hug (see sigarettes may be bad for your health but they make you getting lots of hugs ;-) ).
Hilde's relation with Raju is not that good though so no hugs for her, in fact he's pretty nasty to her from time to time. But to me he's as sweet as sugar so you don't hear me complaining.

But where was I ? Right, on our way to Udaipur.
Udaipur is also known for the City of Lakes with the biggest lake being Lake Pichola, another synonym for Udaipur is the Venice of the East.
The people here are very proud of the fact that Udaipur is the only city in India that succeeded in keeping it's independence and never got conquered by the Moghuls (muslims).
The first thing on our planning is a visit to the Jagdish Temple, a large Hindu temple in the middle of Udaipur. It was built by Maharana Jagat Singh Ist in 1651 A.D

The templeHoly men; they dedicate their life to religion and live from charity

After our visit to the temple we have some time to have a little stroll in the streets around it and ofc it doesn't take long before I've lost Hilde in one of the local shops, *sighs* women !!

After about 2 hours it's finally time to visit the City Palace.
Standing on the east bank of Lake Pichola is a massive series of palaces built at different times from 1559. The balconies of the palace provide panoramic views of the "Jag Niwas" (the Lake Palace Hotel). They also have great views of Jag Mandir on one side and the city of Udaipur on the other. Its main entrance is through the triple-arched gate - the Tripolia, built in 1725. The way now leads to a series of courtyards, overlapping parations, terraces, corridors and gardens. There is a Suraj Gokhda, where the maharanas of Mewar presented themselves in the times of trouble to the people to restore confidence. The Mor-chowk (Peacock courtyard), gets its name from the mosaics in glass decorating its walls. The chini chitrashala is noteworthy while a series of wall paintings of Krishna are on display in Bhim Vilas. There are numerous other palaces such as Dilkhush mahal, Sheesh mahal, Moti mahal and Krishna vilas - in memory of a princess of striking beauty who poisoned herself to avert a bloody battle for her hand by rival princes. Now the palace contains many antique articles, paintings, decorative furniture and utensils and attracts thousands of visitors every day. The former guesthouse of the city palace, Shiv Niwas Palace and the Fateh Prakash Palace have been converted into heritage hotels.

The Tripolia - triple-arched gate

Palace front

One of the balconies, look at the details

the mirror room, this room is set with all kinds of materials that reflect light to get as much light from the oil lamps as possible during the night

One of the courtyards with swimming pool

Another courtyard with beautifully carved windows

Courtyard with balcony

One of the different palaces in the main palace, this one is the actual residence of the current Maharana of Udaipur

After our visit to the Main Palace and a refreshing drink for Hilde and a steaming hot black coffee for me it was time for a boat tour on the lake and a visit to Jag Mandir, one of the 2 lake palaces.
Jag Mandir is another island in Lake Pichola which is known for its garden courtyard. Shah Jahan took refuge here while revolting against his father (you'll hear more about this guy later).

The main palace seen from Lake Pichola

The Lake Palace seen from the Main Palace
Lake Palace was built in 1743-1746. It is made of marble and is situated on Jag Niwas island in Lake Pichola. It was originally built as a royal summer palace, but is now a luxury 5 Star hotel

entrance of the Lake Palace

A guy floating on a raft in lake Pichola, I guess he's fishing

A woman doing her laundry on the border of the lake

And finally Jag Mandir, this place is now used to give parties for those who can afford the price.
I enjoyed strolling through its gardens and seeing dozens of squirrels running everywhere.

view from the lake

inner courtyard

the bird cages

Kokechi in the gardens watching squirrels ;-)

Khejarala - Jodhpur - Ranakpur

Today we visit Jodhpur, the city is known as the Sun City for the bright, sunny weather it enjoys all year. It is also referred to as the Blue City due to the blue-painted houses around the Mehrangarh Fort.

Blue houses with the fort in the background

view from the fort

Jodhpur also gives its name to a special kind of trousers (Jodhpurs) which are very commonly worn here by the male Indian population, these trousers look like horse riding trousers from the past => tight-fitting only from the knee to the ankle and flared above the knee.
Our guide for today is wearing one (looks funny to see someone dressed for horse riding but without a horse).

Our first stop is the royal burial place Jaswant Thada. Actually the name is wrongly chosen because in India they don't bury people but they burn the bodies on a funeral pyre.
It is a white marble memorial built in 1899 in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II.

Kokechi in front of the monument

Some kids trying to make a buck at the monument

The fort seen from the monument

After the Royal burial place we go and visit the Mehrangarh Fort, it is located atop a 125 m high hill and is the most majestic and one of the largest forts in India. It was originally started (c.1459) by Rao Jodha, the founder of Jodhpur.
Inside its boundaries there are several palaces, which are known for their intricate carvings and sprawling courtyards.
There are seven gates, which include Jayapol meaning victory built by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victories over Jaipur and Bikaner armies. Fattehpol also meaning victory gate was built by Maharaja Ajit Singh to mark the defeat of Mughals.
The fort also houses one of the finest museums in Rajasthan.
The least we can say is that it was an overwhelming experience, to find such beauty in a building made for military purposes. I for one start to see the Indian history in a completely different light, these people were amongst the smartest and richest in the world and they did everything to show it off. Again I wished I could have seen this place when it was at it's best, I think it would leave me completely dumbstruck.

specially for Kaan: fist weapons on display in the museum

a golden palanquin

After our very enjoyable visit to the fort Hilde and I decide to go and get a sniff of the town, visit the local markets and maybe find some nice places to shop.
Old city here we come ;-)

gate to the central market place

one of the streets around the market

a beautiful haveli in the city center

a shabby structure housing poor people

street scenery

Our search for some nice souvenirs came to an end when Hilde got overwhelmed by the heat, the temperature in the sun easily reaches 45°C and it only gets warmer.
We ask the guide if he knows a nice shop with air conditioning and ofc he does, tsjitsjing tsjitsjing he already smells the nice commission he's gonna get ;-)
The shop is all we could wish for and offers beautiful carvings, antiques, furniture, tapestries, plaids, bed linen, etc etc.
Needless to say we shopped until we dropped ;-)
Our driver Raju wasn't very happy with our shopping spree and we even had to lie about the money we spent to prevent him from getting angry. He always tells us that in Jaipur everything is much cheaper and that we should wait with buying stuff until we get there.
Luckily we disregarded his opinion this time because later we will notice that Jaipur is far from cheaper.

Sadly we can't stay here to get to know the city better, we have to start moving to get to our hotel in Ranakpur before dark.
The roads are narrow and go steep up and down the hills, it's already getting dark and just at this unlucky moment our driver decides to go Schumacher on us which is not to Hilde's liking.
Nothing we say can change our drivers driving style, yeah yeah he's a stubborn little bugger but I like him ;-)
Finally we reach our hotel in one piece, much to Hilde's relief.

Anyway it has been another nice day in India, tomorrow we go see Udaipur.