India Day 3 – Udaipur to Jodhpur

Sunday and we spent most of the day traveling from Udaipur to Jodhpur. Went for an early morning walk, round..

We had decided not to book a bus (there is no direct rail link), but instead booked a car and driver, who duly arrived at our hotel at ten o’clock as arranged. It took about twenty minutes to clear the traffic through the outskirts of Udaipur and then out into the country. Green fields with corn and sugar-cane, it was hot (up to 30deg) but we decided to travel with the windows down, without a/c so that we could smell and see everything and take photos as
we went. We went through many villages, dusty, noisy, bike repair and scooter outlets on the roadside, plus cows and dogs wandering across our bows – following the squassums tradition – tally for the day: two dogs, no cows. In the country we passed camel trains, with children perched on top and baby goats squeezed into saddle bags. We also met flocks of sheep and goats being herded along the road, grazing the hillside, lead by fierce looking tall shepherds with bright crimson turbans and stout
staves, some particularly long with small scythes on the end. The road passed over a mountain range, through a national park. We stopped for half an hour at a very ornately carved marble Jain temple at Ranakpur, on the edge of the national park, where we each received a bright yellow spot on our forehead. Then we went on to a lunch spot where we were offered a smörgåsbord lunch of Indian vegetable and chicken curries including an ice cold bottle of Kingfisher beer – yum. Still in the national park we stopped at a bend where a tree, that overshadowed the road, was full of black-faced monkeys, we managed to take a photo or two, but had to be quick to close the window as they approached rapidly for food – apparently this is a spot where they have learnt to wait for tid-bits – but we didn’t have any.

Coming down to the plains the countryside became less green and
noticeably more barren – Jodhpur is on the edge of the Thar Dessert. As
we joined a main road, it got much busier and our driver demonstrated
the art of weaving between trucks and the many other types, sizes and
speeds of road users. One advantage over NZ, is that everyone expects to
encounter you on the wrong side of the road, so there is no hint of
road-rage at having to take evasive action such as slowing right down
and/or moving off the road altogether because there are one or more too
few lanes of tarmac. Light relief as we approach Jodhpur on a toll-road,
with much less traffic and smooth tarmac. It has been a long hot day and
we are glad to arrive at our hotel in the middle of Jodhpur on Old Loco
Road, now a quiet distance from the railway, to pay off our driver and
relax in the evening in a courtyard built round our family run hotel
built in the 20s, decorated in style, and refurbished with modern
plumbing and bathroom facilities and a 8’6” wide double bed with
prominent art deco wooden bed-head – Gay reports that she cant reach me
in the night to prod me out of my mild snoring! The home cooking is
superb, we are going to have to skip lunch and just keep the water going
during the day in order to properly enjoy the evening meal. Shortly
after our arrival we were rung by Baiji – who had known my grandparents
when they were in India at the end of WWII, had gone back to London with
them, and whose family runs the Palace and Mehrangarh Fort that
dominates the hill above the city. At 90, she continues to show people
round the palace, arranged tickets for us for the fort for the following
day and suggested we meet at the palace on our second day in Jodhpur.
Our driver’s sister also lives in Jodhpur, and his brother-in-law is a
tuk-tuk driver, so arrangements were made for him to be our driver the
following day.