Many of the houses in Jodhpur are painted a light blue color, giving the city a light blue look and earning it the nickname "The Blue City." We learned that this is because they used indigo, which kept the houses cool in the summer and also warded off mosquitos. The look is cool both from afar and up close.
Although Jodhpur’s a decently sized city, there wasn’t a whole lot to do here, other than the fort (there’s gotta be a fort) and absorbing the blue. So we only spent a day here. Took the midnight train to Jodhpur, arrived in the morning, and left that night for Delhi.
Our first stop was the fort, on a hill with a beautiful view of the city, and awesome in the early morning light. This fort was also home to the first wifi we’d had since a brief spat in Jaipur. We arrived on a Tuesday morning still oblivious to that week’s football games. So imagine our shock when, at Mehrangarh Fort, we discover that the Seahawks had whupped the Saints in the Wild Card round. Pete pulled the scores up on his iPhone, then pulled a youtube clip of Marshawn Lynch’s incredible, tackle-breaking run. The 60ish (I’m poor with age estimates, especially when you have to factor in a lifetime of malnourishment) barista at the museum coffee shop came over to check out the iPhone. They do have iPhones here, but fancy phones aren’t nearly as common, and I think it’s quite possible this guy had barely ever seen the internet, let alone streaming video on something the size of an order pad. Pete then tried to explain what was going on to the guy, which was futile on so many levels. Seriously, nobody knows much about football here, and I’m sure this 60-year-old dude had no idea what was happening, even if he could understand the words Pete was saying. Anyway, once we’d had our fill of celebrating the Bears’ impending Seahawks matchup, we checked out the awesome fort and its views, then headed into town.
Pete wanted to bring back some tea, and we found a cool tea shop while exploring old town. A young guy named Deepak sat us down and chatted us up for a while. The whole time I was expecting him to segue to "so... I’ve got these diamonds I need to get to Delhi," but he never did. I can’t say we talked about anything meaningful, but he seemed to enjoy it, and if he had an ulterior motive, he never showed it.
Tea in hand, we headed back to the town center to kill the rest of the day, which was fading fast. Around 6:00, as the sun was about down, we started to notice all of the Asians (tons of Asian tourists all over Rajasthan) were putting on their surgical masks. Stupid Americans, visiting Rajasthan without surgical masks. Air quality rapidly deteriorated during the evening rush, to the point where we made an executive decision to ride the day out at any rooftop restaurant we could find. The only alternative would’ve been to run back the fort, but fortunately getting 4 stories up was enough to make things breathable. Like Jaipur, Jodhpur’s in a big, smog-trapping valley, and when that combines with poor emissions standards and a whole ton of people, things can get ugly in a hurry.
Traveler’s tip: I think one day was enough in Jodhpur. It was a long-ass day with the very early arrival, no hotel room, and late train out, but that’s Rajasthan. None of these towns deserved more than a couple of days, so the trip really has to involve a lot of town-hopping. We smooth-talked a nice hotel into letting us drop our bags there for the day, and we also took a couple of outside naps. That, with a leisurely lunch and dinner, made the day work great. So give Jodhpur one slow, leisurely day.
Next up: Delhi for a day, then turban time in Amritsar.
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