Jodhpur

Today I became very aware that I'm on the homeward run as it was back to Jodhpur to the same hotel that we stayed in on our way down to Gujarat. Tarun has been dreaming of that swimming pool for a while now.

The first part of the drive wasn't too exciting as we were on a main highway and although the road was great there isn't a great amount to see on these roads. The real sights are on the lesser roads but the very very best sights are on the lesser lesser roads where Tarun has vowed to keep off :-)

Didn't think he'd stick with that resolution!

I consider myself very lucky to have been able to venture into these out of the way places and I think I really realised that when I reached the very touristy Udaipur where the tourists were mainly seeing buildings and shops. Thank you Tarun... youve given me a very unique experience.

We hadn't seen many monkeys for a while so I was happy that we started to see them again leaving Udaipur. They sit and watch us go by, often on the road where the cars pass by very closely. These black faced monkeys have extremely long tails which often stretch out over the road and I wonder how many cars end up running over the tail. Ouch!

Before we hit the desert the roads were very pretty with lots of trees with green leaves and flowers.

Lots of activity of course with vehicles, animals and people. At one point there was a sign indicating that there were leopards in the area but despite Tarun's warnings on both this trip and the one I did last year, I have never seen one. The people are always colourful and I've started to recognise the regional differences in dress.

The villages are also very different and the houses constructed in different materials and styles.

 

I have noticed many handmade bricks as I've travelled around . You often see a large square brick structure with smoke arising from it as they are fired.

 

At one stage today we had to wait for a train. This is usually chaotic but much easier today because there wasn't too much traffic. I decided to count the carriages... 59!! That is a very long train.

There is a festival of gypsy music on in Jodhpur and the hotel seems to be full of foreign tourists. We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing. 

Off to Bikaner tomorrow... another long drive but we are staying for two nights.