Jodhpur Day 7

On day 7, I was on my way to Jodhpur. I took one last morning pic before I left.

 

While heading out of the dessert, we med some kids who wanted to have their picture taken.

 

Pokaran fortress was along the way, and I stopped in to look around. It is currently under renovation, but what you will see is that the stone color. There are different stone quarries from region to region and each has it's own unique color.

Here is a link with some of the history, which I found interesting. It said that the first underground nuclear bomb was detonated in Pokaran. Since I didn't notice an abundance of five legged cows and sheep running around, I assumed it was safe to stay there for a few hours.

Info on Pokaran

 

There was a small temple residing on an upper floor with the walls where you could get a blessing.

 

Here are some guys who are doing some of the renovation work. They are carrying a small slab for a sidwalk. There is also a woman who was going around sweeping dust and debris from one corner of the fort to the other all the while being bent over at the back. I think I'd rather be carrying the stone all day than bent over smelling the earth all day.

 

Here are some other shots of the fortress.

 

There was a museum on some of the different floors which had weapons and clothing. I noticed these wooden sandals didn't look like they very good arch support.

 

This hallway had different gods represented. The rings and threads on the left handing between the pillar is where woman ask a god for a boy or girl baby.

 

A fort would not be a fort without a few cannons. If I'm a homeowner on the other side of the wall, I'm not sure my home insurance would be higher or lower. On the one hand, the firing of the cannons might place a cannon ball through your house rather than over it as these cannons didn't look in very good condition. On the other hand, the invading army might be stopped by a few cannon balls that reached their mark.

 

 

The sign says to tell foreigners these pottery items are relics of an ancient past because  foreign tourists will believe anything you tell them.

 

We then left the Pokaran fortress, and I stopped to take a pic of the quarry where the stone came from.

 

When I reached the hotel, I was very impressed. Notice that here is a picture above each bed. These are Raja's who slept here from other regions. This was quite the honor to be sleeping in the same bed as a former ruler, and since I would be there for two nights, I could sleep in the other bed to claim I slept in the bed of two great rulers of India.

I probably should add that these rulers were dead at the time.

I may also want to add that they were not in the bed at the time. Misunderstandings are so easily made these days.

 

As the sun was starting to set, I took a walk around the grounds. I discovered that this place was a garden getaway for the ruling Raja, and it was enormous. Just out side my room was one of the gardens which hosted a nice looking peacock who was eating an early dinner.

 

This is the garden area where the peacock was eating. The rooms are in the back of the pic.

 

At this point in the walk, I really didn't know how big this place was. I walked some more and I found some tent rooms which were available for those who wished to stay outdoors. These would be used in the summer. Currently, it was fairly chilly at night, and you wouldn't get the privilege of sleeping in a Raja's bed.

 

After this I reached a bridge. When I looked to the sides, I then realized how big this garden may be. What you are seeing in the right pic is a canal which encircles the entire garden area. There are multiple bridges with multiple canals which look 2 meters high and  20 meters wide. There isn't any water because that is only allowed during the wet season or during important functions.

 

Another garden area. One thing to remember is that I'm still in Jodhpur. Take another look at the quarry shot. This is truly an oasis in the dessert.

 

I continued to walk, and I found this center piece of flowers. I really didn't know where I was standing until I got another perspective which I will show you shortly.

 

I turned up a long walkway, and I saw the pic below.

There is a lot going on here. First notice the large slabs of stone. They appear three meters square. If you remember the pic above of the four guys carrying that one stone. You can imagine the effort needed to carry something that was 100 times as massive - if not more.

In the center there is a water fall area which looks like scales while around it there are different circular rows of flowers. What is being created here is a peacock with it's feathers out stretched.

 

The pic below is on top. In front down the walkway (upper middle of picture) is the center piece I was at before. There is a man walking on the walkway if you look closely. Behind me is a small lake which feeds the peacock water fall and will fill up all the canals. The Raja and queen had seats up here, and they would get to see the procession of elephants, rituals and dancing among buy a few items of entertainment.

I really wanted someone to turn the water on as it would have be glorious in sight and sound.

 

Farther toward the left, is a building and garden with the swimming pool.

 

I can only say this was a very grand place, and certainly worthy of the ruling Raja.

Here are some final pics of a few of the flowers growing in the different gardens.

 

It was a great travel day, and I was looking forward to heading into see the palaces of Jodhpur in the morning.

Jaisalmer

Day 5 and 6 was getting from Bikaner  to and touring Jaisalmer. I got up early in the morning, and I took some pics of the Palace\Hotel I was staying in before leaving to go deeper into the desert.

This is one of the many hallways. The Hotel\Palace is like a mini-museum. There are artifacts and historical paintings and pictures describing the history of the area.

 

In the previous post, I showed a pic of the outside of the Hotel\Palace. Here is an interior courtyard pic.

 

Before reaching Jaisalmer, we stopped by another Palace\Hotel, and I took some pics there.

 

This was a very beautiful hotel with a the lake while being in the middle of the desert. I continued to be surprised by the number of areas with large lakes while traveling deeper in to the desert.

About midway to Jaisalmer, we stopped for a rest on top of a large sand dune. I was talking with the owner, and I asked, "How big is this hill." He replied, "This is a dune, not a hill." This was my first lesson in desert lingo. In order not to offend anyone else I would ask locals if I'm on a dune or hill when I found myself climbing upwards on rough terrain.

 

 

My driver and I then continued heading for Jaisalmer which is called the "Golden City" because of the yellowish sandstone used to build the forts and palaces. There is a great link about the history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaisalmer

I will let the link above fill you in on details, you will notice that Jaisalmer is fairly close to the Pakistan border. It relies on tourism for a lot of it's income. So, there are no security worries for foreigners. We passed a few military bases along the way, and tourists were everywhere.

Here is a pic of the room and my view out the window. My day was not over yet though as I was going to a temple area to see the sunset over the city.

After driving a few kilometers, I was able to take these pics during the sunset. This was an area where priests were buried. The level of priest could be determined by the size of the marker or the size of building in which the priest was buried.

 

While I was watching the sunset and taking pics. An old man sat down nearby and started playing some tunes. It was great to hear him play while being around the temples during sunset. It's as if you have gone back in time. Of course, history may be a place I'd like to visit, but I really don't want to live there - most people didn't live very long in ancient times.

 

 

The temple area overlooked the city and the fort. I would be visiting the fort the next day.

I also noticed a bunch of electricity making windmills on another "hill".

This was my favorite desktop pic.

Here is a night shot from the hotel room which was also on a "Hill". The had lots of lights shining on the fort. It was a great site.

The next day I took a tour of the city and the fort. I'm going to assume you read the Jaisalmer link I gave above at this point.

There was a lake area that supported the city, and I went there first.

 

 

Here is a temple that was by the lake.

I then went and explored the fort with a guide. This is a living fort, but you know that because you read the link...right. This is an inner courtyard. Because this is a living fort, there were a lot of sales people and performers. There was a girl walking back and forth on a tight rope. My guide told me not to buy anything as it was all junk.

The cows also performed as well, but I didn't have any feed. Otherwise, I may have been entertained by the local cow dances.

There were lots of Haveli's. If you don't know what a Haveli is, please read my previous posts. My guide told me that the stature of a person could be determined based on how ornate the craftsmanship was on the out side of the Haveli.

We then went to an overlook point on top of the fort wall.

 

 

Again, the history is in the link I gave. So, I'm not getting into details.

Our final fort stop was in front of the largest haveli owned by three bothers who had an export business. You could go look around at their stuff, which of course was for sale and not junk.

In the pic above, notice the guy in the red turbin in the lower right. He is currently attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest mustache. He will show it to you for a small price. I figured the cow dancing would be a better bargain, but I still didn't have any feed.

One of the things I was not able to show was the inside of a wonderful ornate temple. It was dark and enclosed which made it hard to get a good pic.

My next stop for Day 7 and 8 is Jodhpur. So, time to get some rest for another day of adventure and sight seeing.