Jodhpur, India, January 26, 2023

I guess you can’t have it all, at least not in India.  It was very quiet by 10 pm but the bed…. I think I’m sleeping on a box spring!  I did however have a good sleep so ….

I had a slow start as there isn’t a lot to see and I’m tired of being around so many people and noise all the time.  It’s exhausting.  I watched All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix.  It’s another war movie, maybe showing more emotion and foolish leadership than others and it was very violent and graphic.  It’s been nominated for lots of Oscars so I wanted to see it.

Brunch was kaju curry which is cashews in a delicious sauce with roti of course.  Different menus offer roti, chapati and naan.  To me they’re all the same and that’s sort of true.  Roti is also called chapati and is made with whole-wheat flour and naan with white flour-

I ended up eating in this particular restaurant because I was looking for the stepwells-

I didn’t find them as impressive as in Amber.

I stopped for masala chai.  They boil the tea and spices as well as the milk-

then combine them to make the most delicious drink ever.

Next, I bought my bus ticket.  I could have purchased it online but walked to the travel agency from where the bus will be leaving at 7:15 Saturday morning.  On the way I stopped in a jewelry store and bought an amethyst ring.  They’re sizing it and bringing it tonight….I hope!  There’s a “lake” along the way-

with no access.

Next I walked up a big hill to Jaswanth Thada which is the Taj Mahal of Jodhpur.  

Entertainment along the way-

Jaswanth Thada was built in memory of Maharaja Jaswanth Singhji’s II of Jodhpur who died in 1895, by his son, and completed in 1906-

Rituals are performed inside-

A nice window shutter-

Outside are cenotaphs for former rulers-

Older tombs nearby-

The view is nice-

There’s a lake next to it-

I took a tuktuk (pronounced toque toque) to the fort-

but I’m forted out so did not go in.  I carried on to the blue part of Jodhpur.  Jaipur is the pink city, Jodhpur is the blue city and Udaipur is the lake city.  

It’s blue all right, dirty and poor-

Nice wall art-

I decided I didn’t need to see anymore so stopped to have a beer in a rooftop restaurant.  They don’t have any on hand so have to run to the nearest liquor store.  When I sat down I reached down to pull my chair forward and discovered I now have a hole about 3” x 2 “ midway between my knee and butt cheek on the back of my right leg.  I had laundry done last night and forgot to say “no ironing” - such a foreign concept to me.  These are my only pants and what pissed me off the most was that all items were returned neatly folded in a bag. No one had the guts to tell me they had burned a hole in my pants.  The edges of the hole are crusty melted!  I’ve told the owner of the guest house and I will give him the pants later on today and he will return them to the launderer and I hope that the hole will be repaired and that I will get my pants back before I leave. That will be the next concern.

I came back to the guesthouse and I’m now relaxing. Not sure what I will do tomorrow but the most famous lassi shop in the world will finally be open and it is about a two minute walk away so I will be checking it out for sure!