Hired a driver for the journey to Jodhpur. On the way…
We visited Kumbhalgarh fort which is very impressive and is in the middle of nowhere. The surrounding wall is the longest in the world after the great wall of China. The place is beautiful and it was very quiet – you can wander around a never ending mish-mash of corridors and stone stairs that go up and down into different courtyards. Some of the old rooms near the top have amazing views and cute marble balconies that you can sit in and enjoy the strong breeze.
We also visited Ranakpur temple (an important Jain temple). From the outside it looks similar to the Cambodian style seen in Thailand. The inside was full of the most exquisite marble carvings. Some aspect of the temple reminded me of a Cathedral but not sure what. The temple is full of Buddha like statues (not quite figured all the links out yet but I know Buddhism came from India). All the taps in the complex and in the bathrooms had muslin nets on - we assume to stop the Jains drinking and thus killing any microbes.
The scenery is changing and looks similar to Morocco. We went on a short section of quiet motorway, traffic included the usual (like car speeding down the fast lane in the wrong direction) plus a few camels towing trailers. We passed some sort of market fair that made the road very congested. A lot of the men wear fluorescent pink turbans and white baggy shirt and trousers. It also never ceases to amuse me how the cows just wander and stand in the middle of the road as if that’s the best place for a cow to be. The water buffalo are so cute and huge and the boar look so cuddly.
Arrived in Jodhpur early evening, our room is pleasant enough and is on the top floor. Outside our door is the roof top cafe (nice food and quite cheap) which has views of the fort on the hill which looks absolutely enormous.
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