Helen and Randall on the road

After deciding it was too much hassle to try and visit the Kumbalgarh Wildlife Reserve (mainly because the hotels failed to get back to us or were really hard to get to) we headed straight to Jodhpur by car, arriving a day earlier than originally planned so without a reservation. We called the place we had booked for the next few days and they said they might have a no-show so we turned up at Singhvi’s Haveli and had a beer on the roof terrace while they tried to contact their missing person.

The Blue City (Jodhpur Old City) from our guest house roof terrace.

Merangarh Fort, Jodpur, from our guest house roof terrace.

Looking down from the roof terace at the various courtyards of the Haveli.

Unfortunately the people turned up so we had to spend a night in the rather crappy ‘Veggi Guest House’ next door, but we came back to Singhvi’s for dinner and then breakfast the next morning, enjoying a leisurely coffee while they got our room ready. After a couple of hours of logistics stuff – trying (and failing) to buy advance train tickets out of the tourist quota (Oh – the Byzantine workings of Indian Railways!), paying in over 20,000 rupees in cash to a bank to pay for the Vineyard visit as they wouldn’t take credit card over the phone, and trying (and failing once more) to get Airtel Customer Service to sort my phone service out, we felt we deserved a rest so stopped for a late lunch at the legendary Omelette Shop:

The Omelette Man

Happy Omelettes.

On Saturday morning we were up early to have breakfast in the lovely restaurant at our guest house before hiking up to the fort for some crazy ziplining around the fort and ramparts with Flying Fox Asia:

Singhvi’s Haveli – restaurant.

Beautiful sari silk decorations.

Zipping with a great view.

Randall about to take off.

One of our group coming in to land.

The green dot is a slightly terrified Helen.

Phew! That’s over!

Climbing the steep slope to the Palace in Mehrangarh fort.

It’s a long way up!

Stopped for a rest on a  canon.

Randall and the Elephant-proof door.

Incredibly intricately carved ‘jali’ screens that are so detailed that they look like carved sandalwood but are actually stone.

Detail of a ‘jali’ the carved screens through which women in purdah would observe the court activities.

Randall doing his best impression of a Rajput princess peeking through the jali at the court activities below.

Beautiful glass inlay and stained glass windows.

On Sunday we went on a trip out of town to visit local artisans and farmers:

Potter throwing incredibly delicate pots and lids on a hand turned heavy stone wheel, turned with the stick on the left.

Small child fixing the missing wheels on his toy car using bottle tops. Future mechanic or engineer?

Extra-large turban tied expecially for Randall (11 metres of fabric!)

Incredible hand-loomed carpets at Roopraj Durry collective.

The durry collective was especially interesting as they formed the co-operative 11 years ago after deciding they were not getting a good deal from the exporters working as middlemen. They have been very successful, mainly because their durries are so beautiful. I will be saving my pennies for a 1200 stitch/sq in, silk, room-sized durry (around £800 a bargain at 2 months work for 2 people ). Even more interesting is that they have been using solar power for their electric light for over 8 years after subsidised small solar panels being provided by the government of Rajasthan.

Some of the exquisite finished products.

After the trip we had a late and long lunch on the terrace at Indique:

Overlooking the clocktower, central Jodhpur, at Indique, the rooftop restaurant at the Pal Haveli hotel.