Hi, this is my first blog ever, after so many people asked me to start writing the same. Am travelling since 2014 covered almost 50 cities in India and 13 countries. My trips are mix of random groups, family trips and with my team mates.
Jodhpur trip was my first trip with my team mates, sitting in cafeteria and voting out for places, suddenly everyone agreed for Jodhpur and within an hour we booked 7 return tickets of Jodhpur from Delhi.
On the trip day( Friday evening) 3 people reached old Delhi Station on time and rest of us were stuck in Gurgaon traffic Jam, it was almost impossible to reach station on time, so 4 of us change the plan, paid driver till the point we reached, and decided to board the train from Gurgaon station only and rushed towards it. Our train Journey was awesome we played cards till late night.
Reached Jodhpur early morning and started searching for hotel as it was not booked, we hired one auto to show us hotels, he took us to middle of the city and showed us many heritage havelis and small hotel, some doesn't have rooms and some were costly. Then he took us to some outer part and took us to hotel called 'Apple Homestay' hotel was nice and recently constructed with all required basic facilities. The room were spacious, and it had very nice wall paintings. We booked three rooms and lady allowed us early check-in as well.
After freshening up, we booked one auto again for entire day to do a city tour, first he took us for breakfast where we had 'Daal-Baati-Churma'. After breakfast we headed to the 'Umaid Bhawan Palace'- one of the world's largest private residences. The Palace is divided into three functional parts – the residence of the royal family, a luxury Taj Palace Hotel, and a Museum focusing on the 20th-century history of the Jodhpur Royal Family.
The museum houses some interesting artefacts and photos but is a too limited view of life in the palace. The antique car exhibit in front is interesting.
After palace driver took us to the Mandore Gardens & Temples, the place is so rich in terms of cultural and historical value but not well maintained. The Mandore Gardens houses ancient temples, memorials and high-rock terraces that are quite magnificent. Visitors can spend whole day gazing and clicking photos of with well-crafted temples and gardens.
We visited another famous temple Raj Ranchhodji Temple,Raj Ranchhodji Mandir of Jodhpur is one of the most visited Krishna temples in the Indian subcontinent.
Later we headed towards, the main fort 'The Mehrangarh'.
Mehrangarh the Fort of Jodhpur crowns a rocky hill that rises 400 feet above the surrounding plain, the fort can be seen from almost any point in Jodhpur. Inside the fort there are several palaces known for their intricate carvings and expansive courtyards. The museum inside the fort is fully stocked with items used by the royals of that era and is definitely not to be missed. Also, inside the fort are several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces which include Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace), Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), Sheesha Mahal (Mirror Palace) etc. There are galleries displaying a rare collection of armour from every period in Jodhpur, Paintings, Turbans and a lot more. It also gives amazing view of the blue city and sunset also.
DAY 2:
Next day after having breakfast, we checked out and kept luggage at station's Clock room and headed to the famous Village Jeep Safari. The first destination was Shri Guru Jambeshwar Temple of the Bishnois. 363 Bishnois sacrificed their lives to save trees from cutting. Bishnoi is a community founded by Shri Guru Jambheshwar Ji more than 500 years ago in Rajasthan, temple was closed, we took some photographs and moved ahead.
Next destination was the wild life sanctuary, it was like other sanctuaries where you see only few animals, he took us in from of some lake from where we only saw birds.
then we started again and went inside the village and visited some local homes and chatted with them, driver told us the shooting of film 'hum saath saath hai' was also done here in this village.
Then we headed to Kakani(Potter's and block printers village). It is an village art of making different kind of utensil’s,toy’s, statue of lord ,pot’s by an black mudy sand(clay) bring’s from pond’s (water reserviour place) in the village’s.
The person was selling the stuff at very high cost, so we bought less.
Block Printing Work
Block printing is an village art of natural colour & process. Using wooden block of different dye’s for making colorful dress and bed-sheet’s. We bought some bed-sheets from there.
Later we headed to Salawas(Weavers village) where we saw Durry (Carpet) Viewing Work.
Carpet viewing work is an village art of making carpet(Durry) by using cotton as raw material and natural colors.
In the end he took us to some Art & Craft Shops to buy some souvenirs or other stuffs and dropped us back in the City, It was a half day fantastic tour, to get a glimpse of the village life.
In afternoon around 4 we went for the lunch and later headed towards the station to catch our train.
Some More Pics from the Trip.
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