Next stop was Jodhpur and yes the riding breeches do hail from here. Seeing the wealthy men of Jodhpur wearing these riding pants the British were so impressed at their comfort and practicality they decided it was one thing they definitely needed to export home!

We travelled to Jodhpur on a public bus which had 2 levels, the lower level had conventional seats whilst the upper level had compartments where passengers could lay or kneel. In addition to the reserved seating many people got on and just stood, sat or lay in the aisle. As per normal we were stared at constantly on the bus, in fact one small child stood right next to me, held on to my armrest and stared at my face intently for about half an hour. I am often writing when I'm on public transport which attracts much interest and people have no quarms about standing over me and trying to read what I'm writing. There was only one uncomfortable period when a women got on the bus with her 3 children, sat at our feet and started to beg. We have been told categorically by our leader Anuj that we should not, under any circumstances, give anything to beggars as quite often they are part of organised gangs (think slumdog millionaire!). So we had a very uncomfortable hour or so when we had to avoid eye contact and her persistant begging - not easy when her children with their huge eyes and matted hair are looking at you!

We had been warned by Anuj to minimise our liquid intake both before and during our bus journey - wise advice considering it was a 6 hour bus trip with NO toilet stop!! Fortunately, with no air conditioning on the bus, it is so hot that you tend to sweat out any liquid you consume.

We took a rickshaw from the bus stop on the outskirts of the town to our hotel in the old town - Jodhpur is larger and more congested and polluted than Jaisalmer. To get to the old town we had to drive through the Sadar Bazaar a 10km walled local bazaar which sells everything from clothes and jewellrey to food and spices and is very busy. As its centrepiece is a clock tower, the face of which, on a night time, changes colour every 3 seconds. Our hotel, despite being opposite a pool of water that resembled a floating rubbish tip, was beautifully painted with colourful murals of both traditional figures and flora and fauna, a theme which also ran into the bedrooms.

Oh, I know I shouldn't say this, but I saw my first human having a poo at the side of the road here - enough said!

Jodhpur has been nicknamed the blue city after the colour wash of the old town houses. Originally the blue (indgo added to limewash) indcated high caste Brahmin residences but these days it is used by all as it protects the buildings from termites and keeps the house cool in summer. As you are probably aware Indian society was once ruled by the caste system, the constitution has now overuled this traditional practice but in reality it will take more than just words for this long standing practice to completely die out. There are 4 castes in Indian society:

The Brahmin - represented by the head these were the intellgent thinkers.
The Kshatriya - represented by the upper torso these were the warrior class
The Vaishyas - represented by the legs these were the merchant class
The Shudras - represented by the feet these were the untouchables who served the other 3 castes.

With only one full day in Jodhpur we carefully selected what we wanted to see - you have to choose wisely as the heat restricts how much you can physically do in any one day. David and I picked the Jodhpur fort, an absolute must rising out of a 125m high rock above the old city, and Jaswant Thada a memorial for a popular and kind Maharaja.

We visited the fort on a Saturday, which on the one hand was a bad move as lots of locals were visiting, but on the other hand was a good move as the fort was full of colour, atmosphere and smiling faces. This is one overiding factor here in India - the people are incredibly friendly, they're all smiles and 'Namastay's' (indian for hello).

The fort has much history so here are a few of the more interesting facts. A hermit once lived on the fort hill but was driven off so that it could be built, in his anger he placed a curse on the fort and it suffered from a lack of water for many years. It was decided that the only way to reverse this fortune was to perform a human sacrifice and so a local pot maker came forward and agreed to be sealed alive in the foundations. There is now a plaque commemorating the site of this sacrifice - small reward indeed!

As you enter the fort you pass 2 plaques which contain the handprints of Maharaja Man Singh's widows, put there in 1843 as they passed through the palace gates for the very last time. This marks the last royal sati commited in Jodhpur when the Maharaja's wives dressed in all their finery were carried in palanquins, singing songs and handing out alms to the poor, to the funeral fire of their deceased husband where they all committed sati.

As is common in many religions and societies there was a big emphasis on protecting women from the, quote, 'relentless gaze of lustful men' so wealthy women were carried about in covered palanquins and stood behind ornately latticed wooden screens in public areas or behind cane screens decorated with coloured silk soaked in perfumed water.

In the fort we saw a hukka or hubble bubble pipe - contrary to popular western beliefs this pipe is actually used to smoke scented tobacco not opium. To consume the opium it is turned into a liquid form , filtered and drunk. Opium and hospitality still very much go hand in hand in Indian society and is used extensively at births, marriages and deaths.

The visit to the fort was rounded off with an unexpected visit to a palm reader for INR200 or 2.50. Apparently I'm hard working, non materialistic, have a short temper but remain calm on the inside, will never marry, am hard on partners rejecting them both with the head and the heart and will only ever enjoy short term relationships. Davd on the other hand is highly sensitive, likes to shout both inside and out, likes company, doesn't hide what he feels and is intense and idealistic in relationships. I thought it was interesting but at the same time take it all with a pinch of salt, especially because he kept referring to London for me even though I told him umpteen times that I didn't live in London.

In the evening we decided to splash out and head across town in 2 tuk tuks (so that's 4 people in each I hasten to add) to a restaurant and discotecque called 'On the Rocks'. The music was heavily laden towards dance music but it was still good fun as we let our hair down and had a bit of a dance.