Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After getting our bearings after our taxi ride, we walked to the clocktower to find a hotel. We got a room for £4, complete with own bathroom - bargain. After being told that there was a roof top restaurant, we climbed the many flights of stairs, only to find darkness and a great view of the fort lit up, towering over the blue city. We went for dinner at a restaurant across the road, owned by a jain family (so vegan food). Hugo had a pizza but wasn't feeling hungry. I tried ker sangri, a local dish, made with circular beans and long shreds of some sort of vegetable. It was quite nice actually. The next day we headed to the fort via tuk tuk. We located the 'flying fox' - a series of zipwires across the fort - and the manager allowed us to pay student price, woo! We joined three French people and a few Indians, put on their smelly trainers (they didn't have any big enough for Hugo the giant), wiggled in to our harnesses, and learned how to use the ropes. We then did it for real, flying across the fort with views of the city below as the sun began to set. We have got some good videos :). After completing the 1.5km of wire, we headed to the cafe for a drink. We walked down the hill from the fort, and were told by a passerby that we were walking on the wrong side of the road. We crossed and he struck up a conversation -guess what- he's an undergrad electrical engineer. At the bottom of the hill, he invited us to his home so he could write down our names to add us on facebook. We were offered seats, chai and these homemade cashew and coconut sweets - very hospitable of the family. We admired his trophy collection, and then he gave us a lift on his motorbike to our side of town. We stopped for a selfie on the way haha. In the evening we wandered the old streets, with many crafts on display in the shops. We watched a man make glass bangles, and there were others sewing and weaving baskets. Hugo stopped for a haircut at a street salon. I looked on as the hairdresser snipped away, putting his leg on the chair to reach the top of Hugo's head. Halfway through he popped a packet of beetelnut (which has a high), before cracking out the razor to do his hairline. The guy then brought out the poof to get rid of hairs, followed by a hard bristle brush, before beginning the head massage - I could hear his a knuckles cracking as he slammed his hands on Hugo's head, hahaha. He then went for the stroke down the neck, and Hugo shouted out in pain haha. The rest of the barber shop laughed, and Hugo declined the rwt of the massage. £1 lighter and a short haired Hugo. On our last day in jodhpur, we headed to the market. I bought a sari for £1, but the top doesn't fit - mum you can have it for dressing up at school. We walked to some gardens, which housed a zoo, but we decided to skip it, due to it's questionable appearance/size and cheap price. Instead we walked towards Umaid Bhawan, a hotel in a palace, but gave up halfway as it was quite a way to go, and you can't actually go inside. We caught a glimpse from a distance, before going back to the fort to explore the top, which we didn't get chance to do the day before. The view from the top is amazing. Houses are painted in a lavender blue, which makes for a great landscape. Apparently the government have now introduced a scheme where they will cover the costs for residents to paint their property blue. In the evening, we had booked on to a cookery class at Spice Paradise with the lovely Rekha. Joining us were four Americans, one of whom was vegan, making the class a little trickier, as yogurt, or as Indians call it curd, was involved in many of the dishes. She went through all the spices and their ayurvedic properties. We began by making chai, milky (3% fat!) indian tea, and a herbal alternative for John, the vegan. We then made a biryani together, with fruit raita, which tasted amazing! She decorated it with silver leaf, pomegranate seeds, tomatoes and corriander. We tried masala on banana, apple and cucumber, but Hugo and I weren't converted. We then made a saffron lassi. Feeling full, she announced that we were making another curry! We chopped up some vegetables which she then blended, and we made the dough for chapatis, garlic naan and peshwari parantha. We each rolled out our own chapati and cooked it on the flame of the stove, watching it puff up. It all tasted amazing, and hopefully we can recreate the recipes at home, as we were given a copy.
- comments