So it turns out the bus was not the packed, standing-room only, glorified truck of legend. Instead it had reclining seats and slepper cabins which doubled up as 4-berths durig the day time. The ride was smooth, although the driver seemed quite prepared to overtake trucks while approaching a corner on the crest of a hill, relying on the all-purpose 'beep the horn' method to avert catastrophe. All in all, we were in Jodhpur by 5pm, almost bang on time, meaning there was time to go into the square for what Raj tells us is one of the best lassi (a sort of yoghurt drink) bars in all of India.

In the evening we made a change to the itinerary to go and be the dinner guests at the Singh Bhati residence - that is, Raj's house. Or rather, the complex of four gated houses that are home to all of the imemdiate family. Temporary celebrity status ensued, with more or less all of the 50 people who live here keen to come and have a chat, especially the women (who, we later noticed, didn't seen to be invited to dinner in this very traditional household). It's interesting to see how much respect everyone paid to the family elders, always standing when they were around and so forth. Indeed, on arrival Raj reached down to touch the feet of his father (don't get any ideas, Dad). Speaking of Raj, he disappeared for a bit to see his wife - they only got married a few days before we started the trip, and as it was an arranged mariage they had barely seen each other before that either. Romantic, eh?

The food was good, home cooked (obviously) Indian (even more obviously) fare. And of course we were very glad to be invited back the next day for lunch.

The full day in Jodhpur was very busy, starting with a trip up the hill to Mehrangarh Fort. Here, 125m above the city, a sea of blue houses (hence, you may guess, the 'Blue City') extnds for miles around. surrounding the Sadar Bazaar and its landmark clock tower. And every big city needs a huge fort. Fortunately, this 'creation of angels, fairies and giants' (yes I'm quoting Kipling) has a very good audio guide (the creation of marketing gurus).

After splitting up, I wa able to explore the backstreets of the city (i.e. get lost for a bit) which is actually a lot of fun when you stick out like a sore thumb. Back at chateaux Singh Bhati we saw more of how the modern 'warrior caste' lives (although Raj has been at pains to talk down the relevance of castes today, it was another family member's comment that "It only takes two servants to keep this house clean" suggested there are still social gulfs here), I think the most surprising thing is how keen everyone seems to be to get to know a bunch of complete randoms who just happen to be in a particular tour group.

For the afternoon a couple of us took a jeep out to some of the surrounding villages. We started off with a potter community, before heading to a 'Bishnoi' village ('bis noi' denoting a system of 29 principles) where they continue to practice eco-friendly policies that began hundreds of years ago. Alas, it seems one of these is using opium (no, Mum, I didn't) and it is somewhat distressing to see it being given to small children as a pain killer, even if they do have a licence from the government to continue using it. Still, it made a good topic of conversation on the rooftop.