Jodhpur - The Blue City
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2004
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52
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Trip End
Jan 03, 2005
Jodhpur, India
Thursday, October 21, 2004
As I was eating breakfast at my hotel, Tom (from my trip to China) walked in and said hello. I had also ran into him at Humayun's tomb in Delhi. Small world. We hung out together for the rest of the day, and he kept me moving til nightfall (recall I had slept only one hour the night before)
Checked out Mehrangarh (Jodhpur's fort) - where one of the former rulers volunteered to be buried alive in the foundation to undo a curse set on the castle by someone referred to as the birdman. ????
Saw Jaswant Thada and Umaid Bhawan Palace & Museum. I recommend staying at the Umaid Bhawan palace if you happen to come to Jodhpur. It's resembles my vision of a princely English manor, and I was quite impressed.
It appears that the Indian scavenger hunt has hit a second phase. In phase one, random Indians would approach me and ask to have their picture taken with me. There must be a national contest to see who can get the most pictures with themselves and white people in them. The second phase is that everyone seems to approach me now and say, "What is your name?" "I'm Ben" "I'm Jeetil" Jeetil extends hand. I shake his hand. Jeetil walks off with a smile on his face. Guy behind Jeetil approaches me and says, "What is your name?" The game continues with me shaking dozens of hands until I flee. Makes me feel like a politician. Shake hands, smile, kiss babies. Strange contests they seem to be running here. I should have offered unlimited photography and hand shaking privileges in exchange for a bed on the train the night before.
