Travels in India, 2020 - Culture and Couture

Perched on a hilltop three miles southwest from the city centre lies Umaid Bhawan Palace, the last great palace built in India and the largest in the world. Designed in 1929 by the British architect, Henry Lancaster for Maharajah Umaid Singh who commissioned the Umaid Bhawan as a food-for-work programme to avert starvation after years of famine. At a cost of around £11 million (in today's money) it took more than 3000 workers fifteen years to complete. No expense was spared, it has vast gardens, 347 rooms, an indoor swimming pool, marble squash courts & sumptuous Art Deco suites.

Part of Umaid Bhawan Palace is home to the current Maharajah of Jodhpur, Gaj Singh II, whilst the rest has been turned into a very swanky hotel. Although casual visitors aren't allowed inside the palace, the museum at the side of the building is open to the public.

It's worth a tuk-tuk ride out of town if only to swoon over these glamorous Art Deco interiors.

As luck would have it, Indian Interiors, a book I've had on my bookshelf for over a decade, has a few photos of the areas we peasants aren't allowed access to - the two collages below are courtesy of Taschen.

The rooms cost from £550 to £2500 a night. How the other half live!

The day we visited was overcast and very cold, so cold that we had to get Khan to drive us to the palace via FabIndia so Jon could buy a wool muffler to replace the scarf he'd mislaid somewhere on our flight between Istanbul and Mumbai. Obviously, as Anokhi was next door, it would have been rude not to have paid them a visit too and the lady in charge was thrilled to see me dressed head-to-toe in their clothes.

With Jon wrapped up, we continued on our way. Sitting 1km northwest of Mehrangarh and nicknamed Jodhpur's Taj Mahal is Jaswant Thada, a milky-white marble memorial dedicated to Maharajah Jaswant Singh II. It's a calm and peaceful spot away from the hubbub of the city and normally has great views over Jodhpur, sadly not on the day on which we visited.

Built in 1899, the cenotaph has gorgeous jalis (carved marble lattice screens) hung with the portraits of Rathore rulers going back to the 13th Century. There's even a memorial to a peacock who perished after accidentally flying into a funeral pyre.

After lunch at the stepwell and an hour basking in the sunshine, which had finally broken through the clouds, we headed home via the tailor's shop. The previous evening I'd asked the lads at the Gouri if they could recommend a local seamstress and before we'd embarked on our day's adventures Bablu took us to a tiny hole in the wall and, acting as translator, was able to explain that I'd like a dress I'd brought with me copied using the vintage sari Jon had bought me for Xmas.

Six hours later and this was the result. Not bad for £5, was it? That's me barefoot and barefaced on the beach in Goa four weeks later.

After dinner that evening we heard a commotion in the street below and decided to go and investigate. It turned out to be an impromptu party and naturally, we ended up joining in.

The following day, Khan suggested we went to the monkey garden. If you remember last year's experience in Jaipur (HERE), Jon wasn't overly enthusiastic but as there was no mention of the place in our trusty Lonely Planet guide we were intrigued to discover more.

The Mandore Gardens was the resting place of the ancient rulers of Jodhpur. Over the years the gardens had become neglected but, like much of Jodhpur, the park has recently undergone regeneration and it was a gorgeous place for a stroll.

Although we were the only people visiting that day, there were monkeys galore, but of the gentle black-faced langur variety as opposed to the more aggressive macaques.

 Of course, Jon managed to piss one of them off by daring to film it.

The cenotaphs were so large you'd be forgiven for mistaking them for temples.

These ornately carved buildings are Jain, as opposed to Hindu. Aren't they incredible?

The lovely Khan and Jon's new scarf!

And that was our last day in Jodhpur as we'd booked seats on a long-distance bus scheduled to leave at 6am the following morning but, an early night was out of the question, the marching band was at it again in the street below the Gouri Haveli.




This is the rather easy-on-the-eye groom leaving his family home on horseback to collect his new bride. Just watch his mum applying his eyeliner and that secret look they exchange.

Jodhpur stole our hearts, we could have stayed for much longer but further adventures in Rajasthan beckoned.

See you soon!

Travels in India, 2020 - Into The Blue

Still giddy with excitement from our wedding shenanigans the previous evening we decided we needed to slow things down a bit so we got up at the crack of dawn and asked our tuk-tuk driver, Khan, if he'd drop us off in the residential area of Jodhpur so we could explore the streets before the city had properly woken up.

Below the mighty Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur spreads out like a patchwork quilt in every shade of blue.

An 18th-century gate leads to Brahmpuri, the city of Brahmins, where the bluewashed houses were once home to the upper-class Brahmins although, these days, the exclusive colour-coding of India's caste system has since been dropped and residents from all backgrounds paint their homes blue to give their city its distinct identity and, just as Jaipur goes by the name of the Pink City, Jodhpur has adopted the title of the Blue City.

The blue tint is achieved by mixing a chemical indigo dye into white limewash and the colour reflects the harsh desert light and cools the interiors. It's also said that this shade of blue repels mosquitoes, although this has never been proved. 

 By the time we'd climbed back up to the gate the sun had broken through the clouds and we could feel Rajasthan's hazy winter sunshine on our skin. 

 We continued our walk, wandering around the tranquil Devkund Lake and accessing Mehgargarh Fort through the 16th-century Dodh Kangra Pol, a gate still bearing the scars of an 1808 cannonball strike. 

We wandered coatless around Chokelao Bagh, a restored and gorgeously planted 18th-Century Rajput garden chatting to nestling pigeons and tiny Brahimi squirrels.  Just like our early morning walk around Brahmpuri, other than the malis (gardeners) we had the place to ourselves. Bliss.

Thoroughly relaxed and totally chilled out we made our way back to our beloved Tunwarji ka Jhaira, for lunch at The Stepwell Cafe and to bask in the afternoon sunshine for a few hours. 

And, of course, we found another marching band.

See you soon!

More photos HERE.