We landed in Jodhpur and were met by our personal driver for ourRajasthan experience. Ba greeted us with marigold garlands and red roses. Our hotel is called Pal Havali and could be mistaken for the exotic Marigold Hotel. The family still live here but most is hotel accomodation with a great rooftop restaurant. It’s made of sandstone and has a shady central courtyard.


Not only do we have a driver but a guide called Ram, very friendly and knowledgable. In fact the whole Indian population seems so friendly and welcoming. We wandered around the market maze and never got to the end after about 2 hours. Lots of pressure to buy but somehow we didn’t, at least on that day!
The houses are painted blue. We were told it is to keep them cool and because mosquitoes don’t like blue.

The Mehrangarh Fort sits on top of the hill carved from the rock. It is carved from sandstone but parts of it are painted with egg and crushed seashell to give the walls inside a smooth shiny look.

After going to the memorial thurat for the Maharaja, we were taken to numerous shopping warehouses with rugs, jewellery, statues of everything Indian and art works. We resisted and resisted!!!
We finally gave up …. the no- pressure to buy (ha ha!) became overwhelming and we bought things we didn’t need much to the delight of the sellers. We were also very lucky to be the first customers of the day!! On to Radakpur tomorrow with Ba to see the Jain temple.