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Arrived early in the morning after a fairly smooth train journey. Jodhpur is the second largest city in Rajasthan. Also know as the blue city for its large number of houses painted this colour. At Jodhpur stark desert landscapes meet a riot of palaces, forts and temples, all enclosed within imposing city walls. Six enormous gates provide entry to the city centre and overlooking it all stands the imposing shadow of Meherangarh fort.
After breakfast we climbed 125m to the top of the fort (one of the largest in India) The walls of the fort are huge! up to 36m high and 21m wide. After wandering the walls and admiring the views we checked out the fort museum, which houses an exquisite collection of palanquins, howdahs, musical instruments, costumes and furniture all dating from around 1600.
In the afternoon I ditched Serge and took a Jeep safari to the outlying Bishnoi tribal villages to experience village life first hand. Bishnois are the followers of a 15th century sage Jambeshwar, whose creed is contained in 29 (bis noi) principles. They are known for their reverence for wildlife and respect of the environment. They also grow opium... lots of opium... lots of opium to distil and drink! We also checked out a UNESCO world heritage community and handed out candy and crayons to children who all came running to our jeeps like santa had just crashed landed on xmas day!
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