[tsk1979]

Now if you think the gold plated music room is something, wait till you see disco light room
Stained glass windows - Check
Weird shiny blobs on roof - check
Frescos on floor - check
Crazy color scheme - check






So what was it? The psychedelic pink floyd concert room. Loonie bin?


Nope, it was the bedroom. Apparently, when fire was lit, the colored christmas decorations on the roof lighted up the room in different colors. I guess if any james bond came in at night assassinate the Rajah, he would go mad with hallucinations


Every morning as the sun came up, the room would be bathed in weird light


I once saw a pic of a sheiks chromium plated mayback or something. I guess these Rajahs were in the same league when it came to taste

From there we sauntered into another room with palkis






the Rajah had 30,40 or 100 wives(depending upon which guide you ask).

Anyways, this is the conference room


After that we came back out in the courtyard


The sun was going down


But we still hadn't seen the garden. Since nitin would be here one more day, he was not in a hurry, and we rushed towards the garden, hoping to get in.

TO BE CONT.........

[gomzi]

Awesome pics and narration Tsk. Description of the Disco light room is

The opulence for those times must have been breathtaking. Now even I want to go to Rajasthan. I've only been on a whirlwind visit to Jaipur.

[mpksuhas]

Great pics.. the night pics are truely amazing. Can you share what was the shutter speed for that night camp pics?

[tsk1979]

The night shots have exposure of roughtly 500 seconds

[tsk1979]

We reached the garden late. The ticket counter was closed. All counters were closed, but the gates were open, with nobody manning them.
So decided to take a quick whirlwind tour.
While the garden itself was uninspiring(heck we find better ones in small farmhouses in PB) the views of the fort were nice






We decided to climb the walls, and get blue city with fort






Meanwhile the garden gates were about to be closed, and we had to hurry out. Not that we missed much!

the Garden from top


Blue city pics




As the sunset was going to happen, soon, we met up with nitin at the sunset point




He monopolized the window


I pointed my cam upwards towards the fort walls




Sun going down over the blue city






With the sun down, we had one more place to go. The canon area with some big big guns

TO BE CONT...........

[amikacin]

Another jewel in the crown Tanveer bhai.
Your travelogues are always a pleasure to read.
Crisp narration, nice pics and exotic locales; you must be quite in demand with
all those travel magazines or have they not discovered you yet. But their loss is our gain.

These palaces are famous for their stained glass paintings and it was a method of the royalty at that time to encourage the artists.


Mehrangarh fort is a sight to behold. The gardens can be forgiven due to extremes of weather and the paucity of water.
The view from the top is breath holding as you have captured. Equally scenic is the Dome of Ummed Bhavan palace in night.
I had forgotten my camera in the last trip but the the sight of the dome is still etched in the memory

[tsk1979]

The cannon area had spectacular views of the "new city"

And the cannos were lovely.

Vintage gun


This baby was from 1918, with gears and levers and what not

This reminded me of the BFG of doom


Meanwhile light was fading, and the guards were unsuccessfully trying to shoo everyone(including us) away!


More sunset pic


Umaid palace


Another gun


We clicked one more sunset, and headed back to our hotel


TO BE CONT............

[tsk1979]

After the fort, it was return through the same narrow lanes to the hotel. We decided to eat out and went for a short walk in the evening, and had dinner. After dinner we devoured omellets at "The omellete man's shop!"

Then from the terrace, where a guests b'day was being celebrated, I took few pics
Fort


Jaswant Singhs memorial


Fireworks


Clock tower

Umaid bhavan



We retired not so early, because tomorrow the plan was to leave by 1:30. Before that we had to eat lots of omelletes and also see Umaid Palace and Jaswant memorial! Nitin had one more day in Jodhpur so tomorrow it will just be the 2 of us!

But at that time I did not know what an adventure it will be!

TO BE CONT...........

[tsk1979]

Today was going to be relaxed.
We had decided on a 1:30pm exit from Jodhpur after seeing Jaswant Singh's memorial and Umaid palace.

Around 10am, we walk towards the Omelette shop, and at the parking we decide to put some stuff in the safari.
As I open the rear left door, I see a sight which is the stuff of nightmares.
There is a huge big RAT sitting and staring up at me.
For a moment none of us move, and I know its now or never.
I lunge for it, and it runs towards the front, I quickly open the front door, and try to grab its tail as it dashes towards the dash.
Alas, no luck, the critter has hid in the dash.
We open all doors and bang on the panels etc., to try and get it out, but no such luck.

So nothing to do, but get a rat trap from the hotel, and go for omelettes and hope for the best.

the omelets brighten up the horrible day.
We have 2 each(and each of them have 2 eggs) and then I spot something called michaelbaba omelet which costs 50rs.
I ask the guy what is it, and he tells me this one has 3 eggs, cheese, potatoes etc., etc.,
Probably an american called Michael came to his shop once and had 100 3 egg omelets, and he named the omelets in his honor.

But with rats in my mind, there is no time for the michaelbaba as we rush towards the white elephant to see if its been caught.
No such luck alas, this one will go with us to Delhi! (It left the car on its own later in Delhi, right in front of our eyes!)

Anyways, time for some touristy stuff.
After scaring nitin with rat stories and telling him that his black beast is probably a wildlife sanctuary now, we say goodbye, and head to Jaswant Thada(memorial)

I will let the pics do the talking. It was no less than a mini Taj mahal







This kid had a real nice voice




the fort we visited yesterday


More pics










Look at the marble!


Parting shot


After that it was time to take the narrow bylanes of the city to Umaid palace.
Thanks to two buses entering the market at same time there was a huge jam, and we took an alternate route through the backlanes.
By luck, GPS or chance, I do not know but we reached Umaid palace by 12:45pm and got our entry tickets.
I found it pretty average, more like a 5 star hotel(well it is one) than a palace. It was constructed in the late 30s. When the entire country starved the Rajahs had a nice time building palaces!
Anyways the pics


Things of beauty.. Vintage cars!






The lone shot I took inside. the museum was not as good as the fort one, so no pics for that






By 1:15 we were done!


A new colony coming up behind the palace


Parting shot


SO by 1:30 we were headed on the highway. Thanks to the omelets, we did not need lunch, and after a quick fuel stop around 2pm, we were on the open roads!

TO BE CONCLUDED........

[amikacin]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

There is a huge big RAT sitting and staring up at me.
For a moment none of us move, and I know its now or never.
I lunge for it, and it runs towards the front, I quickly open the front door, and try to grab its tail as it dashes towards the dash.
Alas, no luck, the critter has hid in the dash.

(It left the car on its own later in Delhi, right in front of our eyes!)

.

Probably the rodent was interested in hitching up a ride in
your white elephant for Delhi.
May be it was also on a "Bharat Bhraman" expedition.


Jokes apart, hoe did it get in and has it done any damage to wirings
or plastics. Finding rodents in your car is sure among the worst of the nightmares.

[mercedised]

Nice trip!

BTW: What is the name of the place where you did campaigning?
When i did tour of jaisalmer; i went to Sam dunes but unfortunately it was not much intresting. also did you go to national park there?

Which "model village" have you mentioned.

In future if i again do the tour of jaisalmer then where should i contact to explore jaisalmer as you did?

at last how much did the camel guys took(money)? per camel per person.

[sudev]

Whats the streak in upper right??

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by sudev

Whats the streak in upper right??

must be a plane or a jet....

[ishotmydog]

tsk fantastic travelogue, absolutely loved the pictures.

my favorite though is the first picture in the first post, the safari in all its glory

[sachinj12]

Tanveer, next time you are about to post a travelouge, send a mass PM to everyone. Holy cow, how come I came across this thread so late.

Blessing in disguise that I didn't see this thread earlier, else would have failed in my semester exams.