The Pink and Blue Cities

After leaving Agra we headed into the state of Rajasthan. Our first stop was Jaipur, known as the Pink City due to the pink color of the buildings in the city. We again enjoyed the plush accommodation of a Tident hotel thanks to our generous friend Lisa. Our hotel was directly across from the Jal Mahal, a fort that just seemed to float in the middle of Man Sagar Lake and at night even more so.





I had been told by friend of mine, Ravi, Rajasthan was the land of forts. And until we arrived I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we saw first hand how stunning these forts are. The first fort we visited was the Amber Fort, about 10 km outside of Jaipur.







We spent a few hours wondering through the various passageways and visiting the hundreds of different rooms. You could get lost if you weren't paying attention. After the Amber Fort we took our hired auto rickshaw to another fort.





We arrived at Nahargarh Fort, which while not as well preserved as the Amber Fort still provided excellent views of the city of Jaipur below.







From there we headed back down into the city and spent some time walking through the City Palace, which after seeing the ancient forts wasn't as exciting as we had hoped. We enjoyed our time in Jaipur, it had a much nicer feel to it than Agra, and we continued to enjoy the Trident's treadmill for our daily runs.



The next stop on our Rajasthan tour was Jodhpur, which interestingly enough is the origin of the word jodhpurs, the riding pants. For our 3 days in Jodhpur we were staying right in the heart of the city in a surprisingly quiet former resident of a famous aristocratic.



We really enjoyed walking the streets of Jodhpur. There was so much to see and so much going on each time you ventured out there was always something new.









Minutes from our doorstep was the Sardar Market, which you could find anything from spices to saris and plenty of fruits and jewelry in between.















Once out of the market we wandered through the narrow streets lined with colorful buildings. Of course none of the streets are labeled and some were barely wide enough for 2 people, but everyone was always friendly and would help point you in the right direction.





We wandered all the way up to Mehrangarh Fort which sits high above the town with a very commanding presence.





From the fort we had a great view of the aptly named Blue City.





From Mehrangarh Fort we walked to Jaswant Thada, a beautiful marble tomb that also sits on a hill overlooking Jodhpur. The marble structures in India have been breathtaking. They are so intricate and the way light hits marble you just can't take your eyes of them.







On our way back down we ran into 3 kids just getting off school decked out in their school uniforms. As soon as they saw my camera they were so excited, cheering "photo, photo" so they let me snap a few shots and in return they just wanted to see their photos on the back of the camera.





We rounded out our stay in Jodhpur with a relaxing evening on our hotel's rooftop terrace with a great view of the fort.