i must say lonely planet is single handingly spoiling travelers (the particular bunch who believe that they are independent backpackers who loath rolling suitcases and fight to distinguish themselves clearly from tourists on a travel package). but honestly, we who all carry the lonely planet, aren’t as independent and travel savvy as we would like to imagine ourselves to be. we are not adventurers or vagabonds of the forgotten age, who travel and explore new terrain like how marco polo did.
i looked up my outdated LP, chose a decent guesthouse (or so they say) and found my way there. but the guesthouse was crap – dirty, expensive, dim, staffed by unfriendly bored people and nothing like what my 2 year old LP said. it was in a way interesting to be traveling with an outdated guide and to see how much have changed in 2 short years. prices are much higher now, there are new roads and bridges, some buildings are no longer occupied and quite often, the much praised guesthouses of the afteryears no longer deserve much praise at all. they had succumbed to popularity, the staff greased with all the money that backpackers bring in. i must say that these travelers who follow the book blindly, go to the reccommanded restaurants and guesthouse, see the same sights and visit the same shops, are like sheeps being herded into a tourism monopoly. i will still travel with a guidebook in the future, no doubt about that, but i’ll remind myself to take everything with a a pinch of salt as well. i walked out of the guesthouse which had seen better days and down a few streets, easily found a better room for a cheaper price.
jodhpur was to be one of my rajasthan highlights when i was planning the trip. i don’t exactly know why either, but i found the pictures of the sea of blue houses to be whimsically fascinating. it was as if a kid built a city out of lego, decided that he will use mostly the blue bricks and call his creation the blue city. in jodhpur’s case, the brahmins used to paint their houses in a shade of blue, and then the rest of the community caught onto it and joined in as well. whimsical but i like it.
the view from mehrangarh fort down to the old city was the best, and this is where i saw the most concentrated group of blue houses. the fort itself was also worth the ticket price, it was the most well preserved fort in rajasthan so far, with very interesting rooms, frescos and artifacts. walking slowly in the fort was like getting lost in time. it was quite easy to get lost in until i was joined by truckloads of tourists, or should i say, travelers who signed up for tour packages and didn’t have the benefit of owning a copy lonely planet.
i don’t remember seeing so many tourists anywhere else in rajasthan. they were everywhere in the old city of jodhpur, it was hard to miss them. you can easily spot them from a distance, a distinct white bunch of people among indians and they are always led around by a smartly dressed indian guide, transported around by white gleaming tourist buses and surrounded by the most touts and children.
the rest of my days in jodhpur was spent reading books. i bought 3 books and finished 2 of them in 2 days. there wasn’t a train to jaisalmer (fully booked), so i caught another long haul bus to my next destination.
