Tue, Nov 17: Jodhpur, then to Khejarla

Today was a relatively early start for the drive to Jodhpur.  Mary caught a mild version of the cold that is being passed around the group so she tried to doze a bit with not much success.

Marble slabs for sale.

We arrived in Jodhpur in the middle of the afternoon, stopped on a roadside corner to pick up our local guide and headed to the Royal Crematorium. Paul and Mary had visited Jodhpur earlier in the trip and had arranged for some tours.  Since Mary had already seen the crematorium she opted to stay in the bus.  Paul headed out with the group for another look at the crematorium.  

Then we were off to the adjacent fort.  While Paul and the group toured the fort Mary took pictures of the fort and city walls from the tour bus parking lot.

The weather today was much sunnier than our previous visit so pictures were better.  And of course we needed to take more pictures regardless.  

And Paul managed to find more interesting pictures to take in the interior that we missed on our first visit.

During the tour the group saw a turban wrapping demonstration...that required yards of fabric.

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In the distance, on a hill is the Umaid Bhwan Palace, the last palace built in India by a Maharaja (1946).  We had seen it from afar on our first visit here.  It was built as a sort of public works project to provide jobs for the local population during a very bad drought.  It is hard to miss as it dominates the near horizon and looks like a massive mosque with dome and towers.  Our guide on our previous stop said that part of it was still the home of the Maharaja but much of it was now an exclusive and very expensive hotel, and that it cannot be visited except by those staying at the hotel.

However, the palace was now our destination for the last stop of the day because Tara seems to be able to get us in everywhere.  

We were greeted by a drum and bugle fanfare, four men holding a canopy that we walked under to enter the hotel (with a fifth holding a pole to hold up the center).  A young woman scattered rose petals along the carpeted stairs in front of us, a gentleman draped an marigold necklace around our necks and another woman placed a red bindi (red vermillion dot) on our foreheads.  There were also flutes of Champaign all around.  It was a welcome fit for a maharaja or maharani.  In fact our host told us that it is how maharajas were welcomed to their homes and that the hotel wanted all of their arriving guests to experience the welcome.

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It is now official, Tara knows everyone who is anyone in India.  Mary commented that she (Tara) must be a personal friend of the Maharaja.  Tara smiled and said that no, she didn’t know him.  However, a friend of hers from her boarding school was the mother of the princess (married to the Maharaja’s son).  The princess wasn’t there to greet us as she had given birth to the second in line to the throne just the day before. 

The central “lobby” was a massive round room rising several floors to the dome.  

Details of the dome ceiling

In the back there was a massive terrace and garden with views of the city and fort beyond...

and a wide terrace set up for dining.

The main elevator had gold leaf detailing...

and a chaise lounge for those who can't be bothered to stand while the elevator is in motion.

There were tiger rugs (and tiger rugs with the tiger’s head intact) on some of the walls…left over from another time.  

We had a tour of several of the guest rooms.  

All of the rooms included a sitting area...

and pretty awesome bathrooms.

One room visited was the Maharaja Umaid Singh Suite, the most expensive suite in the facility.  

Sitting area.

Large dining area.

The suite included a massage room as big as a typical hotel room...

and a massive bathroom with lots of marble.

The rooms were exquisitely furnished, mainly in art nouveau style with “family portraits” of maharajas. 

The manager of the hotel then invited us to the Trophy Room (yes, more tiger skins, and the animal heads including tiger, water buffalo and various antelopes on the walls) for snacks.  

They bought out drinks and wave after wave of hot and cold appetizers.  

After 8 or 10 rounds of appetizers the manager invited us to dinner on the patio overlooking the grounds, courtesy of the hotel management.  It helps to have friends in high places.  Tara is beyond amazing.

Instead of being given menus from which to select our meals the chef himself came out to greet us and asked what we would like and listed several basic selections…lamb, fish, or chicken…no other details other than the lamb was a lamb shank a la osso bucco.  We started out with a tiny melon and citrus dish, about one bite.  

This was followed by a wonderful fresh salad, then a soup, and then our wonderful entrée’s. 

Just as we were all stuffed they bought out a dessert sampler plate for each of us.  It included an extremely creamy crème brulee, a very tiny slice of lemon cheesecake, a tube made out of chocolate and filled with chocolate mousse, and blueberry ice cream.  The ice cream was garnished with GOLD LEAF…that you eat.  The chef accompanied each course to make sure we were all satisfied.  We only saw him at one other table so, again, Tara turned us all into VIPs.  All in all it was an absolutely amazing dinner and an amazing experience.

We were all rather sad to leave.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

After dinner we then had a two hour drive to our next stop. The road was long and very bumpy and it seems we are out back of beyond to Fort Khejarla.  The reception was a mini-imitation of our reception at the Palace in that we had drummers welcoming us in.  The fort looks much like a European medieval fort with round towers and crenelated walls.  It was built around 1705 and presented by the local Raja to one of his soldiers who exhibited extraordinary bravery.

Our room is up two flights of steep stairs with minimal banisters.  It has a lot of character with a large headboard that looks like a stained glass window from a European chapel.  

The very large bathroom was in a round room in a tower.  And we had a nighttime visitor in the bathroom.

Jessica and Karen's room was particularly colorful.

We all agreed to cancel tomorrow’s planned early start and sleep in.  Then we all pretty much crashed immediately