My friends and I arrived in Jodhpur about 5pm. As the hotel had its own restaurant and bar we decided to stay in for the evening and just have a few drinks and snacks there while playing games. It was a fun evening, which once more involved playing several rounds of Monopoly Deal.

The next day we picked up our local guide for the day, Sunny. He told us that Jodhpur is known as the blue city, whilst Jaipur is the pink city and Udaipur is the white city. The houses in Jodhpur are painted blue to distinguish the houses of the Brahmin, to keep cool in the summer and because mosquitoes hate blue.

The main attraction in Jodhpur is the Mehrangarh (which means majestic) Fort, which presides over the city from the hilltop. The views from the top are stunning, even before exploring the splendours of the more than 500-year-old fort. It took around 200 years to build and was completed in 1459.

Traditional Marwar painting, which are the best rice paper paintings in the world, decorates the walls around the entrance and is restored regularly. The current Maharaja became so when he was only 4 years old because his father died in a plane crash, and he’s now 72. He has no real power politically and he still lives in the palace. We spent most of the morning walking around the fort and admiring the size of the place and the intricacies of the carvings and paintings.

Partway through our tour we were treated to a short music demonstration using traditional Indian musical instruments. This kind of music in India has been used for meditation and yoga for 2000 years. It was very relaxing to listen to, I really enjoyed it and the proceeds went towards supporting traditional musicians in the area, so I bought a CD of the musician’s music. He told us that his father had been a musician for the Maharaja in the fort, and had taught him how to play.

We continued around the fort and saw a display of Marwar paintings, a statue of the first Maharaja, the cribs that had been used for the previous Maharajas, beautiful coloured glass windows, ornately decorated rooms and stunning views of the surrounding area.

Once we left the Majestic Fort, which truly lived up to it’s name, we drove the short distance to Jadwant Thada, which was built in 1906. Known as the Baby Taj Mahal and built from the same Makana marble used for it’s pure white colour, it is a tomb for the royal family. When the Maharaja dies and is cremated 99% of his ashes goes in the Ganges River and 1% is kept for the tomb.

Inside the tomb the walls are lined with paintings of all the previous Maharajas, each one with the dates of the time they ruled. Our guide Sunny told us that all Maharajas were warrior caste, which meant that the priests always higher caste and could tell the Maharaja what to do but didn’t value wealth so the Maharaja was always wealthier.

Just before we left the tomb, we were given a short taster session of meditation with a focus on chakras. The guide dabbed scented oils on our wrists and gave each of us a rose quartz necklace to wear during the demonstration which represented peace. We were told to choose a small coloured band each, and the guide then explained that each colour represented a different chakra and this was the area we should focus on. We had to put the band on the associated finger and roll it up and down that finger ten times. The guide next used a sound bowl while we closed our eyes and focused on our breathing and chakras for a few minutes.

Our final stop of the day was a visit to a textile shop and jewellery shop, where we were shown beautiful handmade fabrics and intricate pieces of jewellery.

After leaving the shops we said goodbye and thank you to our guide, and set off for our next destination: Sadhargarh Castle.