Traversing Through Jodhpur Enroute Udaipur

Jodhpur to Udaipur (Day 4 Rajasthan Road Trip) – We had an early start in Jodhpur, but the city of Mehrangarh Fort was still sleeping. I must warn you here, I have come to understand that Jodhpur is a sleepy city. It goes to sleep at 10 PM and doesn’t wake up till after 8.30 AM. In simpler words you won’t get anything for breakfast till perhaps 9 AM.

Jodhpur, popularly called the Blue City, is a city in the Thar Desert of the northwest Indian state of Rajasthan.

Its 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort is a former palace that’s now a museum, displaying weapons, paintings and elaborate royal palanquins (sedan chairs).

Set on on a rocky outcrop, the Mehrangarh fort overlooks the walled city, where many buildings are painted the city’s iconic shade of blue.

We had to leave Jodhpur for Pali really early. And, we were really hungry at the time of departure. The heritage hotel’s staff was still in slumberland.

They would rise and start preparing breakfast only at 8.30 we were told by the receptionist at The Kothi Heritage Hotel – the 130 year old property.

More so, they have a rule, “no outside food allowed” which is strange, we needed our breakfast desperately.

Since we were not really tourists, we couldn’t wait for them to rustle out from their sleep. We had to leave on our schedule and that we did eventually.

Fully satiated, moving onwards we reached the “Educate Girls” office in Bali (Pali) in about half and hour or so.

Educate Girls is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) that works to systematically challenge structural, cultural and socio-economic barriers through a combination of community mobilisation strategies and child-centred learning and teaching techniques.

Their works is to enhance girls’ attendance and retention in 500 schools in Rajasthan’s Pali district. The organisation currently serves approximately 4,500 schools in the Pali and Jalore districts.

The office managers treated us to some excellent “chaas” that cooled us down even more. If you are in Rajasthan, Chaas is one thing that’s not to be missed, so do drink it by litres.

Ranakpur is also the gateway to the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. Kumbhalgarh is also the birthplace of Maharana Pratap, the legendary King of Mewar.

The drive through the sanctuary is absolutely fantastic with its mountain climbs, twisting turns and splendid nature’s bounty in abundance.

While driving & enjoying the beauty of the landscape, we were also keenly eyeing the signboards of various resorts which were going to present themselves as soon as we exited the protected jungle area.

We stopped at Aranyawas, which was the first one to appear as we started our climb down the mountains. The place turned out to be quite serene and extremely well managed from the reception located at the car park.

Their security guard happily received and assisted us in parking the car and then gave directions towards the restaurant. We headed straight for lunch.

The stewards at the restaurant were simple, gracious and welcoming. We were seated, luncheon mats, cutlery and plates were laid and order for our lunch was taken quite promptly.

We kept it non-complicated and ordered a simple fare of Chicken Curry, Chana Masala to go with Rotis. It would be enough for both of us.

The food for lunch was brilliantly done. I think it had a pahari touch to it but the spices that were used were obviously local.

Full of spicy flavour the chicken was soft and tender, while the chanas had slight bite to them but were refreshing in taste. Best of all, there was no trace of oil in either of the dishes. It was a perfect meal in a jungle!

i ventured out after lunch to explore the Aranyawas Resort property. It is undoubtedly set in a wild, mountain valley, hidden away from the outside world.

The natural terrain is formed of the rugged mountainside with outcrops of rock and indigenous forest.

However, they have tamed a small part of it with their orchards of guava, various types of mango, awla, cherry, lychee, lime, orange, pomegranate and chikoo trees. They also have cultural performances in the evenings.

After lunch, we started our approach to Udaipur. It took us about two hours (85 km) to get there via NH 27.

We had identified two hotels to stay, so after checking out the Karohi Haveli, zeroed on the second Haveli called Jaiwana Haveli.

So after a late breakfast, a late lunch, we finally had a late dinner as well at Jaiwana Haveli, Udaipur.

The first course to come right out of the tandoor was a tandoori chicken. It was lightly or rightly spiced, hot, crisp and juicy chicken served with a chutney onion rings in slightly thinned curds (very different and delectable).

This humble dal fry was one with a nice, garlicky punch. The dal itself was done to perfection and served with a tadka of garlic done just right. The dal was the top dish of the day.

This melange of flavours on our dinner table coupled with roti thrown in brought our day 4 of Rajasthan Road trip to a wonderful close. All that was needed now was their comfortable bed to climb & crash in.