Ranakpur Jain Temple to Jodphur

Tuesday, January 15th. Udaiper to Ranakpur

My plan is to send e-mail home this morning before we depart for our drive to Jodpur but I am unable to connect.  Happily, Skype magically works and I talk with Alisha, Art and Kat. We wait inside for our driver who is late but it is only a miscommunication of where we are to meet and 20 minutes later John spots him pacing outside our hotel.

We have a long drive ahead today with a stop at Ranakpur to visit a 15th century Jain Temple.  The 5 hour drive is far from dull, much of it being on single lane roads that pass through small towns and villages.  Our driver pulls over once to point out a well system with two oxen circling to generate power. Three small boys run towards us from across the fields. It’s impossible to tell the ages of the children; Indian children being much smaller than American children, but I surmise they are between 7 and 11. They are dirty and curious and ask for money for a photo. John goes to our mini-van and pulls three pens and three mini chocolate bars out of his back pack and hands these to them. A woman, draped in colorful clothing and carrying a polished metal water container on her head appears momentarily and I give her two chocolates and ask to take her photo.

Oasis

Woman with water jugs

The geology becomes interesting and our driver tells us that the rocks are sandstone, but John and I are fairly certain that they are shale. Signs warn of falling rocks and the hillside above is jagged with jumbled rock slabs. The road climbs higher and a gorge drops off abruptly on the left-hand side of the road. Monkeys sit expectantly on the low stone wall separating road from gorge, waiting for a car will pull over and the people inside to feed them human treats.  I ask to pull over but our driver tells me that there will be plenty of Monkeys at the temple. Unfortunately, there are no monkeys when we arrive at the temple.)

Exterior of Ranakpur Jain Temple

Inner Hall - Ranakpur Jain Temple

Our tour company has arranged for a guide to escort us into the temple and a young man is waiting when we pull into the parking lot. His English is reasonably good, as is his knowledge, but he isn’t very charismatic and once again, John and I wish more to explore than to be lectured to. 

Several of 1444 marble columns

John taking photos of  a carved ceiling dome.

This 500 year old temple is in pristine condition with 29 halls and 1444 carved marble pillars, no two pillars alike. John is awed and I my “Indiana Jones” son explores every hall and photographs nearly all of the 1444 pillars.  He lies on his back on the cool marble floor to take photos of the intricate dome carvings overhead and leans precariously from a balcony window to take rooftop photos of the cupolas. 

The view look up into a dome

John taking photos of the rooftop cupolas.

Monk at Ranakpur Jain Temple

Bas Relief Detail - Ranakpur Jain Temple

I have traveled extensively and I am sometimes jaded by “just another temple”, but this temple is exceptional and it is wonderful to see it through John’s eyes. He tells me it is the most beautiful building he has ever seen.  We closely examine the detailed carvings throughout and it is a unique panel of 5 goddesses wearing a multi-cobra twisted head dress that most amazes me. 

"Cobra" Goddess Mandala

Detail of the "Cobra" Goddess Mandala

We have a simple lunch at a nearby restaurant and John, tired of the curry dishes, orders a toasted cheese sandwich and French fries. (He will regret this  later.) I order a tasty bowl of mixed vegetables and we share a Kingfisher beer.

Goat and sheep traffic jam

Sheep herder

The drive has been, and continues to be harrowing and we still have a three hour drive before we reach Jodhpur.  The mini-van is in good repair and our driver is competent, but very aggressive. Earlier this morning, he joked that to drive in India, one needs three things; a good horn, good brakes and good luck. We are sharing this badly paved two lane highway with hundreds of “Goods Carrier” trucks, transporting handicrafts and construction material between the major cities. The “Goods Carriers” are 8 wheelers, brightly painted and decorated with fringes and tinsel and an occasional tassel. Many have names painted on the fronts of the cabs. Tut-tuts, motorcycles, goats, cows, camels and humanity also traffic this road. 

Men walking along the roadside

A parade!

Our driver has no qualms about passing slower traffic when clearly, a “Goods Carrier” is barreling straight at us, goats are ahead in the road and a motorcycle with an entire family sandwiched onboard speeds beside us and a truck loaded with tens of thousands of pounds of uncovered blocks of marble is also competing for road space.

An uncovered load of quarry stone

At 5:00 P.M. we arrive at the Ajit Bhawan, a 5 star hotel on the outskirts of Jodhpur.  On route, our driver asks hopefully, if we will be having dinner at the hotel? (This will mean that he will be off for the evening.)  I tell him that we won’t know our plans until we see our hotel but that we can take care of ourselves and take a tut-tut into town and back to the hotel on our own. This plan changes at check in when our tour company liaison greets us and informs us that it is not safe to go into the old city alone at night and that he will arrange for a guide and our driver to escort us.

The grounds and the hotel are lovely but artificial and we know that we do not want to be trapped here for the evening. We are escorted along a winding rock pathway to our room.  As we walk to our room we pass through the dining courtyard where turbaned waiters in white tunics, light torches and prepare fires in raised cauldrons throughout the patio.  Arriving at our room, our hostess unlocks a heavy brass padlock to the massive wood hewn door of our room. We have 30 minutes to “relax” before our escort into the old city. John showers quickly and we explore the hotel grounds.  Our room backs up against the hotels stables and an outdoor kitchen. Two young men are baking naan in an open fire pit, on the rooftop. They offer us freshly baked naan to feed to the cows and a well groomed pit bull runs up and nuzzles John. 

Jodhpur market at night

The Jodhpur clock tower 

Dusk is settling in when we reach the old town. Our guide walks with us down the market street, crowded with pedestrians, tut-tuts and motorcycles.  

Tut-tuts waiting for a fare

Jodhpur spice shop 

We pass by many spice shops, barrels filled with dried red peppers and baskets piled artfully high with cone shaped towers of ground spices. I stop to ask about a pile of brown chunks and the vendor smiles and breaks off a piece with his dirty hands, offering it to me. I take a bite of the sweet brown sugar and I ask if I may take a photo. He grins and I show him the photo in the back of my camera. A fruit vendor grins at me and hold up clusters of grapes. He is delighted when I show him his image captured in my magical camera.

Beautiful grapes!

Happy, night market fruit vendor - Jodhpur

We pass along shops crammed with mirrored fabrics, colorful bangles, brass figurines as well as tiny stalls selling galvanized hardware, tires and automotive parts. Groups of men gather smoking and eating, at the edge of the street around small fires. The bright lights of the crammed, cluttered and colorful shops make the experience very magical.  

Kitchen ware shop - Jodhpur

Lassi shop - Old City, Jodhpur

I sense that our guide is not delighted with this addition to our itinerary but he dutifully leads us into a covered vegetable market.  Wooden carts are laden with piles of cauliflowers, eggplants, lettuces and every conceivable fruit or vegetable. The market is busy and our guide explains that at the end of the day, the prices go down for the fresh produce.  The produce is beautiful, certainly many times better than what one might buy at a chain supermarket in California and I wonder if it will not be just as enticing in the morning.

With the exception of breakfasts, our meals are on our own and I want to go to Nirvana, in the heart of the old city and recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book. We know where our driver will be waiting and our guide points to a stone stairway leading up to the restaurant and leaves. John and I climb the stairs and cross through a courtyard and up another flight of stairs to the rooftop restaurant. The restaurant shares the premises with a Rama temple and is strictly vegetarian. 

John at Nirvana restaurant - Jodhpur

Near abstract photo, looking down upon the night market

The night-time view of the Rajput-Mogel fort is spectacular but the food is mediocre and greasy. The fresh lime spritzers, served in a glass, ¼ filled with fresh squeezed lime juice accompanied by a bottle of soda water and a small pitcher of sugar water are delicious.  It is 7:00 P.M. and the Muslim call to prayer echoes eerily throughout the city. A loudspeaker, positioned atop a nearby building projects the prayer loudly in our direction and when this chant ends others prayers begin, overlapping and harmonizing and the night is filled with an unfamiliar music.  Although the food is not great, the city view is stunning and we enjoy the concert.  Our bill for the two of us is less than $7. 

John and I navigate the few short blocks through the streets of the old town alone, to the clock tower square where we know we will connect with our waiting driver. He is relieved to see us and swoops us into the cocoon of his waiting car and transports us to our boring but safe tourist hotel. 

Our room is very smoky, presumably from the roof top fire pits and I sleep poorly.  I learn in the morning that they also burn the hotels garbage out behind our section of the hotel.