Information on Jodhpur

desertrose

Khamaghani,
Intersted in Blue city or around,Travelling or passing Jodhpur? Feel free to drop your questions ,I hope to reply to your Questions with all my Information and Assistance on this Thread.

Jodhpur has much More to offer .
Padharou Maharey Desh!!!!

SANJAY_DEL

What is the best train from Delhi to Jodhpur?
From Jodhpur to Mumbai?
Which is the best way to get to Udaipur or Jaisalmer to/from Jodhpur.
Is there backpacker type, budget range accomm. available?
Thanx.

mangrove

Thanks for offering desertrose!

I can think of plenty of questions, but I will start with:

1) Do you know of any good 'village safari' tour operators in Jodhpur? I would like to do this to get a glimpse of the surroundings and village life, but would only go if I find a respectful operator that has good contacts in the village he visits without being too disruptive.

2) Would you recommend staying near the fort or away from it? I will travel to Jodhpur twice - once I need to stay near the train station (see next question)

3) I plan to take an early train to Jaisalmer from Jodhpur (6:45am) - is there any place you would suggest staying by the train station for one of the nights where we could get a restful sleep - our budget is up to Rs1000/night for accommodation.

I look forward to your responses

desertrose

Khamaghani Sanjay Ji,
There r two express trains from Jodhpur to Jaislmer everyday .Express trains leave on 6.45am and 11.30pm.other informations on train i will leave with Mr.Steven.
There r private bus's leaving for Jaislmer from Bombay Motor Circle in Jodhpur every hour from 6.30am till 2.00pm, so called The "Delux" bus,there's 1 very good bus for Jaislmer from the goverment bus station, called the silver line bus which is coming from jaipur and goes on to jasilmer at 5.00am parks outside the main door of the the goverment bus station ,tickets sold in the bus,not sure of the availability.To go to Udaipur there is No direct train yet.There are Goverment and private bus's quite often opearting between the destinations.the private bus's leaves from Kalpatru Cinema and Chandra Travels,Paota and these "delux" bus's leave at 7.30am,2.00pm and at night leaving on 10.00pm this is a sleeper bus.Goverment bus for Udaipur from Jodhpur ,delux bus at 5.30am,12.00pm and 3.00pm and express bus at 7.00am,8.00am,9.30am,10.30am. Not sure of hotels in Jaislmer and Udaipur.Please have a look at the Section of Hotels and Lodging .
warm regards.
Rathore.

SANJAY_DEL

Thank you for the useful information, Rathore saab.

desertrose

Khamaghani mangrove ji,

1}Regarding Safaries around Jodhpur, It is half a day tour, a Cultural tour called the Bishnoi village tour,it all depends how much time you want to spend with the local people on the tour,it is touristic,commercial tour,people have mixed comments about this tour. with the time new tour operators have added new and different excursion to this tour. people have been taken to show the "co-operatives" where after the demonstration of making block printed,pottery,carpets and shawls articals people are offered to buy some thing of them for there welcome, not forced. This place is also a wild life preserving place but there r no migrated birds there at the moment,some black bucks and gazaels have been seen around the area.there r some guest houses who operate these tours,Haveli Guest house,Durag Niwas Guest House,www.durag-niwas.com ,Shivam Guest House etc,these people r operating this tour for some time now. This tour can be 450rps per person including Lunch which is taken in the village with the local family.Done in a Jeep.


2}On your stay in Jaislmer you will have an experiance of staying in the city center ,while staying in Jaislmer please think of where to stay on your way back in Jodhpur , It is quite of an experiance to stay in the city center which you will have in Jaislmer when everything is on your reach and walking distance.it can be little noisy early mornings and late evenings,crowded and some times dirty if the guest house is on one of the main roads.please book in advance ,Staying outside the city center or the old city is also of an experiance because there are some nice option of accomdations outside the old city of Jodhpur and Jaislmer which is peacefull,cleaner,and lot greener.

3}To stay Near the train Station a good option is to Stay at Govind Hotel.

I hope this information is useful for you.Please let me know if there is anything i can assist you with.
warm regards
Rathore.

desertrose

Taxies from Jodhpur,300km per day minimum running, a taxi would charge both ways dropping and way back. Prices 3.50 rps non air con and 4.50rps air con per km for Indica car 2-4 people can travel if there is luggage carrier on the roof and for the Qualis,Innova Taxies 6.00rps non air con and with air con 7.00 rps per kilometer,7+1 people can sit in easily if carrier on the top of the car,extra charges on the above rate, for driver 100 rps per night and Parking charges,toll tax,State Border crossing charges extra.
Travelling from Jodhpur by priavte taxi and want to see much more and want to break your journey try these destinations.
From Jodhpur to Jaislmer,
Jodhpur-Osiyan(interesting temples dating 8th century)-Kheechan (if there r migrated birds)-Ramdevra a pilgrimage(1 of the north india's biggest pilgrim site)it is 10km from Pokran Jaislmer.
From Jodhpur to Bikaner,
Jodhpur-Osiyan-Kheechan-Deshnok(Rat Temple)-Bikaner
From Jodhpur to Jaipur,
Jodhpur-Ajmer(famous sufi Dargah)-Pushkar(Brahma temple with holy lake)-Jaipur
From Jodhpur to Udaipur,
Jodhpur-kumbalgarh-ranakpur(famous jain temple please reach there around 12.00because the temple is open from 12pm-Udaipur.

Please let me know if there is anything i can help you with.
Rathore.

mangrove

Thank-you so much Rathore!

What does 'Khamaghani' mean and which language does it belong to?

1) Thank-you so much, I think I will definitely arrange for a Bishnoi village tour. It sounds very interesting. Do you think these must be booked ahead or arranged when we are there?

2) By city centre in Jaisalmer - do you mean that you suggest to stay within the fort walls? Is it easy to explore Jaisalmer on foot within the fort? It seems that it would be quite an adventure to try to walk in many Indian cities when you are not used to the road rules Which are the main roads in Jaisalmer that you recommend to avoid? I just noticed that you mentioned Jodhpur at the end - was your point about Jaisalmer or Jodhpur? I am a little confused, perhaps you meant to say that I should stay within the Old City in Jodhpur rather than Jaisalmer?

3) Thanks for recommending Govind Hotel near the station. I found a website for it, it looks like a great option by the train station: http://www.govindhotel.com/index.htm

You have definitely been very helpful and I am very greatful to you!

desertrose

Khamaghani Mangrove.
The Word Khamaghani stands for Hello in Rajasthani and some parts of Kutch in Gujrat. This word is used in Rajasthan and some parts of Gujrat ,it is used to greet some one from The Rajput community or by the people around them .

1}Bishnoi village tour can be booked/arranged once you are in Jodhpur.find more then 2 people intersted in the tour ,the tour price will get lower.

2}Jaislmer is a very small city compared to many in Rajasthan.Everything can be done on feet and from one corner to another it can be hardly 20 minutes walk.the whole city of Jaislmer is old city,i would suggest you to stay inside the fort of Jaislmer because it is an experiance of its kind,in my previous reply to your question, i suggested you to feel the vibe of the old city in jaislmer and then decide if you wanted to stay in the old part of the city or outside during your stay in jodhpur on your way back from Jaislmer,because on your first trip to jodhpur if you will be staying at Govind hotel you will not have any idea about the old city or outside the old city because you will be staying on train station road which is not a part of old city or new city , i thought when you were going to jaislmer the whole city is a old city itself and you will have a very good experiance of the old city there and then you can decide if you again want to stay in the old city of jodhpur or want to try outside the old city,in terms of tourism old market of the city is called the city center and it is usualy the longer esteblished part of the city.in case of no accomdation in the fort Please avoid staying near Hanuman Chouraha'Circle' because the road is very,dusty , polluted and much traffic
Please excuse me for my English.
Happy Travel.
Rathore.

mangrove

Khamaghani Rathore-ji!

In which language is Khamaghani used - is this Hindi? Never excuse yourself for your English, it is very good. If only you heard my Hindi haha.

1}Great Idea about trying to get more people involved for the Bishnoi tour!

2}I had no idea that Jaisalmer was so small, that's nice to know. In Jodhpur, I will try to book close to the Fort for my second visit to stay in the city centre.

Would you be able to comment on how Holi is normally celebrated in Jodhpur?

Thanks a lot

desertrose

Holy in Jodhpur generally starts from 7.30am till 4.00pm,people play holy after drinking alchol and Bhang lassies.2 days before and after holy one should wear old clothes on walk outside the hotel.children on the streets can be naughty some times.as a lady please make friends with the women of the family you stay with, this can be much more fun and safe on the Crazy,colourfull Day.

mangrove

Thanks Desertrose!

I had no idea that holi would be celebrated for so long/ or never thought of kids being naughty - good point!

I know that Holi is celebrated on March 3 this year - a hotel owner in Jodhpur also mentioned that celebrations go on during March 4 - is this true? Or do we mostly have to worry about March 3rd only?

desertrose

Day of Holy is 3rd when they have the ritual of celebrating the seasons first crop and the ceremony of burning The demon Holika,this day there is not much color around to be seen but kids can be naughty,but on the 4th is the day when people play holy ,this day in morning they put on old clothes which can be thrown away after the festival ,people go and visit their friends and family to celebrate the festival by putting color on them .this is the most crazy day. not to worry about the 3rd of march because this is not the real day of playing with colors,it is only a day of praying ,but kids!!!!! they are playing it for few days before the greeting day on the 4th of march and after also.the festival is so much fun and joy when played with safe colors and secure way.
Regards
Rathore.

mangrove

Thank-you for your reply Rathore!

Would you say that Holi is celebrated between families and friends on the 3rd of March and on the 4th it is more so on the streets?

It is good to know that I don't have to worry so much about the 3rd of March. I was planning on taking an overnight train to Punjab on the 3rd of March though and then a bus to Amritsar on the 4th of March. Would you suggest that I stay in one spot to celebrate Holi rather than travel? There is always the possibility of pranks while travelling...

desertrose

Khamaghani,
Holy is celebrated usualy as a prayer ceremony on the evening of 3rd with the families and friends.but on the 4th it is seen outside the house on the streets when people play with colors and through water on each other they can be friends ,family and unknown.we have a very famous term for holy,
BURA NA MANO HOLY HAI,
please do not mind it is holi.
it stands for anything is possible on holi and please do not mind it.
please stay at one place on holy to see how this festival is celebrated completely because there r only few festivals that are celebrated together through out India like Dewali,Holi and Rakhi.