India Part IV - "Knowledge without mileage equals bullshit"

I was merely 14 when I first travelled by myself within India. I won’t deny it, I was shit scared, but I had the opportunity to travel to Agra and see the Taj Mahal up close. I’ve recently been thinking about that trip… and I guess that was one of those defining moments in my life where I realised I had a yearning for knowledge, especially when it came to educating myself on global culture and history.

After that trip to Agra, I made it a point to travel and see as much as the world as I could [it’s actually not that expensive to see the world, so don’t use cost as an excuse]. Within the last couple of years I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some of the most impressive UNESCO World Heritage listed sites. I was able to roam free through Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and spend three days on a junk boat floating through Ha Long Bay [Vịnh Hạ Long], Vietnam. However, what I had witnessed on the 30th December 2010, equally matched these aforementioned sites in all their beauty, grandeur and history, and I just can't express the excitement or even how content I was that day..

So here is a little recap. I arrived in Rajasthan on the 27th December, spending two nights in the Pink City (Jaipur), and then departing for Jodhpur [about a 350 km drive]. Jodhpur, also known as the Blue City, is a city of Princes that dwells within the Thar Desert. I was here for only one reason, the Mehrangarh Fort. Sitting 400 ft above the Blue City, the Fort is one of the biggest in India as it boasts seven mammoth gates, thick walls and expansive court yards. Treacherous winding roads lead to the Fort from the relatively small desert city below. The intricate carvings on the walls within are truly phenomenal, and I was actually shocked at the up keep of the structure in its entirety [unfortunately, maintenance is sometimes a rarity you find in India].

The below photos were captured from the Chhatri [similar to a tomb but not quite the same] of Kirat Singh Soda, a soldier who fell in battle whilst defending the Fort. The Fort sits perched on the left in the photo below.

Photographs captured at the site of the Fort.

The following photographs depict the height at which the Fort sits, as it overlooks the Blue City that lays below.

I thought I would include a map of India, so you have some idea of where I am/or going to be.

Peace
"Knowledge without mileage equals bullshit" - Henry Rollins