India Vlog: Shopping in Jodhpur! Clock Tower, Sardar Market!

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February 18, 2015

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We ventured further into Rajasthan Province by taking the train from Jaipur to Jodhpur. We stayed at The Blue House, a quaint guesthouse housed in a 500-year-old Haveli near the Clock Tower and Sardar Market.

Since arriving in India five days prior, this was our first chance to sleep in...so we took advantage. We slept in until 10:00 followed by breakfast at the Blue House's rooftop cafe. We highly recommend their banana and honey porridge as well as Nutella crepes! Breakfast is not included in the room rate, but it's very affordable. The cafe is open air and has a nice day and night view of Merangarh Fort.

We decided to postpone a visit to the Fort - the city's top tourist attraction - until the following day. We spent the rest of the day exploring Sardar Market, shopping for textiles, tea, curry powders, and other items.

Jodhpur is especially known for its textiles - scarves, wall hangings, table runners, etc. But be careful because there are a lot of unscrupulous salesmen who will try to dupe the unknowing tourist. Be especially cautious of Maharani Textiles & Handicrafts as well as Baba Art Emporium.

Maharani is located less than five minutes on foot from The Blue House. This is the first shop we visited based on the recommendation of a man who stopped us just outside of Blue House claiming to recognize us from the guesthouse. He said he's a cook there; he was lying. He led us to Maharani in the hopes - as we later found out - that we would make a big purchase, from which he could earn up to a 30% commission. Maharani has terrible reviews on TripAdvisor primarily because they use a lot of tall tales - albeit some based on truth - to overcharge customers for their textiles.

Baba Art is located inside the market and claims to be a "government textile shop", which we were later told is not a unique business category because all legal businesses are required to register with the government. They use this ruse to convince tourists that Baba Art offers bargain prices that are backed by their special standing with the government. They also like to benchmark their prices against Maharani, generally offering a 30% discount.

It's true that both shops offer very unique, high quality items. The key is to enter these shops independently without being led there by guides, hotel staff, etc. who will receive commission on your purchase, thereby increasing the cost of each item by about 30%. And as with all bargaining, be sure to have a price in mind that you're comfortable paying. As long as you have no regrets about the final price, you won't feel cheated and disappointed. Across two visits on two separate days, Baba Art slashed the price of six items we set aside from $635 to $200! In the end we decided not to buy anything at all because the negotiation process was dishonest and left us feeling cheated.

The market is also a great place to buy spices and tea! We recommend Mohanlal Verhomal M.V. Spices, which has two locations (one inside the market near Baba Art Emporium and the other just outside the market). M.V. is run by three sisters who took over after their father passed away. They also offer cooking classes and have been featured in Lonely Planet!

For lunch or dinner, we recommend Indique Restaurant on the rooftop of Pal Haveli Hotel just outside Sardar Market. They definitely have the best views! You can see Merangarh Fort as well as get a bird's eye view of the Clock Tower and market. The food is also delicious!

For dinner we drove to a restaurant called On the Rocks. The ambiance was lovely - very romantic. But the food was sub-par.

Many thanks for watching!! And happy travels!!

MUSIC:
Pheeno - On Your Behalf
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