Raj said Jodhpur is its warmest in the afternoon so we are up and out by 8.45am, I help JohnMiller get onto the wifi first thing and we leave for the Meherangarh Fort. We stop at the marble palace on the way with walls so fine that you can see the sun shine through, and arrive at the imposing fort. Monkeys run along the fort walls in the distance and you can see for miles in all directions, the Royal Palace, the blue city, the town square and the marble palace. It's a view that you could never get used to. We pay entry, pick up our audio guides with 31 stopping points, and wander around the massive fort. The audio guide voice is a slightly more plummy voice than Tim, but older. Everyone laughs at it, but I like it. The fort gate is up a steep hill with a sharp turn to the right to a sharply studded enormous door. The audio guide sends us up a flight of stairs into a courtyard. Around the courtyard are panels and panels of engraved patterns. I can't remember the name of the panels…but they were favoured by women because they allowed women to see outside, but didn't allow you to see in. I'd always thought that people in history were smelly and unwashed, but on display in the fort they had bamboo shoot chics which used to hang in the fort. The bamboo shoots were wrapped in multicolour fine silks to create patterns and then soaked in perfume and hung off massive rings attached to the ceiling so that when the wind blew the air would fill with fragrance. Women would comb their hair with perfumed soaked fine tooth combs and incense filled every room. I can only imagine the air smelling beautiful, the fort brightly coloured and people adorning vibrant colours and the softest silks. India, you do colour so well. The fort was so vast it took nearly three hours to get around. We walked down the stepped hill through the bright blue houses (originally blue to indicate that Brahmin lived there but then everyone followed suit), to the town square bustling market. It sold parallels to the UK markets; clothing, jewellery, toys, fruit, veg, and random electricals. Mopeds whizzed through the narrow walkways in between stalls and sellers beckoned you over ‘just to look’, ignoring the callers we walk walk to a famous lassi place for a cool down. It tastes like a yoghurt smoothie to me. This particular shop is quite famous which means it is very busy inside and there are beggars outside, which I've guiltily learnt to ignore because there are so many. I feel like I've acclimatised a little, it doesn't seem as loud, the smell less offensive and the cows, goats, pigs, stray dogs are part of the street. I've succumbed to those baggy traveller trousers, I don't care what you say, they are damn comfortable and practical, and a shower with hot water is totally overrated, cold to tepid is just fine. Washing clothes in the sink is also very quick and economical- but I'd be lying if I didn't say I missed fragrant fabric conditioner. A quick walk up from the town square and we sit for lunch, as Dom sits I noticed a bird has pooed on him. Lucky or not, it's funny. What's also funny is that Dom doesn't really laugh, so I obviously laugh even more. Then, while eating he drops curry on his lap. I cannot stop laughing. He's not amused. The group splits up after lunch; Jess and Dylan go see more of the blue houses, Beth and Maddie go get Beth's camera fixed, JohnMiller, Dom and II head back to the villa. I sit on the cushion swing for a few hours rocking back and forth, reading, watching the birds fly, listening to the roads outside. It was lovely. Dom and JohnMiller go straight to their rooms. We don't see JohnMiller for the rest of the day. Beth and Maddie get back around 5pm and we have a couple of beers and play Heads Up. We played the accents and impressions deck. Maddie was trying to guess German, I shout out ‘Dom! This is Dom’, Beth shouts ‘Heil Hitler’ and races her arm. Wait. What was that Beth?! We roll around the floor laughing at just how inappropriate it was and leave for dinner. We eat at a peaceful rooftop restaurant with stunning views of the uplit fort, marble palace and Royal Palace, get back early and pack.