We arrived into the blue city of Jodhpur during the hottest hours of the day – and I’m talking about high 40’s kind of hot.

So we retreated into our air-conditioned hotel room to hide from the sun for a while before braving the melting outside world.

Intending to head straight for the famous Mehrangarh Fort that overlooks the city we were told by our receptionist that it was far to hot for fort visiting at 3pm and we were better off market browsing until the hell-like weather cooled down a little.

We headed straight for the local markets. As it was a Sunday many of the market shops were shut for the day but we were able to peek inside the selection of open businesses while getting strange looks from locals that obviously thought we had taken a wrong turn from the tourist markets.

We bought some fresh fruit from a local vendor and sat down in some shade on the side of the small street. It wasn’t long before we were joined by a chatty local.

After encountering all kinds of weird conversations with Indian locals that ranged from intensely pushy to incredibly awkward, we were suspicious of our new stressed friend but amused him with some small talk before asking a little about himself.

It turns out Yogi was a masters student studying Sociology, History and English Literature and his warm smile and willingness to share his own personal story made us lost want to trust him… Despite a small part of me suspicious that he was going to want to become our local guide.

But we said farewell with Yogi offering no business proposition and I began to feel slightly guilty about trying to convince him I was a lesbian.

We wandered once more through the narrow blue streets of town with no real destination in mind. After about half an hour or so we heard a scooter roll to a stop next to us and once again were greeted by smiling Yogi.

Yogi: “Where are you going?”

Mum: “To see the spices.”

Yogi: “You are walking the wrong way, the spice market is down this other road, I am going to meet some friends there now.”

Mum: “Well give us a lift then”.

Yep, my mother demanded our new friendly Jodphur friend take us for a spin around town. So yeah, there is no doubt that my Mum is the coolest travel buddy ever.

We cruised up to the market where Yogi showed us the warehouse his mother worked in. We decided we may as well have a browse if our new friends Mum works there and said farewell to Yogi as we headed in.

Soon we were swept up in the typical salesperson show. We were told to have a seat and the great textile show began.

Two men went through every colour, pattern and design they had, keen to make some money from the two tourists seated in front of them, despite us politely mentioning them we really just wanted to look at some scarves. Despite our lack of enthusiasm we did happen to see some particular beautiful throws, which happened to be excess from a Hermes order, that we really could not resist asking the price of.

By Indian standards they were pricey. But they asked for a price and my mother gave one.

Because we weren’t really stuck on the idea of buying them we resisted any haggling and stuck to my mothers price. Eventually the owner of the company was introduced to us and before we knew it we were the proud owners of 6 absolutely outrageously beautiful Hermes throws.

We had been so caught up with the textile show that we had lost track of time… And got back to our hotel only to realise that we had about 10 minutes until the last entry to the Mehrangarh Fort.

So we ran.

And here is one of those moments when I felt like the worst daughter in the world because it was hot, and no good daughter convinces their mum to run to the top of a hill in a city in Indian summer heat (sorry Mum).

Despite the fitness-test we made it just in time. And even my Mum agrees that it was worth it (maybe).

The view of the Jodhpur from the fort is breathtaking and it becomes extremely obvious just how beautifully blue the city really is. (SPOILER: it’s very blue).

As far as the fort itself, it was as beautiful s many of the other forts we had visited but we found ourselves able to explore the entire place in the final hour before the gates closed behind us without feeling too rushed.

We decided to end our long day exploring the local markets, where we had been told we could admire the colourful spices and bustling city.

Weaving our way through locals and cows in the busy market square, we stocked up on fruit and stopped for some market juice before calling it a night in the beautiful blue city.