Blogs from Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, Asia
Dehli tour and Bikaner (apologies if there is missing d's this keyboard doesnt like the letter 'd' much
Published: March 20th 2012Asia » India » Rajasthan » Bikaner
March 20th 2012
Internet is sooooo verrry slooowww here so this might just be a quick one! Delhi tour was good! saw some cool stuff and because it was a sunday I got to see everyone relaxing amn playing cricket aroun India gate which was cool. Missed out on a couple of places but maybe i'll get to see them on way before back home. Will hopefully get some pics up of both Delhi and Bikaner when I'm at a place with faster internet. Have been in Bikaner yest and today. I stayed in the larllgargh (or something like that) palace which was very posh! Although my room didnt have a window...Anyway got some good pics of that. Went to visit Jungoner Fort (again i suspect spelt incorrectly) which has the most beautiful sumputous palace interiors. I got some ... read more
March 5th 2012
Monday 05 March 18.00 As I finish in the internet a man next to me has Indiamike.com on the screen (the site a lot of people use for info about Trains etc. etc.) I say you a member. Yes he replies and I tell him me too. His screen name is Vinobhojak and he local and gives a lot of info to members about Rajasthan. We chat for a while and we go over the main road for a chai. I tell him that I am leaving tonight and I need something to eat. Eat here he says as its good food like at home, no touristy food here plain cooking. He ordered me a thalhi rice – 2 mild curry things a dal yoghurt based something and a papad (a popodom) and chapattis 50 rups ... read more
March 5th 2012
Saturday 03 March 22.00 I walk across the road to the railway station and see my train on the electronic board platform 2, over the footbridge we go no madness of Old Delhi here a small station. The train is on the platform a porter shows me the carriage in return for a photo. The ticket inspector stamps my ticket and into the carriage we go. I knew 1st class was too good to be true. 1St Class maybe but in 1985 the carriage is filthy with an inch of sandy dust everywhere. I check the other berths all as bad if not more than the one I have selected. Not many people here A Chinese girl and some Indians. I go back to my berth!!!!! At least the very noisy ac is working there as ... read more
March 3rd 2012
Friday 02 March I sleep ok but even in India the mobile reigns and bollywood music would wake the dead as well as me. I set my alarm for 05.15 as we due in at 05.45 all the other passengers but 1 has gone and he tells me we are on time , I don't know how he knows. I stagger to the loo to see the shutter down between the coaches - so no chai wallah this morning. Its water and a packet of bisguits plus a wurthers for breakfast We arrive - out on to the platform and into the darkness of Lalgarh Junction. I feel like a water buffalo as I am surrounded by rick drivers pulling me this way and that "where to sir" they all shout. 100 - 80 - 60 ... read more
March 3rd 2012
Saturday 03 March We are up at 06.00 as the hotel has a 24 hour check in/out policy.I take my bags down on time but as when I arrived everyone is asleep on the floor. I pay my 500 rups and leave my ruck with the hotel and lady luck. This morning I am off to the Karni Mata temple at Deshnok one of the more unusual temples in India. Its also known as the Rat Temple The Cheran cast of musicians believe that the incarnations of the goddess Dura appear to them one of whom is Karni Mata. As the legend goes one of the followers had a ill son, but by the time KM arrives he had died. KM went to Yama the god of the underworld to ask for him back but Yama ... read more
March 2nd 2012
So it's out of the Cottage Yes Please to head off for the train to Bikaner. I walk for the last time down the bazaar and over to the station. Delhi has more then one station and Paul is at the wrong one. After scanning the info board i realise that I should be at Old Delhi (DLI)station not New Delhi station (NDLS). I go outside to take a taxi or ricky to Old Delhi time is short due to a earlier problem now sorted. The taxi driver asked me when is your train can't tell him that, the price will shoot up and he already wants 450 rups, i will take a bicycle rick I say - the game commences. The price falls to 350 but I have 1 hour to catch the train but ... read more
January 10th 2012
Avoid western style breakfasts while in India. Good advice! The thickness of our pancakes promises to see us through the day and repair the sole of my right shoe. We leave Harasar Haveli and make for the Junagarh fort, a little apprehensive after Jaisalmer’s underwhelming palace complex. Once Rob has managed to record over the audio tour with a few directions on how to use the device, we get underway. Apprehension is replaced by respect. Respect for the stylish, well maintained buildings, respect for the excellent exhibits and awe inspiring “frescoes”, respect for the peaceful environment, until the schoolgirls’ outing arrives. The first of many photos with the white “ferenghi” is requested. Jill is hard pressed to get away as one teenager after another pulls her in close admonishing her friend to get a good photo ... read more
January 9th 2012
The shrine to Ramdev, a revered 17th century do-gooder who tended the needs of the poor, is approached through street upon street of stalls hawking offerings to this demigod. We wonder who buys it and where it all goes? How much prasaad (sacred food offering) can be strewn around a temple, and how many plastic keepsakes desired or donated? With shoes customarily discarded, our freezing feet shuffle in behind a long line of pilgrims awaiting their moment of “pujah” (devotions) before the deity’s image. Their devotion is evident in the slow pace of passing and we the unenlightened finally give up, sneaking a view from a different vantage point. On returning through the carnival atmosphere of peddlers lining the path to the temple, we contemplate the paradox of commercial enterprise and religion common to all societies ... read more
December 30th 2011
We boarded our first train from Delhi at midnight, slightly apprehensive of what the journey would have in store. During our overnight journey we experienced all that Indian Railways has to offer, traveling in second class sleeper car, with 6 people to a compartment, bunk beds stacked two high and heavily starched bedsheets in brown paper bags. We followed the crowded, laid out our sheets, took off our shoes and socks, climbed into our bunks and were rocked to sleep. We woke up to see the sun rise over the Rajasthani desert landscape. As our estimated arrival time drew nearer we were a little flustered as there were no station announcements, and we had no idea which stations we had passed through, or how to identify our destination as the only platforms signs we could see ... read more
December 19th 2011
What a day this turned out to be. Before I write about today, in order for this entry to make a bit more of an impact on you, I will tell you something about me that few people know. I have a 'thing' about going barefoot in places where a lot of people may have gone barefoot before me. I rarely shower barefoot in hotels and hostels, no matter how clean they appear, and I often won't even go barefoot in the room. I can handle walking barefoot on the beach, or even in the forest or people's yards. Regular dirt doesn't bother me. But in certain situations and places, I just have a 'thing' about going barefoot. Now you know. On to Bikaner. After washing my hair by pouring water over my head from a ... read more
