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Published: October 14th 2008
The Fort at Bikaner
This fort is famous for its interior decoration Bikaner, Rajasthan 10th to 12th October 2008
Today we moved on to Bikaner which is probably the nearest we get to the Pakistan border 100k away. The desert to the north is now a restricted area.
Met
'Henry' our fellow guest at the
Vinayak Guest House at dinner tonight. He is from New York and is researching genetics at the
Centre for Reseach on Camels which we are visiting tomorrow. Going to get an insider tour and see the camels coming home at 4.00pm!
Jitu our host is really great and so helpful. He works at the camel place too!!! His dad runs a charity shop supporting local craftspeople and mum has a dress shop next door. Hope to spend some money at both. This is a real homestay in the middle of the town and it seems a shame now that we only have 2 nights here. The 9 days festival ends tomorrow, hope those are fireworks we can hear and not Pakistan!!
The fort here is absolutely magnificent and well worth coming this far alone. Beautifully decorated and full of artifacts from the various Maharajas who have lived there.
On Day 2 here
Bikaner Havili
Red sanstone decoration we hired a rickshaw driver named
Kirshna Tel (0091)9829145362 who came recommended by Jitu. Not only a rickshaw driver but a great guide with excellent English, he took us for a 5 hour fully guided tour around Bikener (pronounce beak-en-air). He even got us into a restored Haveli which is now a very expensive hotel.We saw several rooms and suites which were truly exquisite. Costs about £70 a night apparently. Try www.bhanwarniwas.com.
This afternoon we went to the camel reserach centre. Very interesting but sadly the ladies and babies were already in and the boys were having a night out in the sand!! Little devils!!
Camel milk and
camel ice cream! actually quite nice and very healthy...... so they say !!! Good food again tonight. 5 out of 5 so far Jitu!!
Getting quite into
Indian showers now. You have a plastic bucket and a jug;
wet/soap/rinse saves loads of water. Might do it at home if they meter the water!!!
Day 3 we took a jeep safari for the day. Saw the Cenotaphs to the dead Maharajas and their wives many of whom committed
'suti'. Very peaceful there. Then went on to a desert village where
Bikaner Fort
Sumptuous decoration everywhere Jitu has connections, namely a local man who took us into various houses to meet the villagers and see their way of life. We still have mixed feelings about invading people's privacy but they did seem pleased to see us and the children enjoyed the sweets we dispensed. It was certainly a privilege.
Then a one and a half hour camel ride across the desert. Don't think either of us will ever kiss a camel or
walk again. The desert here is not like the Sahara, with sand dunes, more like sparse vegetation growing in sand! Saw a some small antelope with funny wiggly tails, some eagles and a few wading birds in a pool. Jitu is an expert on wild mammals and birds and would be a great guide if you wanted a wild-life tour. On the way home stopped at the famous Rat Temple,
Karni Mata Mandir at
Deshnoke. Wierd seeing all these rats running around your feet and walking in rat poo!!! We did see the lucky white rat so we are truly blessed!!!
Tonight we catch the 11.25pm night train to
Jaisalmer. What a day!!!
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Deri Parsons
non-member comment
Keep on blogging!
It's interesting to follow your travels and each blog makes me more envious.