Hotel Castle Mandawa Shekhawati

... Es el que te sortir del circuit turistic.<br><br> ********************<br><br>I decide to get out of the traditional tourist circuit and visit the Shekhawati region that lays between Jaipur and Bikaner. It is one of the entry points to the Thar desert, and given its location, the villages in the region benefitted from the caravan trade to / from Jaipur and Delhi, and today it is still possible to visit the rich and lavishly decorated residences, here called ...

... we past by some camps for the local people. These were little gers with families living in them. Again we are wondering how they get food and water and manage to survive out here.<br><br>When we got back to camp dinner was ready and so we sat out in the yard and ate a really good meal with all the other people from our trek. It was really weird sitting out there though as lots of dung beetles just kept dropping from the sky and landing on us. There was lots of screaming let me tell ...

... the early 1600's as part of the now famous silk rates, they were a place of commerce and trade and constructed around a central courtyard. To the right is the meeting room where trades would be made, a room with shining walls made from lime mortar, shells, and egg white, and buffed to acquire the sheen surround a matted area with white mattress and pillows. This enabled the merchants to ensure that no money was left behind after the negotiations ...

... un rythme effréné ! Notre première étape est la région de Shekhawati. Cette région semi désertique était autrefois occupée par de riches marchands. Ceux-ci firent construire des havelis (genre de villas) pour leurs familles, magnifiquements peintes. Aujourd'hui, la plupart de ces havelis sont innocupées et malheureusement, comme ce sont ...

... to your window tryign to sell you stuff, and the man sitting behind us snorting and spitting.ew. We got to our Haveli, (17th-19th century traders mansions) it was restored and completely awe inspiring, the artworks covered all surfaces and all told a story. Each room was different and we had a lot of fun exploring trhis mansion. After we settled in we walked up to the nerby castle of which half has been turned into a hotel and restored whilst the other brothers half ...

... as the dead one had never been removed. We were standing it rat feces and puddles of who-knows-what. Off to the left were 2 giant dishes. One was filled with fermenting milk, the other with some sort of grain for rat food. Both dishes had tons of rats in and around them, slurping up the sour milk and munching on the food. We walked further into the temple towards the far wall, where there was a statue of some god that the locals were praying to and kissing. We ...

Another day of relatively quiet road, sunshine, and the usual medley of flora and fauna. And it turns out that the magic energy food is not bananas but Parle-G biscuits - I've never cycled so fast. Unfortunately sleep is not sacred in India. In fact I think it might offend. In what should be the dead of night lorries, trains and buses all ...

... town a bit which turned out to be quite entertaining. This kid came up to us to help us out with directions back to our hotel which turned out to be somewhat of a scam that didn't really cost me anything but some time. He takes us through these back roads and at some point I realize we are not going to the hotel. On the way we saw a lot of entertaining glimpses into small village life though. Finally he ...