Hotel Raj Vilas Palace Bikaner

... per niente. Abbiamo fatto un tentavivo di risollevare l'umore comprandoci buonissimi dolcetti indiani in una pasticceria presa dall'assalto dagli indiani stessi, ma non e` bastato. <br>"Stefi ce ne andiamo?"<br>"Anche a te non piace questa citta`? Si anch'io..."<br>"Sara` per il casino.."<br>"Ma poi anche la gente, sono piu` insistenti del solito!"<br>"Sara` per il diwali..."<br>"Va bene, torniamo iun hotel e stasera scappiamo?!"<br>"Bellaaaaaaaa! Pero` prima...a ...

... Not a chance.<br><br>We decided not to dwell, everything in India happens for a reason, so we arranged to stay on a few extra days so we can do a camel safari.<br><br>We had two guides for our safari, one named Kamarl, but when said in his accent sounded exactly like "camel" and the other a silent mysterious character, would only answer to the name "Camel Man", you couldn't make this up. They picked us up from our hotel in a jeep and drove us to Camel Man's house ...

... Maherangarh Fort, Sajjangarh Fort, Lake Pichola, Raj Mahal Palace, Saheliyon Ki Bari, and City Palace, Kumbalgarh Fort, Jaisalmer Fort, Junagarh Fort, Nahargarh Fort, Ummaid Bhavan, Nathmal Ki Haveli, Patwon Ki Haveli are to name few. One can visit these eye catching beauties once they visit this Golden state on their tour. There are so many ancient, medieval, and modern attractions in Rajasthan ...

... big deal. So our first stop was into a small village that was Jain and worshipped a rat goddess in their local temple. *picture* Supposedly it was a real girl who had grown up there and had "supernatural powers," but the main point of seeing the temple was that her followers had all become mice (to live on in her vicinity) and so this temple was run through by rodents! The pictures will be self-explanatory. I could not help remarking on how the ...

... avec nous car c est vrai que l inde seule c est pas forcement conseillé même si je m attendais a pire. Je n ai pas vu beaucoup de misère (enfin si mais moins que ce que j avais imaginé d apres mes lectures sur le net). Ca grouille de monde et il faut faire attention a ne pas se faire écraser. Je suis contente de voyager en groupe, ça me change et c est quand même plus rassurant. Cette nuit froide passée dans le train était épique ! Les fenêtres ne fermaient plus et comme mon ...

Chandra had said that the hotel had a restaurant but when we enquired about dinner the receptionist guy, who spoke next to no English, just shook his head. He did at least suggest a place very nearby and gave directions to our taxi driver who gladly walked us there. At the end of the road he had to ask a guy for directions, which were obviously too complicated for him as he took us to a completely different hotel that was right opposite where we were stood ...

... and the door was open. I went inside and found it completely deserted - I felt I was Jack Torrance, and I had just been handed the keys to the Overlook Hotel. I ran about calling "hello" for about ten minutes, gave up, and caught an auto rickshaw back. During that trip I decided going straight to Delhi the next day. Getting those tickets was a little easier. We changed hotels and decided to finally see the Karni Mata temple - the whole reason we came to Bikaner. Of course ...

You really can't deny that it's out of the way, but you also can't deny that a temple where rats are holy is probably a sight to see. Ergo, we climbed onto a night bus and made our way to Bikaner in north-west Rajasthan solely to see this Rat Temple. (That's not actually what it's called, but I can never remember the real name, and everyone knows it as the rat temple.) We got into the city in the early morning yet again. Fortunately we picked the only ...

As we rove into the sunset, we noted a large dark rain cloud following us closely! No matter which way we turned, it was ready and waiting for us. Alas, we reached our destination (Mandawa) at about 8pm. Most of the day was spent getting out of the 'burbs of Delhi - a significant chore! Nevertheless, our fearless driver, Mr. Ashok, made his way down windy back roads until we were finally on some sort of highway ...

... the ****ing Indians wouldn't shut the **** up. As much as you try to say shut the **** up, they don't understand, or maybe they were just being a pack of *******s, which I think, this was the case !!! The fort had some impressive things. A tiled window and some nice walls, a couple of stuffed leopards, some carriages which sat on top of elephants, and an old WW1 bi-plane. Both myself and an English guy tried to ask him what type of plane it was, but ...