Bikaner
Trip Start
May 12, 2005
1
30
79
Trip End
May 14, 2006
Bikaner,
India
Saturday, October 8, 2005
on the train ride quickly...Bikaner is right our on the edge of the Thar desert, quite large tracts of Rajastan are semi-arid and desert areas...our carriage was towards the end of the train and as it barrelled along its course, it whipped up big billowing clouds of sand which plunged our carriage into a micro-sandstorm. Fairly surreal experience and made for a very dirty trip...we were still washing grime off us for days, although grime accumulation is pretty stock-standard in India.....we also had some very kind travelling companions; a little tot and mum and grandma; they insisted on sharing their dinner with us and, despite our protests, ended up giving us most of it; people in india can be extremely kind, generous and welcoming and the little tot had the cubbiest cheeks you've ever seen and a slight drolling problem once asleep..
bikaner at sunset
.David and Helen, friends of Mark's folks, have visited rajastan many times and they recommended that we stay at the Hotel Harasi Haveli; thanks so much!!!! Bubbles owns the hotel, he is a fantastic bloke who was the perfect host and his staff, especially Bilal, were very friendly and helpfull. The rooftop has amazing views over the fort, palace and town of bikaner...and excellent local food. We met up with our travelling buddy, Rickard, once more and had another fun time. Clare was still recovering from the fever/flu/rash bug she picked up, so Rikard and Mark had a little explore of the old city and a great south indian lunch. Decided to chill for one more day before going on a camel safari; went back into town with Clare, checked out some of the old Havelis (tradional rajastani houses of some grandeur) and then sidled up to the fort. It is a great fort, immaculately preserved/renovated inside, great displays and th usual maze of halls, corridors and gardens. It was also the busiest of any fort we have been to and all three of us made a real effort to avoid the crowds...
The next morning we set of on our little camel journey with Rikard and our guide Ali. First stop was the bizzare Deshnok Temple, about 30km south of bikaner. There is a strange legend which concludes that the rats in this temple are holy, worthy of worship and to take prasad (sort of like bread and wine at communion, but not really) salivated on by these rats is extremely auspicious
Deshnok
. Thankfully a 9 day festival was reaching its climax and many of the 1,000's of were hiding to avoid becoming holy pancakes...the crush of bodies inside the temple was midly scary, the rat poop, pee and feed littering the ground stuck to our bare feet and the overall experience was was tad uncomfortable. A little way on from Deshnok we met our camels and their dudes...two men and a little boy who would accompany the three of us and Ali. We selected our beasts and hopped on, it didn't take long for things to become fairly uncomfortable and very hot. A fourth camel towed a cart with feed and all the other boys on it...Clare and Mark would both rest their throbbing behinds on this cart in the next 2 days. The agriculture of the desert was quite amazing; watermelon vines sprawled across the sand, patches swayed in the sun and there were other unfamiliar crops as well. Plenty of fauna also; lightning quick antelop (we actually saw a pair getting into a bit of headbutting), the ever-present eagles (our first pair in kathmandu resulted in us gawking unashamedly, after a month of eagles the novelty had worn off, but they are still majestic birds)... i can't remember what else we saw, but there were plenty of camels around.
Nice evening under the stars, eating a delicious dinner and sleeping in a small cluster of sandunes
goat herder
. Our three camel dudes were lovely blokes...the young fella is the ninth child of one of the older guys...he has 8 sisters!!!! Woke up early for sunrise and pilgrims marching across the dunes on route to Deshnok...in fact people were travelling in this direction for much of the night....from where we camped it is at least an 8 hour walk.....Mark's behind suffered some severe trauma during the second...he might even have a scar to prove it. Bit of a shock to the system returning to Deshnok after our loop, the desert was quiet and peaceful, Deshnok was deafening and mayhem!!! Made it back to Bikaner in time for two very important events; Mr Bubbles Birthday and a Hindu festival celebrating the downfall of a devil and his two sons. Mr Bubbles mput on a great evening, with delectible food and drink, an ecletic bunch of birthday guests and great views over the carnage of the festival. Three massive statues were exploded and burnt...extremely loud and at least 15,000 people packed around a stadium to watch the demolition. We were safely on the rooftop of Harasi Haveli watching the spectical...somebody must have lost a limb or two in the explosions, they were just massive.
Sad to leave Bikaner and our new found friends, but it was time to keep trucking on towards Jodphur
ravanna and his sons
. Total contrast to the acts of kindness displayed on our previous train ride; there is an emergency cord on all indian trains and some really selfish blokes were pulling the cord near their village and making runs for it when the train stopped. They risk imprisonment for this act, but they aren't likely to be caught and it happenned about 5-6 times in two hours. Worse still, most other people on the train thought it was hillarious..although it lengthened their ride by at least an hour and the driver started ignoring the emergency cord...and then there was a woman screaming and some kind of emergency. We did this trip in general class, hard wooden seats with no reserved spots, just a free-for-all; when it is time to get on the train our superior bulk and hefty backpacks are put to good use as we clear a path to some seats....luckily this train didn't get ridicolously crowded...... 
