The Fairly Great Thar Desert

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  Bikaner, India
Sunday, February 8, 2004

We got to Bikaner at 4:30 am, fell into a rickshaw, and went to sleep as soon as we got our room at the Shri Ram Guesthouse. Bikaner is not a big tourist destination; we went only for the camel safari adventure. The fort has some neat mosaics, although you are required to tour with a guide who speeds through the rooms like Secretariat, so it's good to go with someone else who can look at the half of the room you don't have time for, and then you can compare notes later.
There were some camel safari operators recommended in our guidebook, and we talked to a guy who had just returned from one of the "best" tours, so we went with the "Camel Man", Vijay Singh. We decided on a 2-day, 1-night trip, having been told that camels are rather uncomfortable to ride. Even though we actually only were on the camels for 10 hours in two days, I ended up with what I am calling my first sacral pressure sore; "uncomfortable" is kind of a understatement. I had some ideas about the camel safari, all of which proved to be wrong

Bikaner fort entrance

. The terrain wasn't what I was expecting. It wasn't so much rolling sand dunes as far as the eye can see, as sandy, dusty areas between villages covered by stunted scrubby tree-bush things. The camels go pretty slow, so we weren't able to cover much ground in two days; supposedly on longer trips you get away from the populated areas. It was a good experience, overall, although I wouldn't call it the "most memorable of our travels" like the Lonely Planet writes. It's not all Laurence-of-Arabia romantic, mainly because the camels usually spend most of their time farting and spitting, especially since it is currently mating season. I guess camel females have the right to their own turn-ons, but the males have some pretty odd rituals. When a male sees a female, or a younger male, he flops his tongue out so that it hangs off the side of his mouth and then makes this burbly spitting noise. This is apparently irresistable to camel girls and horribly intimidating to lesser males. They also pee and poop on their tails and then flip whatever sticks all over their backs. Add this to the pervasive smell of cat pee that emanates from their fur, and it's quite a scent extravaganza.
The day after we returned from the camel excursion, we decided to take the local bus to the Rat Temple, which is infested with....I mean, honored by the presence of thousands of holy rats. It's supposed to be lucky if one, especially a white one, runs over your bare foot.

Deshnok Rat Temple entrance

It really wasn't worth the hot crowded bus ride; the sign at the entrance claims it's the eighth wonder of the world. That, in my opinion, is wildly, but impressively, optimistic. Maybe if they train the rats to poo in little rat-sized toilets...

DETAILS
Bikaner
-Shri Ram Hotel: 200-900 Rs/double; run by a really nice family, but the food is kind of pricey
-Cool & Sweet Family Restaurant: just down the street from Shri Ram, they have great South Indian food, especially the dosas (yumm!)

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Deshnok Temple: this is the inside	Just a girl and her camel, traveling the dunes	Self-portrait	This is my camel after carrying me for four hours
This was the scenery for two straight days...

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