8.30am bus from Mandawa to Bikaner. The bus was already full by the time it arrived in Mandawa but luckily there was a place under the bus to store our bags. Catriona, Terri and Anne all managed to get seats right away as two med stood up. David, Marcus, Mike and Rich ended up getting seats as others alighted at their destinations. It was a comfortable 3 1/2 hour ride to Bikaner and the scenery was interesting. Once we arrived there were tuk-tuks to take us to our hotel where we were greeted with marigold necklaces and cold drinks as we were allocated rooms.
The hotel has many walls that have intricate carvings and ceilings hat are beautifully painted. Our room has a 4 poster bed and a separate dressing room and bathroom. We had lunch on the rooftop terrace were we had spectacular views over Bikaner and Junagarh Fort. After lunch we walked to the Fort for a guided tour. It is a magnificent fort with intricate stone carvings and paintings with many of kilograms of gold used in the paint. It was built in 1593 AF by Raja Rai Sing and added to by successive Rajas.
For dinner we went out to a farm about 25km outside Bikaner. There were 11 of us in the car as they had booked 2 cabs and only one had turned up and there were 2 extra people who were having dinner with us. When we arrived at the farm there were no lights, a common occurrence in rural India is the power outages. They had candles lit and we had a pre dinner drink before being taken off to dress up in the local dress. Once we were dressed as locals we danced and listened to the small band. Dinner was lovely and it was much more peaceful than in the town.
Once back at the hotel we set off for bed but it was difficult to sleep as there was a wedding ceremony close by and they were setting off fire crackers and played loud music all night. I could not believe it when we heard it still going at 7am.
We ate breakfast with Mike and Terri this morning, an absolutely huge American breakfast for 175 rupee or $3.50 which included cornflakes, milk a large pot of tea or coffee, 2 pieces of fruit, fruit juice and an egg with toast and jam. David was in his element having both servings of toast. After breakfast we set of to the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke, 30km south of Bikaner. The temple is famous for the rats which are fed milk and sweets by pilgrims who believe hem to be the reincarnation of the descendents of Karni Mata. Our airline socks came in handy as we had to take off our shoes to go inside the temple.
Back in Bikaner we were dropped off at the Bhandasar Jain temple which is in the old city of Bikaner. 40,000kg of ghee was used in place of water to kneed the mortar for the construction of the temple and in the very hot weather the gee leaks out onto the tile floor. The monk inside showed us around and took some good photos for us, one of which is below with our heads at either side of the picture.
We wandered through the old town through the narrow lane ways full of goods, people and tuk-tuks. The old town has many beautiful havellis all with intricate carvings in both wood and stone. We also passed many cows one of which looked like it was smiling at us showing it's teeth. We eventually made it to a spot that Rich had picked out for lunch which was opposite the train station. We all enjoyed a vegetarian meal before setting off back to the hotel. Rich negotiated with the tuk-tuk drivers for the fare of 50 rupee for each of the two tuk-tuks. We spent the afternoon relaxing from the assault on all our senses from the morning as we knew we were in for a big day the next day.
The hotel has many walls that have intricate carvings and ceilings hat are beautifully painted. Our room has a 4 poster bed and a separate dressing room and bathroom. We had lunch on the rooftop terrace were we had spectacular views over Bikaner and Junagarh Fort. After lunch we walked to the Fort for a guided tour. It is a magnificent fort with intricate stone carvings and paintings with many of kilograms of gold used in the paint. It was built in 1593 AF by Raja Rai Sing and added to by successive Rajas.
For dinner we went out to a farm about 25km outside Bikaner. There were 11 of us in the car as they had booked 2 cabs and only one had turned up and there were 2 extra people who were having dinner with us. When we arrived at the farm there were no lights, a common occurrence in rural India is the power outages. They had candles lit and we had a pre dinner drink before being taken off to dress up in the local dress. Once we were dressed as locals we danced and listened to the small band. Dinner was lovely and it was much more peaceful than in the town.
Once back at the hotel we set off for bed but it was difficult to sleep as there was a wedding ceremony close by and they were setting off fire crackers and played loud music all night. I could not believe it when we heard it still going at 7am.We ate breakfast with Mike and Terri this morning, an absolutely huge American breakfast for 175 rupee or $3.50 which included cornflakes, milk a large pot of tea or coffee, 2 pieces of fruit, fruit juice and an egg with toast and jam. David was in his element having both servings of toast. After breakfast we set of to the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke, 30km south of Bikaner. The temple is famous for the rats which are fed milk and sweets by pilgrims who believe hem to be the reincarnation of the descendents of Karni Mata. Our airline socks came in handy as we had to take off our shoes to go inside the temple.
Back in Bikaner we were dropped off at the Bhandasar Jain temple which is in the old city of Bikaner. 40,000kg of ghee was used in place of water to kneed the mortar for the construction of the temple and in the very hot weather the gee leaks out onto the tile floor. The monk inside showed us around and took some good photos for us, one of which is below with our heads at either side of the picture.
We wandered through the old town through the narrow lane ways full of goods, people and tuk-tuks. The old town has many beautiful havellis all with intricate carvings in both wood and stone. We also passed many cows one of which looked like it was smiling at us showing it's teeth. We eventually made it to a spot that Rich had picked out for lunch which was opposite the train station. We all enjoyed a vegetarian meal before setting off back to the hotel. Rich negotiated with the tuk-tuk drivers for the fare of 50 rupee for each of the two tuk-tuks. We spent the afternoon relaxing from the assault on all our senses from the morning as we knew we were in for a big day the next day.
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