.....further into the desert, Jodpur to Jaiselmer....
- Leaving Jaiselmer was unpleasant to say the
least- waking up at 5.30, walking in the pitch black to the bus station,
finding we had the wrong information and having to wait in the bitter cold of
predawn (but very happy to have the company of a friendly chai stall man) and enduring our freezing bodies in the rickety old
bus until midday, when things finally heated up slightly. On the positive side,
it was yet another pleasant Government bus ride, in an old bus that kept
threatening to break down, (but made it to Bikaner
before it finally did), with wonderful desert scenery.
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| Bus station toilets |
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| Voting campaign, Rajasthan |
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| Bus to Bikaner |
Although it
doesn’t have the grandeur or beauty of other desert cities Jaiselmer or Jodhpur,
we’ve always had a soft spot for Bikaner-
mainly because of Vijay, Daisy and their family and staff at Vijay’s Guesthouse.
We stumbled
across this place by wonderful accident in 2002, and would have to be one of
our favourite places to stay in all of India.
When we visited 11 years ago, it was a small family-run operation focusing on
camel safaris with a few simple rooms to rent. Now, Vijay and the business are
deservedly hugely popular, recommended by all the usual guide books and the
house is now a rather huge hotel with rooms of various prices with hot water
and flat screen TVs! The expansion is not surprising considering Vijay’s
immensely entertaining personality and hospitality. He’s charming, hilarious,
eccentric, a wonderful host and a very clever business man. The family is from the Rajput warrior/soldier caste (for more on the Rajputs see here) and his father and
grandfather were leaders in Bikaner’s unique
Camel Army, so he knows everything there is to know about the beasts.
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| Rich with the lovely and famous Vijay |
The whole
family was so happy to welcome us back after so long, and we were treated
embarrassingly well- special BBQs for us, amazing meals including Daisy’s
famous lamb curry and rum after dinner (and a cute Christmas decorated cake on
our arrival on Christmas Day), as well as discounts on all meals and drinks,
and free use of the Enfield Bullet (unfortunately, we could only briefly make
use of it due to the cold weather). Between the great food, cool temperatures
and our unusual good health, we found ourselves in the strange situation of
putting on weight in India- this has
never happened before! The family didn’t seem to mind us hanging out in the
lovely sunny garden (warming our bodies in preparation for the chilly
evenings!) for 2 weeks waiting for our Iranian visa to arrive in Delhi. Most other guests would arrive,
leave for a camel safari in the desert, have a quick look around town, and then
leave Bikaner.
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| Our very brief day on the Enfield Bullet |
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| With Vijay and Daisy |
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| Rich with some of the staff, Vijay Guesthouse |
It really isn't the prettiest city, but there are few unique things to see. One
interesting sight that is immediately noticeable and different from other towns
we’d visited in Rajasthan is the
amount of working camels. If there was any question about where all those
thousands of camels were going to and from at the Pushkar Camel Fair (see here for Camel Fair post), surely a large majority end up in
this region.
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| Working camels, Bikaner |
Number one Bikaner tourist site would have to be
the Rat Temple at Deshnok, an hour’s
journey by slow and crowded bus from Bikaner.
In a country full of odd sights, this temple dedicated to the Goddess Karni
Mata, is one of the weirdest. The rats had definitely multiplied since our last
visit (apparently 20,000 live here now), and the inside of the temple was
heaving with the little critters. They are considered holy, and it’s good luck
to feed them and eat the food they are nibbling away on, so the courtyard and
kitchen areas are covered with rats eating various foods from big bowls. It’s
also good luck to have one run over one’s foot- something actually hard to
avoid, as was the rat shit covering the floor. Needless to say we had a good
clean up when we got back!
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| Outside Rat Temple with new friends- canoe mad Colin and Andrea |
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| Rat carvings on front door, Deshnok |
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| Sal and the rats |
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| Kinda cute! |
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| Rats feeding on curd, Deshnok |
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| Rich and the rats, Deshnok |
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| Doors leading into Rat Temple, Deshnok |
Our other
favourite sight was the opulently decorated palace inside what is, from the
outside, a rather unimpressive pink coloured fort. Back on our last trip to the
state, when all the entrance fees were next to nothing, we visited all the big
forts in Rajasthan, and this was
always Sally’s favourite. A particularly stunning room with mirrors and
coloured glass was strong in our memories, and upon looking around, we realized
we hadn’t seen it. We then saw a posh tourist couple with a guide coming out of
several rooms protected by a guard, and realized this was the area we wanted to
see. As the guard was locking the door again, we asked him to be let in. He
informed us it would costs an extra 100 rupees. We explained we had already
paid our 200 rupee entrance fee, which allowed us to look around the fort and
palace, so we didn’t need another ticket. After a seemingly pointless back and
forth conversation for a few minutes, he took us to see his boss, the director
of the fort. This fat man behind his desk looked at us in amusement, as the
guide conveyed our story, and we put forward our argument that is was very
dishonest practice to ask for an entrance fee to a tourist sight, and then
expect people to pay extra for things once they were inside! He was worried
about damage, he said. We assured him we only wanted to look, and eventually,
just to get rid of us, he waved us away with the guard, and we were
“privileged” enough to view the special rooms!
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| One of many distressing photos of hunts in the palace |
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| Bikaner Palace |
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| Paintings of the heavens on the palace ceiling |
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| Wall detail, Bikaner palace |
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| Colour everywhere, Bikaner palace |
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| Clouds on the ceiling, Bikaner palace |
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| Mini maharaja, Bikaner palace |
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| "Special" room 2002, our first visit........ |
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| Same place 12 years later! |
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| Detailed painting on marble, Bikaner Palace |
Other sights
we enjoyed were the old city with it’s much less impressive havelis than Jaiselmer, but much friendlier inhabitants; the market centre in
the city centre, where Richard finally relented, and after years without
wearing socks bought some woolly ones at the Tibetan market; Lalgarh Palace,
where although the museum was closed we were able to look around the posh hotel
inhabiting the heritage building, which was like a museum anyway; and the Camel
Research Centre, where we learnt the difference between various breeds
(apparently, the Bikaner camels have
hairy ears) and ate camel milk kulfi (Indian
ice-cream).
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| We love the stone slab fences in desert Rajasthan |
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| These women were panning for gold in the disgusting drains, downhill from the jewellery shops in Bikaner |
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| Old town door, Bikaner |
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| Old town, Bikaner |
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| Old man with interesting face, old town, Bikaner |
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| Painting all over the walls and ceiling, Jain temple, Bikaner |
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| Beautiful colours, Bikaner Jain temple |
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| Amazing carvings, Jain temple, Bikaner |
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| Desert sunset, outside Bikaner |
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| Desert remnants, Bikaner |
The best
part of our Bikaner visit was the
great communal vibe at Vijay’s. Mealtimes were set, and everyone sat around together
getting to know one another. New Year’s Eve was especially special, with Vijay
really laying on a memorable night. Around the fire we brought in 2014 with
traditional musicians, abundant snacks, rum and many family friends joining the
travellers as guests. A few days later, when most of the friends we had made
had left, we decided a visit to the Iranian embassy in Delhi was needed to get things moving, and booked a train out of Bikaner.
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| New Year's Eve fun, Vijay's Guesthouse |
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| Fantastic Rajasthani musicians Vijay hired for the night, New Year's Eve |
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| Happy in Bikaner palace, Rajasthan |
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I don’t want to go on about the cold, but the train ride to Delhi was so freezing it is worth a
mention! The AC carriages book up quickly in winter, so we were left with the
unheated sleeper class, and even the heavy duty, thick army blankets we bought
in Bikaner before we left couldn’t
keep us warm. But at least it was through the night, and not too long (9
hours), and when we arrived and saw the homeless people sleeping on the
platform, we really couldn’t complain.
People talk about how awful Delhi is, but I enjoy the diversity and variety the city brings. For
a while, it was a pleasant change from the Rajasthani towns we had been
spending our time in. It’s true that the area where the majority of travellers
stay, Paharganj, is extremely busy
with traffic, beggars, shops and touts (but no cows, strangely enough- we heard
they’d been moved out of the city), and not an easy area to enjoy, and to
the first time visitor it could seem like a nightmare. But moving around other
areas of the city was more enjoyable.
There are people from all over India here- Sikhs and Nepalese being the largest majority, but also
Indians of every shade and foreigners from various parts of the world, working
and visiting. There’s a certain anonymity Sal enjoyed as a result of this (not
Rich- I think we’ve already established in previous blogs that he loves
attention!).
There have certainly been some improvements around Delhi since the Commonwealth Games in
2010, and the metro is the stand out. It’s an amazingly cheap, fast,
smooth-running, warm (!), and yes, crowded way to avoid the horrendous traffic
around the metropolis. The other difference is the number of public toilets all
over the city- very convenient......and unusual for India! Unfortunately, the number of homeless people living on the streets- sometimes in odd
places like the median strips on large roads, hasn't lessened. These poor souls really must suffer in the
bitter Delhi winter.
Our main priority was getting our visa for Iran. We had heard this can take a long
time, and we were glad we planned in advance (we're not leaving until the end of next month). We spent the first 10 days of our
time in Delhi literally running around
all day everyday to fulfil the various requirements of Richard’s visa (being
from the UK, the process is three
times as expensive for him, and 10 times more hassle).
Needless
to say, we finally got it, and as happy as we were, our enthusiasm for
sightseeing had dwindled, and our energy levels were drained!
We did manage to get out to see a few things, such as the Lotus
Baha’i Temple- a lovely calm space to take in a breath, in between errands. The
Baha’is are accepting of all religions, and anyone can go to the temple to
pray. Needless to say, we prayed to the universe for our visa to come through soon! It must be
one of the few places in India that
is truly silent, and the visiting Indians are totally quiet (there’s no noise
at all allowed inside, and it’s strictly enforced). The unusual design reminded
us of the Sydney Opera House.The Delhi Botanic Garden was a disappointment to say the least. In
a dodgy part of town, under the train line, and small and dry, it is the worst
one we’ve ever seen. To be fair, it did look quite new, so maybe one day it will be beautiful
(?) Connaught Place is a uniquely designed shopping precinct/park/market area in concentric circles. It's a mish mash of classy restaurants, mixed in with western fast food places and cheap and cheerful food stalls. The shops we really liked were the ones stuck in a time warp from the 1920's when it was originally built, and sold things such as musical instruments, crockery and suiting fabrics. We had to pass this area every time we visited the embassy or the courts, so we got to know and like the daggy, colonial feel of it.
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| Peaceful Baha'i Temple, Delhi |
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| Lovely wall, Delhi |
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| Hoo-poo in Botanic gardens- the best thing there! |
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| Gross paan stains on walls Cannaught Place |
The best thing about Delhi
is the food! Generally street food in India
is hit and miss, and pretty basic, but Delhi
takes it to a new level, especially in winter. We indulged in hot potato
patties, steaming momos, sweet
potatoes Indian style (masala spice and lemon),spicy chai and fresh orange
juice in addition to the delicious chicken tikka we favoured at our little
hole-in-the-wall restaurant on Main Bazar, Paharganj.
It was a change for us to eat temperate climate fruits in season in winter,
such as strawberries, apples, pears, enormous mandarins and pomegranates.
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| Sweet potato vender, Connaught Place |
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| Our friendly OJ man, Paharganj |
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| Freezing, eating potato cakes, Paharganj |
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| Winter fruits, Delhi markets |
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| In season pomegranates, Delhi markets |
To be honest, we were pretty keen to leave after two weeks
of running around- Richard was especially fed up with the madness of the place. It didn't help that rooms prices in Delhi are notoriously bad value, and we were staying in a grimy shoebox, for the same price as our beautiful, spacious room in Bikaner. A visit to the brilliantly easy Foreigners Train Booking
Office saw us with an overnight train ticket to Udaipur in hand, and as our train left the city at dusk, we watched the bonfires lit outside the passing homes and shops only a metre from the track, and hoped the weather would be warmer further south.
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| Us in desert sunset, Bikaner |
