It was and early rise for me as I wanted to catch the sunrise.  I had the best nights sleep in days, the bed was the least comfortable as it was just foam and blankets but I slept like a log. The cameleers were already up and about preparing breakfast so I said good morning to them and climbed to the top of a small rise, sat and waited for the sun to come up.  It was so peaceful, no horns, no traffic it was wonderful and I savoured every moment.  The sun took ages to come up and it was a little disappointing compared to the sunset the previous evening.  Others started to stir below so I went down and joined them.  I sat in the cooking hut for a while and warmed my hands over the stove because it was pretty cold outside.  After breakfast it was the hour ride back to civilisation.  We took the scenic route the day before and took the short direct route going back.  I rather enjoyed my ride back, I was out in front leading the way and my cameleer gave me the reins so I sat and dreamed I was riding through the desert all by myself !  My backside was getting sore though I had to sit on my fleece for extra padding ! it didn’t stop the blister I ended up with !  Finally we reached our destination and we said goodbye to our cameleers and headed back to the hotel.  After a bit of a rest and a shower we all met up again for our trip to the rat temple !  this I was looking forward too, I was really curious as to what this rat temple was all about.  The rat temple was at Deshnok some 30k’s away so to get there we had private taxi cars.  After a lovely drive through the desert countryside we arrive at Deshnok.  The rat temple is home to holy rodents  that are worshipped by pilgrims a story of how the rat temple came to be dates back to the 14^th century.  No shoes were allowed in the temple so it wasn’t a place for the squeamish.  I decided to go barefoot into the temple while others opted to keep socks on, I thought it was easier to clean your feet with wet wipes than have to scrub a pair of socks.  We walked through the decorative gate into an open courtyard and ahead of us was an enclosed temple which houses the inner sanctum where pilgrims go to get anointed. To the right of the gate was a terrace and here I watched the  the holy rodents drinking milk out of a platter.  Locals seemed to be scrambling to look through a doorway as there was apparently a white rat inside which supposed to bring you good luck when you see one !  I tried to grab a peek but locals are so intent on getting a glimpse of this white rat you just got shoved out the way.  So off I wonder around the courtyard into the small temple.  I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing, rats everywhere, I didn’t even stop to think what I was treading in ! but there seem to be a lot of yellow food like stuff on the ground which later I find out is sugar balls (holy food offerings)that they feed the rats.   I went into  see the inner sanctum but it was packed with pilgrims all scrambling to get anointed.  It was in here that I saw a white rat and then one ran over my foot ! so twice the luck in one day so now I await to win the lottery ! it was a fascinating place and I don’t think I would find anything like this anywhere else in the world so I’m glad I came.  I don’t think a visit to Bikaner is complete without a trip to the rat temple.   So after the rat temple we head back to the hotel and the afternoon was free.  A chance to catch up on some rest a phone call to the husband and  I ended up in the shop next door to the hotel with one of the other girls.  I spent  a bit of money in there as I bought an antique wall hanging and several Pasmina scarves !  In the evening we had a lovely home cooked meal.

Our overnight train from Jaipur to Bikaner wasn't bad.  Sleeping quarters were divided up into cabins each having four bunk beds.  Four of us from our group shared a cabin and the good thing was you could lock the door from the inside.  They were airconditioned which worked very well when the train was moving, probably too well so the blankets they provided you were well and truly put to use !  After a reasonably comfortable nights sleep not counting the number of times I had to climb down off my bunk to go use the starter blocks we arrive in Bikaner.  We were transferred to our hotel which was a family run guest house and very nice. Slight change of plan the guide said, instead of starting the camel safari in the morning and going to the fort the next day we were going to the fort that morning then starting the safari in the afternoon, reason for this Diwali was on and the fort would be closed the next day.  So after a refreshing shower and breakfast we all headed in private cars to Junagarh Fort passing a very stinky lake on the way which nearly made me chuck ! From what I could see of Bikaner it wasn't a very inspiring town it was very dusty and non descript.  At the fort we had ourselves another guide who took us around and gave us a very imformative tour.  The outside wall was impressive enough I wonder what wonders inside brought us.  We passed through a lovely sandstone gate and into a ensemble of picturesque mosaic coutyards, red and white sandstone palaces, latice windows and lovely carvings.  Inside the palace musems you had the usual gold leaf painted walls and ceilings, impressive throne room and paintings depicting history.  One particular chamber had carvings all over its walls of animals and people.  The Fort is well worth a visit and needs half a day at least.  After the Fort we head back to the hotel pack a small overnight bag and headed to the camels for our overnight camel safari into the Thar Desert.  It was hot at this stage so I wasn't paticulary looking fowared to this 4 hour ride in the heat of the day.  I was picked a camel and up I got, not the prettiest camel out the bunch, it had a big sore on the side of its head which seem to attract a million flies, probably a blessing as it kept the flies occupied from bothering me !!  We were on the camels for about an hour half before our first stop at a village for a drink and rest, the kids were first to greet us and we got plenty of waves from the villagers.  I got off the camel and boy I felt it, I thought if my bum is this sore after and 1.5hrs what is it going to be like after 4 hrs ! we were all walking like cowboys when we got off !!  After a nice cool drink and an invitation into one of the villagers house we set off on our way passing more waving villagers and then the funniest site Ive seen in a few days, sheep that were shorn all except for a large fluffy bundle on the tops of their bums they look like poodles ! and to top it off those fluffy bits were painted different colours like pink and orange, I guess their way of being branded. So to another hour or so before our stop for lunch. By this time the scenery was becoming more desert as we left the villages behind, the odd villager/farmer was strolling through the desert and now and then we would see some gazelle's skipping across the sand dunes so the desert wasn't barren by no means. We finally stopped for lunch and cameliers busyied themselves preparing a long tressle table and a very tasty lunch of variuos vegetarian dishes. Amazing how they just cook something up on little stoves out in the middle of nowhere, for me to do something like that I need a full scale kitchen ! although my camp roasts arn't bad !  After lunch we all stretched out on some blankets and some of the group fell asleep.  Our last ride was about an hour but I was too sore to get back on the camel so I opted for a lift in the camel cart, another couple of the group joined me and it was great fun and a heck of alot more comfortable.    We reached our campsite shortly before sunset and the cameliers put up our tents for us while we headed up the hill to catch the sunset.  Along the way we came across a dung beetle rolling a large piece of dung along with his back legs, facinating to watch.  The sunset was lovely but we knew we wern't all that far from civilisation as we could hear the fireworks off in the distant, being Diwali their were going to be many fireworks over the next few days, we even brought our own to help celebrate so it wasn't going to be a quiet night for us either !  So the evening was merry with a lovely dinner cooked for us and plenty of beer and spirits on tap.  We all got a Diwali blessing and red dot put on our heads, we had musicians playing for us, a bonfire going and then the fireworks were let off. We even had sparkers some real fancy ones Ive never seen back home.  The night was good but I wasn't 100% so I headed to my tent earlier than everyone else, put in the earplugs and never heard a thing after that !

4/25/07
Well the drive out of Jaisalmer and on to Bikaner was altogether boring and uneventful (although the camel that tangled with a Jeep might not agree - talk about road kill). We arrived mid-afternoon in Bikaner, what appears to be a fairly big, hazy and crowded city. We went with Nandu’s recommendation on accommodations again and popped into the Harasar Haveli for a look. The room was a bit grimy with stained linoleum floors, chipped tiles and graying walls but it was only one night and the AC worked well so we checked in. Lunch was actually really good at the Haveli and then we headed off to see Junagarh Fort in old Bikaner.

It is a really nicely partially restored fort, not as imposing and impressive as Jaisalmer, Jodhpur or the Amber Fort in Jaipur, but inside, it is really nice. We had read that the entry fee (and of course camera fees) included a guide, but one was not to be seen so we headed off on our own. We hadn’t made it far, actually the first courtyard, when we were approached by a somewhat bizarre, jovial man who said he was our guide (in addition to being the guide for half a dozen locals meaning he had to say everything once in Hindi and then again in English). It quickly became apparent that he knew which side his bread was buttered on as he became fawning and obsequious, actually "renaming" the palace the "Larry Mahal" which I am sure would have royally pissed of the Maharaja….

You can see from some of the pictures that the palace is ornately decorated with tiles given as gifts from around the world, richly detailed, gold inlaid ceilings, palatial rooms with colored stone mosaics and white marble columns. All told, it was pretty opulent. At one point, our guide (who incidentally was annoying the crap out of Cindy since he refused to talk to her, focusing his tip garnishing efforts at me continually) actually lowered some ropes and let us see the "special" colored glass windows that he didn’t show to the locals (see the picture below) He was somewhat theatric about this which cracked me up, knowing that he was just greasing the skids for his tip. There was a huge room filled with a bizarre assortment of weapons including some WWI German Helmets for some unknown reason as well as another room with some chariots, lots of fancy English period knick-knacks and a two seater plane that looked extremely un-air-worthy.

At the end of our tour, Mr. Smiley came over to me to shake my hand but Cindy and I had prepared and I had given her the tip money just to drive home the point that he shouldn’t be ignoring women in general. He actually seemed pleased with the tip, and then pulled out a one dollar bill and asked if we could exchange it for him. I said sure and he said "OK, give me 50 Rupees (the current rate is about 41). Nice try buckwheat! We told him that he was somewhat overvaluing the dollar and gave him the 42 and he scurried off looking for the next westerners as quickly as possible. There was also a museum which we wandered around looking at period artifacts, textiles, and some of the very fancy dresses from the Maharani’s (the Maharaja had many wives to dress…) On the way out, I snapped a quick picture of Nandu our driver for posterity sake - unfortunately he is not smiling his typical huge smile. He is a really nice, conscientious man and, other than not speaking much since he is so shy, we are really enjoying his company.

We stopped by an Internet Café to see if we had any responses yet to our follow-up emails with a couple trekking companies in Sikkim. We are hoping that we can piggyback a Sikkim tour and trek right onto the end of the Bhutan trip. We are exiting Bhutan overland via Phuntsholing and haven’t been able to find out much about getting from the border up to Sikkim easily. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard back yet. Meanwhile, we asked Nandu about the drive to Delhi on the final day and he told us it would be about nine hours from Pushkar. When I asked him about his trip home to Udaipur, he said that afterwards, on the 27th, he would drive back to Jaipur, spend the night, then head home from their the next day. Cindy came up with the brilliant idea of suggesting we visit the Rat Temple in the morning, then spend a few hours in Pushkar but power on to Jaipur and burn 10,000 Hilton points to stay in luxury at the Trident Hilton. All of this of course to help Nandu out by minimizing his drive time on Friday, not because she wanted hot water and a comfy bed! Nandu liked this idea a lot, so we got on the Hilton site and booked the stay. We followed up with a nice, rooftop dinner at the Haveli.

4/26/07
Other than the fort, the big thing to see in Bikaner is Karni Mata Mandir, affectionately known as the "Rat Temple" a 17th century temple with actually quite beautiful silver doors and white marble columns and, ummm, rats. Lots of rats. They scurry around everywhere and are revered by the local devout who feed them sweets and milk, believing that they are reincarnated saints. I am not sure what kind of bizarre sense of justice any deity would have in reincarnating a saint as a rat but there you go. Supposedly, it is very auspicious to see a white one (we didn’t). Cindy briefly went into the inner temple and said she was out of there. I hung around snapping some photos of the less than cute and cuddly little vermin. At one point, an elderly German couple walked in, the husband looking around and shooting a few pictures. The wife put one foot inside the silver doors, grimaced and turned around and left. In addition to the rats everywhere, there were their flying cousins, pigeons, crapping willy nilly. Keep in mind that you have to remove your shoes to go into the temple and thus are wandering through rat and pigeon poop. Kinda gnarly…