Shakuntalam
Thats the name of the guest house im staying at at the moment. :)
Well, some of my more avid readers have noticed that I have been absent from the keyboard for a matter of days, and have petitioned for further installments in the tale so far....well people, its good to know you care!
The reason its been quiet here for a day or two is that I have been out there LIVING it. ALSO, that ive been FAFFING about with photos for HOURS trying to get them to upload to this damn website. I have managed to upload them to the internet (On PHOTOBUCKET if anyone is interested, just look for abster travels) but I still have not yet managed to get them to stick into blogger. Damned things. Anyway, it wont beat me, so you shall have visual illustrations in due course.
Last I left you, I was in a jib and heading out of Jaisalmer towards Bikaner. Well, not very surprisingly, after my PMT had passed, so did my malaise about India and the people in it. In fact, I perked up quite a bit and remembered why I was here and how to enjoy myself. Ah being a woman is a tough job.
The journey to Bikaner was interesting to say the least. I hopped into another one of the DELUXE busses and managed to get a window seat (air conditioned!). With a huge flower reathed Shiva on the dashboard we careered through the desert towards Bikaner. We had an eventful journey passing roadworks - where the men working on the road had built a stone wall straight across the highway without any signs - necessitating the cars, motor bikes, camel carts and us in the bus to career of the road into unmarked desert for a couple of hundred yards bouncing uncontrolably till I thought the axles would break. Finally after 7 hours we pulled into Bikaner and I was met by the man from the hotel and whisked though the city. At first glance Bikaner seems to be a smaller, more modern and more seedy version of Jaisalmer. Its more workaday and less attractive, but I was interested in seeing all it had on offer anyway.
Next day I hired a rickshaw wallah to show me the sights. After dropping his son off at the HOMO-PATHETIC hospital (presumably he wanted a herbal remedy for being gay and a little bit upset!) we positively whizzed though the traffic out to the north of the city. The traffic here is a curious mix of people riding camels and bicycles and also camel carts, as well as jeeps and busses which look to be on thier last legs, oh and tractors and heavy freight vans covered, and I mean COVERED in tinsel and decorations. It seems to be harvest time, so the trucks are also overloaded with straw - which seems to be sewn onto the lorries - in gigantic hessian sacks that tower above the truck on every side and hang over the top and sides like huge beer guts. I think if the trucks fell over, they would be so well padded there would be no trouble. Driving past them in a small motor rickshaw is a little daunting though!
We drove very fast up the highway about 13 kms North to the famous Rat Temple, which, inIndia, is billed as the 8th wonder of the world. This im not so sure of, but it is passingly interesting. The people here believe that rats and mice are re-incarnated souls, and so they keep and feed thousands of rats inside the temple. As with most temples, you have to take off your shoes which was a bit minging...walking through rats and rat poo was LOVELY. Luckily I had taken some socks. I didnt actually mind the ratties running over my feet. Felt funny though!! I hoped they wouldnt go up my trousers!!! good pictures though. It was obviously a very sacred place for a lot of people, so once again, I felt a bit of a white elephant voyeur, so I made tracks a bit quick.
Then the bloke drove me to the most famous part of Bikaner, which is the fort. I must say that this was a bit of a let down compared to the palaces in Udaipur and Jaisalmer, though it was passingly interesting. The fort palaces had held the Maharaja and his 32 or so wives. He had a bit of a thing for killing things, both people and animals, so the place was filled with interesting knives and guns as well as lots of stuffed rare species (including many tigers and leopards). The guide showing us around (you have to take one of the official guides) was infuriating and very sexist, AND expected a tip. I got mad and gave him 20 rupees which is a bit of a snub!!
I then trollied myself around a museum up the back of the fort, which was really interesting. It was all the different traditional dresses and also lots of royal clothes - some really fabulous ones.
Next we went into the old town and saw all the oldest Haveli's or merchant houses in Rajisthan. The buildings were beautiful but empty - the owners only come back to them on high days and holidays - like weddings and birthdays.
The rickshaw man then took me to the "spicey"market, which was excellent, though I was expected to buy lots of spiceys - which I didnt.
Next was the Jain temples of Bikaner, which were AWESOME - very bland white on the outside, and incredably painted inside. really beautiful. and you can climb three stories to the top and view the whole of Bikaner - wonderful. AND I was the only tourist there. A charming lovely swami showed me around and I felt all peaceful and cheery.
Lastly I was shuffled off to the Bikaner's most famous attraction - the camel farm. Billed to contain 5000+ camels as well as a breeding programme and lots of babies, I was quite excited to go there...until I got there.....no camels (I counted 11 mangy old things!!) Id seen more in my back yard in Jaisalmer! What a let down!!!! Lots of interesting information on camel types and breeding though. Lots of empty camel enclosures! like a zoo where all the animals have gone!!
Next day I headed South again to Jaipur (again on the bus) and that is where I am at the moment. Im having a bit of a "get it together" time. My phone is playing up again (im having my first brushes with Indian beauracracy (sp?) and having to visit this office to get a form, then go somewhere else to get it verified, then take it back to the original one again. Im not sure whether its worth the bother!! I want to be able to phone people though!
Well, some of my more avid readers have noticed that I have been absent from the keyboard for a matter of days, and have petitioned for further installments in the tale so far....well people, its good to know you care!
The reason its been quiet here for a day or two is that I have been out there LIVING it. ALSO, that ive been FAFFING about with photos for HOURS trying to get them to upload to this damn website. I have managed to upload them to the internet (On PHOTOBUCKET if anyone is interested, just look for abster travels) but I still have not yet managed to get them to stick into blogger. Damned things. Anyway, it wont beat me, so you shall have visual illustrations in due course.
Last I left you, I was in a jib and heading out of Jaisalmer towards Bikaner. Well, not very surprisingly, after my PMT had passed, so did my malaise about India and the people in it. In fact, I perked up quite a bit and remembered why I was here and how to enjoy myself. Ah being a woman is a tough job.
The journey to Bikaner was interesting to say the least. I hopped into another one of the DELUXE busses and managed to get a window seat (air conditioned!). With a huge flower reathed Shiva on the dashboard we careered through the desert towards Bikaner. We had an eventful journey passing roadworks - where the men working on the road had built a stone wall straight across the highway without any signs - necessitating the cars, motor bikes, camel carts and us in the bus to career of the road into unmarked desert for a couple of hundred yards bouncing uncontrolably till I thought the axles would break. Finally after 7 hours we pulled into Bikaner and I was met by the man from the hotel and whisked though the city. At first glance Bikaner seems to be a smaller, more modern and more seedy version of Jaisalmer. Its more workaday and less attractive, but I was interested in seeing all it had on offer anyway.
Next day I hired a rickshaw wallah to show me the sights. After dropping his son off at the HOMO-PATHETIC hospital (presumably he wanted a herbal remedy for being gay and a little bit upset!) we positively whizzed though the traffic out to the north of the city. The traffic here is a curious mix of people riding camels and bicycles and also camel carts, as well as jeeps and busses which look to be on thier last legs, oh and tractors and heavy freight vans covered, and I mean COVERED in tinsel and decorations. It seems to be harvest time, so the trucks are also overloaded with straw - which seems to be sewn onto the lorries - in gigantic hessian sacks that tower above the truck on every side and hang over the top and sides like huge beer guts. I think if the trucks fell over, they would be so well padded there would be no trouble. Driving past them in a small motor rickshaw is a little daunting though!
We drove very fast up the highway about 13 kms North to the famous Rat Temple, which, inIndia, is billed as the 8th wonder of the world. This im not so sure of, but it is passingly interesting. The people here believe that rats and mice are re-incarnated souls, and so they keep and feed thousands of rats inside the temple. As with most temples, you have to take off your shoes which was a bit minging...walking through rats and rat poo was LOVELY. Luckily I had taken some socks. I didnt actually mind the ratties running over my feet. Felt funny though!! I hoped they wouldnt go up my trousers!!! good pictures though. It was obviously a very sacred place for a lot of people, so once again, I felt a bit of a white elephant voyeur, so I made tracks a bit quick.
Then the bloke drove me to the most famous part of Bikaner, which is the fort. I must say that this was a bit of a let down compared to the palaces in Udaipur and Jaisalmer, though it was passingly interesting. The fort palaces had held the Maharaja and his 32 or so wives. He had a bit of a thing for killing things, both people and animals, so the place was filled with interesting knives and guns as well as lots of stuffed rare species (including many tigers and leopards). The guide showing us around (you have to take one of the official guides) was infuriating and very sexist, AND expected a tip. I got mad and gave him 20 rupees which is a bit of a snub!!
I then trollied myself around a museum up the back of the fort, which was really interesting. It was all the different traditional dresses and also lots of royal clothes - some really fabulous ones.
Next we went into the old town and saw all the oldest Haveli's or merchant houses in Rajisthan. The buildings were beautiful but empty - the owners only come back to them on high days and holidays - like weddings and birthdays.
The rickshaw man then took me to the "spicey"market, which was excellent, though I was expected to buy lots of spiceys - which I didnt.
Next was the Jain temples of Bikaner, which were AWESOME - very bland white on the outside, and incredably painted inside. really beautiful. and you can climb three stories to the top and view the whole of Bikaner - wonderful. AND I was the only tourist there. A charming lovely swami showed me around and I felt all peaceful and cheery.
Lastly I was shuffled off to the Bikaner's most famous attraction - the camel farm. Billed to contain 5000+ camels as well as a breeding programme and lots of babies, I was quite excited to go there...until I got there.....no camels (I counted 11 mangy old things!!) Id seen more in my back yard in Jaisalmer! What a let down!!!! Lots of interesting information on camel types and breeding though. Lots of empty camel enclosures! like a zoo where all the animals have gone!!
Next day I headed South again to Jaipur (again on the bus) and that is where I am at the moment. Im having a bit of a "get it together" time. My phone is playing up again (im having my first brushes with Indian beauracracy (sp?) and having to visit this office to get a form, then go somewhere else to get it verified, then take it back to the original one again. Im not sure whether its worth the bother!! I want to be able to phone people though!
posted by Abster at 11:25 am
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