Humpy and Bumpy rides

Our train pulls into Bikaner station at around 7am. I have been up for about an hour having had a surprisingly good night’s sleep on my first sleeper train. I would have slept until seven but the not so subtle men around my bunk woke up at six so, so did I. Anuj is in the bunk below me and offers for me to come and sit with him as his bunk has a window. So I spend the first hour of my morning watching the sun rise as the train chugs through towns and desert.

Once at our destination the group split into three sub groups and we jump in some tuk-tuks heading for a local vendor’s home for breakfast and a chance to freshen up. In true traveller fashion we all have a wet wipe wash, clean our teeth and are ready for brekkie. We had a great omelette. I have wound some of the table up for digging into their breakfast before everyone is served. This immediately comes back to bite me in the arse when I have to impatiently wait, watching my omelette get cold, while the family cooks up the final few for the group. The breakfast was still lovely though and accompanied with my first cup of chia since landing in India. Once the group is refreshed and fed we are back in the tuk-tuks leaving our big bags at the vendor’s house and heading to old town.

We go on an amazing walking tour around Bikaner old town. The area isn’t as busy as it once was, as many of the amazing houses that are here are old merchant homes (Rampuria Havelis) owned by families who have long moved to more metropolitan areas in India, or even abroad. They aren’t sold though; apparently many of the families believe that to sell their old homes would bring bad luck and cost the family its fortune and business. As such these homes, of striking architecture and an array of colours, are left empty for most of the year only being used for the occasional holiday or religious ceremony. Still the town has plenty going on, like all streets in India do. We are accompanied by many dogs, cows, goats and other animals on the streets as well as the cacophony created by countless cars, bicycles, motor bikes, mopeds and tuk-tuks whizzing by, slamming on their horns for any possible reason that can come to mind.

Rampuria Havelis

Along the way we reach a local market area and are able to experience what it is like on a busy Indian high-street. There are rows and rows of little shop fronts along with street vendors. There are many things sold here; the fresh fruit and vegetable stools along with the bags of spices all around add many beautiful colours in an already bustling area. As we stroll through the market we come to a Jain Temple where we stop to visit. After removing our shoes, we are welcomed in and are even permitted to take photos inside the temple. The group spends some time appreciating all the decorative statues and paintings that fill this small temple, walking around it clockwise which we have learnt is the way all temples are laid out, for clockwise exploration. Once we have all finished looking round the temple, the attendant, that has brilliant dyed ginger hair (he told us as he reached a certain age he wanted to make sure people kept looking at him) – I assume by people, he means the ladies – shows us how to get a create a video by putting our phone on the ground and leaning over in a circle to get a picture of the roof. We then make a quick video looking down and bowing with our hands pressed together in prayer. The video finds its way onto the One Life official instagram story.

Jain Temple Bhandasar, Bikaner

Once out the pool we have quick showers before heading back out in the jeeps. This time our destination is a mini jeep safari through the local villages and desert, ending at Bikaner's Camel Breeding Farm that originally wasn’t on the itinerary but Holly made a special request that was answered. To be honest, we don’t see many animals on the way apart from cows. We come up with a similar game to the one I played on the safari in Sri Lanka whereby the first to see an animal, get points. I annoy my jeep by calling out about a hundred cows before they decide to tell me they don’t count. Nik gets a chuckle from Stu and I (it's us three in the back of my jeep) when he spots a dead dog and declares he is giving me minus one point for it. At the breeding centre we see many camels, the most camels any of us have ever seen in one place. We are also lucky enough to see one of the workers milk one of the camels after having let its calf have a feed to warm up the udders.

After the temple we get a quick ride back to our bags and are loaded into some jeeps to head to our next accommodation: a Glamping site in the Bikaner dessert. As we arrive it is explained that we have been upgraded to their huts as the increasingly hot temperature has made the tents unbearably hot on the inside and, unlike the huts, the tents aren’t capable of having more than a small stand-alone fan. I for one am rather happy about this change as I can admit I do like my little luxuries – like solid walls and not boiling to death as I sleep. Once we are settled, the group decides to go for a dip in the pool. Like most pools I have encountered so far on my travels it doesn’t have a filter, so we are accompanied by quite a few dead bugs and hornets and although the water is not cold it is still a refreshing swim, but we all decide to keep our heads above the water.

On the way back to the Glamp site the jeep takes us towards some dunes to watch the sunset. Stu gets his drone out and gets some pretty cool aerial shots of us in the jeeps. I have been told he needs decent internet connection to be able to edit and send them to the group so we are all yet to get them, but are very much looking forward to it. We, of course, use the opportunity to take a load of photos while the sun sets. I even try and set up a timelapse but after leaving my phone for 15 minutes, I look back at the video to see it wasn’t in focus. We head back to camp.

Nightcap

Traditional Bikaner dancer
(click on the top right hand icon)

Another fantastic day ends with a dinner accompanied by a local woman doing a cultural dance show for us. She is amazing and her dress is beautiful. At one point Rach, Will, Esra and I join her on the stage. Esra having a Turkish background knows some of the moves and to everyone else’s annoyance picks up the dances very quickly while the rest of us, having focused extremely intensely, barely manage to string a couple of moves together. We last roughly one song before we have to give up. How the dancer does it, especially with traditional clothing, is beyond me!

After the dancing is done, the food is eaten and the group have played a few rounds of Chase the Ace, which is quickly becoming our favourite game, we head to bed. Once again I am straight out as soon as my head hits the pillow, I don’t know if it is the busy days, the sun or how content I am feeling, but I’m definitely sleeping well in India.

Until next time!