Rajasthan with Dad - Bikaner

(Text from my father's travel log.)
The next morning we took a walking tour and saw several of the Havelis, then it was off to Bikaner in the state of Rajasthan. The countryside changed from green to brown to desert. There are 54,000 camels in Rajasthan and we saw a lot of them.

Many pulling carts on our road. So again, our average speed was around 30mph because of the carts, cows, goats, sheep and people all using the roadway.


Once we got to Bikaner, we checked into the hotel, had lunch and then took off to see the local Camel Research Institute. They provide a stud service for the local farmers to try and improve the stock. There were 331 camels that day and we saw a new born that was only one day old.



Camel milk parlour; camel milk tea, coffee, ice cream, flavored, raw, and pasturized camel milk

331 camels at the center today

This baby was only hours old



Camel cart ride!



From there we went to the Rat Temple. Yes, a rat temple! There were over 1,000 rats running around free in this temple. They were the friendly little lab rat type, not the Chicago sewer type. Caretakers feed them and they were amazing to watch. They were everywhere. There are always four white rats that represent four brothers that died and were reincarnated as rats. The rest are brown. The temple is owned and maintained by direct decendents of the four brothers.

Karni Mata - Rat Temple








Auspicious White Rat #1!!!


Auspicious White Rat #2!!!




Rats were EVERYWHERE!! In the walls, dangling from the fences, in the drainage pipes...


Wednesday was a travel day from Bikaner to Jaipur. This morning we are going to take an elephant ride to the top of a very large hill that dominates the center of the town. One of the most famous forts in India is located on the top.

More travel news to follow.

John

Strange Hindu God amusement park

On the way back to our hotel we drove past this huge lion's head so we stopped to take a look.

It was a strange oasis of Hindu Gods all in one place. Maybe it was still under construction

Om Nama Shivaya


This family was really excited to see us and asked me to take their photo... with MY camera... so funny.