TIMEZONE 7 - INDIA

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Bikaner

December 23 - 26, 1998

The town of Bikaner, although quite large (population 500,000), is relatively unpopulated by tourists (thanks in part to the negative review it received in the Lonely Planet). This shortage of tourists goes a long way in explaining how we got a huge, clean room for four in a brand new hotel for a mere 250 rupees a night ($6.25 US). When we stepped off the bus, we were immediately ensconced in rickshaw drivers. After much dickering over the price, we hired two rickshaws who agreed to take us to the central, but small, backpacker's area. Instead, we were taken to the Hotel Harasar Haveli. Skeptical, because the touts usually bring us to dumpy places where they receive commissions, we were happily surprised to be shown this desert jewel! Our inquiry about a camel tour to Jaisalmer was met by the familiar Indian saying, "Not possible!" According to Sadat, the hotel owner, this trip would take nearly 14 days. As we sat on the rooftop garden, Vino mysteriously appeared. Vino is the proprietor of "Vino's Desert Wind Safaris". He explained our options, and sold us on a one-week long camel safari from Bikaner to Phalodi (which is about half the distance to Jaisalmer). In Phalodi, we could catch a three hour bus the rest of the way to Jaisalmer.

Several people informed us that two days on a camel would be a day and a half too much. We decided that six days would be perfect. Since most camel treks leave from Jaisalmer, leaving from Bikaner allowed us to bypass all the other tourists, Pepsi stands, and Kodak booths. This chance detail proved to be one of the greatest aspects of our trek - we saw absolutely no one other than locals (though at times being so far away from civilization can be a bit frightening, as you shall see).

Christmas in Bikaner was very different than Christmas at home. There were virtually no lights, and definitely no songs, advertisements or presents (lack of foresight dictating the latter). At home even non-Christians are caught up in the holiday spirit. In Bikaner, the average dude doesn't even know about Christmas. But be that as it may, we did end up having a special Christmas Eve at the Harasar Haveli. Some traditional Rajastani musicians and dancers were hired to entertain the western guests, and even though there were no "Jingle-bells" to be heard, we were happy to receive some free cake from a group of Swedish tourists who had just arrived that afternoon. We figured the cake made up for the fact that we had to sleep on the floor of Sadat's house as a result of losing our room to them.

After handing over 7,000 rupees to Vino (half payment for the trek), and receiving, as a receipt, a slip of scratch paper that said basically, ‘Vino owes you one camel safari,’ we headed out on foot to check out some of the local sights. Bikaner, in the tradition of most cities in Rajastan, has a big fort and palace. It was nice, but we'd seen better (a little jaded? You bet). The Jain temples were interesting, but the definite highlight of Bikaner was investigating the numerous mansions, called havelis, which were built by rich spice traders during the early part of this century, and are scattered throughout the old part of the city. As we were walking back to Hotel Harasar Haveli after our tour of the city, we couldn't help but comment on how impressive the clean streets of Bikaner were. It was about this time that we began to smell something quite onerous. It became increasingly overwhelming until, finally, we came upon the answer to what was producing the smell as well as the answer to the clean street mystery - a medium-sized lake, which obviously served as the city's dump.