After departing Mandawa, we proceeded to Bikaner, a much larger city in Rajasthan. There are a lot of pictures on Flickr. We spent many hours in the car, but were able to do some sight-seeing along the way.
Traffic along the road
We ate lunch at an unabashedly touristy place called "The Winning Post" with a horse-racing theme, but after a week or so of Indian flavors I was beginning to object less to bland from time to time.
First up we were to see the fort in the city, which is both enormous and in excellent repair. One theme in whether an Indian castle is in good repair or not in our experience was how well the ruling families picked winners in previous struggles. The Raja here picked the Mughals (who became emperors, good choice) and later the British (quite imperial also) and so their castle never got attacked or shelled or anything.
The wire above the castle is to keep birds out, a good precaution based on some other places we saw. Note this is all stone, including the carved out railing.
A picture next to the tiny cannon seemed like a good idea.
Some parts of the fort were being repainted and cleaned and looked good - I suspect it'll take quite some time to finish the whole thing but if it is completely restored it'll really be something.
Getting closer to the ruler's rooms and quarters, we encountered some amazingly detailed gold-leaf on the ceiling.
Close up
Miniature painting (a specialty of Bikaner) done on the walls - these are only a few inches across
Throne room - more gold inlay and some really tacky glass and mirrors, very common when high-quality European glass was able to be imported for the elite
Up on the roof looking across the castle
Coming back down we saw some collections of the Raja, including weapons and clothes.
The guide was advocating for going to a miniature painting shop but Ana was adamant that we go to the camel breeding farm and everyone else but the guide was on board with that. This site is apparently the national camel research center for India.
Camels!
Informational signs on one type of camel - the center has four types
At one point the guide definitely walked us right past a no-entry sign, which some members of our party were more concerned about than others.
To end the camel tour, the center has a 'Camel Milk Parlour' which we felt an urgent need to visit. We were hoping for camel milk ice cream, but they were out and we went for camel milk by itself. As you can see, it comes in a little plastic bag with a straw. Ana and I both tasted it - honestly it tasted very much like cow's milk - store-bought cow's milk in Japan tastes weirder.
The guide then recommended a visit to a local weaving co-op. We were a little skeptical (and a bit tired of being sold on trips to stores), especially after arriving late enough to discover that the actual craftswomen had gone home and all that was left was salesmen. However, when we saw what they were selling and found out what it cost, we looked at each other and settled in to do business. I am confident that similar hand-woven (and mostly silk) products in the USA would be several thousands dollars each and I think the most expensive one we bought (and we were buying in some cases their top of the line) was about $130. That one was supposed to take a husband and wife team several weeks of labor in addition to the cost of materials. We hadn't gone to India intending to buy amazing blankets and throws and whatnot but in some cases the better question at this place was whether we were buying a given piece or our friends were.* If you're ever in Bikaner, I'd recommend this place.
After, we walked to a dinner place recommended by the guide, not the driver, and while still touristy it was a little more interesting than some we'd been to.
The hotel we were in was actually a converted secondary palace of the local nobility, so the room was a mix of pretty old and fairly new.
We posed for a picture with a picture of the guy whose house the hotel had formerly been. Recalling that the tourism in Mandawa was the same day as all of this, we were pretty worn out.
*All of which is still packed up, what with finishing PhDs and getting jobs and moving and all...more on that later!
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