Bikaner

Yesterday was quite a day - full, fun and exhausting. We left the hotel in Nawalgarh to have a tour on foot of the town and visit inside one of the most splendid havelis, the houses of rich commercants in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the houses are in ruins, which is so sad, because you can imagine the splendor and excitement when merchants and Travellers would arrive while traveling the silk route. The havali we visited was very large, with two inner courtyards, enough bedrooms to sleep two families plus servants. There were many windows to the exterior and to the open interior courtyards, plus terraces and balconies, all designed to provide fresh air and cross currents. It was also very cleverly designed to capture and save every bit of rainwater that fell. It was all splendid and made me want to read more about the silk road.

We walked back to the bus through the town, looking at the fruit stalls, the small shops, the crazy, congested traffic with everyone honking their horns. Once back in the bus, we drove to Bikaner. It seemed to take forever, plus we were held up for a while waiting for a train to pass. We arrived at our hotel, had a very quick lunch and rushed to visit the Fort Junagarh before it closed. The fort is gigantic, built between 1588 & 1593 by a Raja. It housed Raja's family in very ornate rooms and reception areas plus the soldiers, of course. We were all a bit pooped after the visit, but got totally re-energized when we all got into the tuk-tuks. We were 3/tuk-tuk and went speeding (they can't go very fast) along the congested roads where cows and people walk, bikers, motorbikes, trucks, cars, carts pulled by donkies or camels, whatever and it is crazy. We had so much fun and laughed so much - it was a super treat.