I had a good sleep, the wedding guests were not noisy at all.
One thing I learned, the entire city shuts off its electricity between 8 and 10 am every day. If you want to make coffee or take a shower it better be done before 8.
I spent the morning visiting some Jain temples in the old city in Bikaner. The old city dates back to the 15th century, and if you were to remove the motorcycles and tuk-tuks, you would be there six hundred years ago. The streets are lanes, going everywhich way. There are open sewers along all the streets; I even saw some women washing clothes in these sewers.If you could see a google view, it would look like a plate of sphaghetti. I had intended to walk around, but there was no way I could find my way out again. I used a tuk-tuk to take me to the temples, and then home again.
Jain is one of the old Indian religions. They belief it is wrong to kill any living thing, even mosquitoes. When you enter one of their temples, no leather is permitted. No shoes, no belts. It would be interesting to see a group of Satans Choice riders in one of the temples, down to their underwear.
The thing is that going in your socks, or even without, is fine as long as you are inside, but there are smaller temples on the grounds, and there are pigeon droppings all over the place. I have washed my socks on a daily basis.
In the afternoon I took a car, with driver to the village of Deshnok, about 30 km south of Bikaner. It is the location of a famous Hindu temple, the Karni Mata Temple. Karni Mata was a Hindu saint who lived in the 14th century. She performed several miracles for the local ruler, who rewarded her with a temple in her honour. It has beautiful solid silver doors. The claim to fame though is the she made a deal with one of the gods. For the return of her son, who drowned, she would promise that she and all her descendants would be re-incarnated as rats.
I am not making this up.
So there is this temple, which is teeming with rats running all over the place.You have to watch where you step. They are fed and looked after. There are several hundred of these little furry creatures running around. Indians come from all over the place to ask favours from Karni Mata. They make offerings to her, and feed the rats. This is probably the most popular temple I have seen, there is a continuous line of locals going through the temple.
Another experience was the drive home, in the dark. I think to drive in India you need a drivers licence and a death wish. I haven't figured out the rules of the road yet. All I know is that cows have the right of way, every time. The highway from Deshnok back to Bikaner is a major road, which means it is paved, two-lane, no paved shoulder. At night everyone drives with their high beams, unless they don't turn on their lights at all. Cows come without lights. It's quite an experience driving along and meeting a big cow slowly ambling across the highway. You also have tuk-tuks, top speed about 20 km/h, bicycles, trucks, buses, camel drawn carts, and dogs and goats. I think the only reason there aren't many accidents is that the speed are low. In the city you don't go over 15 km/h, on the highway, 60 is the top.
I was very happy to return to my hotel
One thing I learned, the entire city shuts off its electricity between 8 and 10 am every day. If you want to make coffee or take a shower it better be done before 8.
I spent the morning visiting some Jain temples in the old city in Bikaner. The old city dates back to the 15th century, and if you were to remove the motorcycles and tuk-tuks, you would be there six hundred years ago. The streets are lanes, going everywhich way. There are open sewers along all the streets; I even saw some women washing clothes in these sewers.If you could see a google view, it would look like a plate of sphaghetti. I had intended to walk around, but there was no way I could find my way out again. I used a tuk-tuk to take me to the temples, and then home again.
Jain is one of the old Indian religions. They belief it is wrong to kill any living thing, even mosquitoes. When you enter one of their temples, no leather is permitted. No shoes, no belts. It would be interesting to see a group of Satans Choice riders in one of the temples, down to their underwear.
The thing is that going in your socks, or even without, is fine as long as you are inside, but there are smaller temples on the grounds, and there are pigeon droppings all over the place. I have washed my socks on a daily basis.
In the afternoon I took a car, with driver to the village of Deshnok, about 30 km south of Bikaner. It is the location of a famous Hindu temple, the Karni Mata Temple. Karni Mata was a Hindu saint who lived in the 14th century. She performed several miracles for the local ruler, who rewarded her with a temple in her honour. It has beautiful solid silver doors. The claim to fame though is the she made a deal with one of the gods. For the return of her son, who drowned, she would promise that she and all her descendants would be re-incarnated as rats.
I am not making this up.
So there is this temple, which is teeming with rats running all over the place.You have to watch where you step. They are fed and looked after. There are several hundred of these little furry creatures running around. Indians come from all over the place to ask favours from Karni Mata. They make offerings to her, and feed the rats. This is probably the most popular temple I have seen, there is a continuous line of locals going through the temple.
Another experience was the drive home, in the dark. I think to drive in India you need a drivers licence and a death wish. I haven't figured out the rules of the road yet. All I know is that cows have the right of way, every time. The highway from Deshnok back to Bikaner is a major road, which means it is paved, two-lane, no paved shoulder. At night everyone drives with their high beams, unless they don't turn on their lights at all. Cows come without lights. It's quite an experience driving along and meeting a big cow slowly ambling across the highway. You also have tuk-tuks, top speed about 20 km/h, bicycles, trucks, buses, camel drawn carts, and dogs and goats. I think the only reason there aren't many accidents is that the speed are low. In the city you don't go over 15 km/h, on the highway, 60 is the top.
I was very happy to return to my hotel
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