India strikes me as a street lined with piles of garbage, where, every once in a while, you find a special diamond among the rubble.
You walk along a dirty street, an open sewer beside the road, and you turn into a fort, and you are in a different world. Inside there is no garbage, no animals, no noise. It's magic!
That's what happened this morning when I visited the fort in Bikaner.
All forts have things in common, but the amazing thing is that each one has some feature which makes it unique and special. This one has some of the most beautifully decorated interiors I have seen so far.
As I said MAGICAL.
In the afternoon I visited the Bikaner Camel Research Institute, just outside Bikaner. It is home to 360 camels, and is a breeding facility. I learned a lot of interesting things about camels, but I can see your eyes glaze over.
It was neat seeing new born camels. They stand 2 hours after being born, and by 10 days they are going gang busters.
During the day the camels are led into the country side to feed. At about 4 in the afternoon they all return for more feeding. It is quite a sight to see several hundred camels run towards you, eager to hit the trough.
I did a short camel ride, about 10 minutes. A bit scary, especially when they stand up, because they do the back legs first, and you feel like you will be projected forward. Then the front legs rise, and you are off. It's quite a bumpy ride, and I hung on for dear life. I really didn't want my obituary to say "Died from falling off a camel"
Another demonstration we saw was the mating of two camels. Local farmers can bring their females to the center and, for no charge, one of the male camels gets to do the job. They seemed to enjoy the experience, lots of grunting; it lasted about 5 minutes, and then they went off their separate ways, never looking back. I don't think they even knew each others names.
Another funny thing happened. An English group was there to film a documentary, and they asked me if I minded whether they shot me buying a camel milk ice cream cone. Their treat! How could I say no for free ice cream? The icecream was actually quite good. I might even make BBC.
I don't think I am going to sleep well tonight. My hotel is hosting a large wedding party. I think I am the only non wedding guest here.
We'll see
Till then
You walk along a dirty street, an open sewer beside the road, and you turn into a fort, and you are in a different world. Inside there is no garbage, no animals, no noise. It's magic!
That's what happened this morning when I visited the fort in Bikaner.
All forts have things in common, but the amazing thing is that each one has some feature which makes it unique and special. This one has some of the most beautifully decorated interiors I have seen so far.
As I said MAGICAL.
In the afternoon I visited the Bikaner Camel Research Institute, just outside Bikaner. It is home to 360 camels, and is a breeding facility. I learned a lot of interesting things about camels, but I can see your eyes glaze over.
It was neat seeing new born camels. They stand 2 hours after being born, and by 10 days they are going gang busters.
During the day the camels are led into the country side to feed. At about 4 in the afternoon they all return for more feeding. It is quite a sight to see several hundred camels run towards you, eager to hit the trough.
I did a short camel ride, about 10 minutes. A bit scary, especially when they stand up, because they do the back legs first, and you feel like you will be projected forward. Then the front legs rise, and you are off. It's quite a bumpy ride, and I hung on for dear life. I really didn't want my obituary to say "Died from falling off a camel"
Another demonstration we saw was the mating of two camels. Local farmers can bring their females to the center and, for no charge, one of the male camels gets to do the job. They seemed to enjoy the experience, lots of grunting; it lasted about 5 minutes, and then they went off their separate ways, never looking back. I don't think they even knew each others names.
Another funny thing happened. An English group was there to film a documentary, and they asked me if I minded whether they shot me buying a camel milk ice cream cone. Their treat! How could I say no for free ice cream? The icecream was actually quite good. I might even make BBC.
I don't think I am going to sleep well tonight. My hotel is hosting a large wedding party. I think I am the only non wedding guest here.
We'll see
Till then
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