Bikaner, India - Rajasthan
I was able to join Vince, a Canadian, on a 9-day car tour he had booked to explore the Rajasthan region and then visit Agra. It worked out well as he had paid more than he wanted to booking the trip. Splitting the costs made it much more affordable for both of us. This is a region I had wanted to visit, but preferred to travel with someone, so having a traveling partner and a car is golden! It is the two of us with our own driver and we can change the itinerary as desired.
This trip started on the less travelled roads toward Bikaner. We saw hundreds of camel drawn carts, donkey carts, sheep, cows, goats, autorickshaws, trucks, buses and people on the road on our journey there. We stopped at a small village and walked around and were immediately escorted by four local kids who spoke surprisingly good English. They, as nearly everyone I have met in India so far, were looking to get a little money, in this case as unofficial tour guides. They were fun to be with, guided to a place to get water and bananas and we gave them a few rupees. The main street of the village chaos. Trucks, buses, cars, people and animals moving through incredibly narrow streets in the middle of a marketplace, women in beautifully colored saris, fruits, vegetables, sweets for sale all assalted our senses.
Part of the road was about the wide of a bike trail. We would careen head on towards an approaching vehicle and then, at the last minute, brake and swerve off the pavement to avoid collision. We encountered seemingly untangleable traffic jams in narrow streets, but somehow they managed to untangle them in a few minutes. After dark most of the approaching traffic would keep there high beams on, blinding our driver and necessitating us coming to almost a complete stop. Apparently it's just a matter of money to get a license in India, some of the drivers may not have even known rules about headlights and approaching cars. In addition, there was still every kind of conveyance on the road, many with no lights at all, such as the camel carts and people on bicycles. We only ran over one already dead goat and I was thankful that was all.
Our lodging for the evening, the Sagar Hotel was very nice and affortable, we split a twin room for about $4.50 each. It even had a hot water shower! After the nine hours on the road we both sleep like logs.
I was able to join Vince, a Canadian, on a 9-day car tour he had booked to explore the Rajasthan region and then visit Agra. It worked out well as he had paid more than he wanted to booking the trip. Splitting the costs made it much more affordable for both of us. This is a region I had wanted to visit, but preferred to travel with someone, so having a traveling partner and a car is golden! It is the two of us with our own driver and we can change the itinerary as desired.
This trip started on the less travelled roads toward Bikaner. We saw hundreds of camel drawn carts, donkey carts, sheep, cows, goats, autorickshaws, trucks, buses and people on the road on our journey there. We stopped at a small village and walked around and were immediately escorted by four local kids who spoke surprisingly good English. They, as nearly everyone I have met in India so far, were looking to get a little money, in this case as unofficial tour guides. They were fun to be with, guided to a place to get water and bananas and we gave them a few rupees. The main street of the village chaos. Trucks, buses, cars, people and animals moving through incredibly narrow streets in the middle of a marketplace, women in beautifully colored saris, fruits, vegetables, sweets for sale all assalted our senses.
Part of the road was about the wide of a bike trail. We would careen head on towards an approaching vehicle and then, at the last minute, brake and swerve off the pavement to avoid collision. We encountered seemingly untangleable traffic jams in narrow streets, but somehow they managed to untangle them in a few minutes. After dark most of the approaching traffic would keep there high beams on, blinding our driver and necessitating us coming to almost a complete stop. Apparently it's just a matter of money to get a license in India, some of the drivers may not have even known rules about headlights and approaching cars. In addition, there was still every kind of conveyance on the road, many with no lights at all, such as the camel carts and people on bicycles. We only ran over one already dead goat and I was thankful that was all.
Our lodging for the evening, the Sagar Hotel was very nice and affortable, we split a twin room for about $4.50 each. It even had a hot water shower! After the nine hours on the road we both sleep like logs.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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