India on a Shoestring - Part Two

My first experience of a night train is not one I will forget easily. It was late by the time we got on the train and we had been warned to padlock our bags to our beds because it wasn't uncommon for street kids to jump on and steal them in the night. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. I think I had imagined something like the carriages in Harry Potter, cosy but enclosed. But this train didn't have compartments and was largely open plan, I was lucky enough to have the bottom bunk on three tiered bunks so I didn't have to do any scrambling around trying to climb up to my bunk (like I would have to do later on in the trip) and my backpack was laid out nice and close to me with a chain wrapped around it. My night's sleep wasn't half bad compared to most of my group's, I found the rocking motion of the train really quite comforting.

(top to bottom) Ella, Emma and I

We got off the train nice and early and got tuk tuks to our hotel in Bikaner where we were given two rooms between the ten of us to freshen up and get some rest before we headed out to the desert in the afternoon. I got a chance to bond with some of the girls properly and we talked about our favourite books a bit. It was the moment I decided I really loved the group of people I was with.

We headed out in jeeps to just beyond a desert village and met up with the men who owned the camels and would be leading them. Manu gave a quick demonstration on how to mount a camel (do not whatever you do lean forward as its standing up - you will fall off) and we were told to pick a camel, I went for a safe option of one which didn't seem to be foaming round the mouth. Looking back I don't know if that was the right decision because if you were on a camel who was uncontrollably dribbling, at least you were less likely to have a dribbling camel right behind you with the constant fear that it might get on your hair or clothes. Also when I say "dribble", I am not talking about like when a baby blows bubbles with its mouth, I am talking about the sound of retching mixed with large amounts of froth and a tongue that swells up like a balloon. Camels are not pretty animals.

My experience of riding a camel is one of pain, we were on them for a good three hours and my thighs were hard worked by the end of it. We stopped only once on this long journey for lunch, where the village men cooked us some traditional dishes on an open fire. Without going into too much detail, it was on this stop when I went for a toilet break behind a bush that I realised I had what is known as Delhi Belly. Riding camels and camping in the desert is not the place to have this, however I managed to avoid too much embarrassment. 

Ella and I on the camels

When we got off the camels and waddled into the campsite we were treated to beers and chai tea before heading up the dunes to watch what little there was of a sunset (it was foggy) and we sat on the dunes beers in hand, which turned out to be a very poor decision due to these spiky seeds which were hidden within the sand that stuck to all our clothes for days, even weeks. When it got dark the village men cooked us another meal which unfortunately I didn't try due to the dodgy stomach, Manu also surprised us with fireworks he had carried in his luggage from Delhi which we watched in the pitch black of the desert from around the campfire. Later on we got the surprise of traditional music, which the men played on a big hand-drum type instrument with lots of chanting and whistling and all of us circling awkwardly around the campfire, definitely an experience I won't be forgetting anytime soon. Manu, Dominique and I stayed up later than the rest, and we told stories round the fire and chilled out, the guard dog cuddling up to me despite my half-hearted attempts to move him away (rabies and fleas and all that). The desert was freezing that night, even with lots of layers and blankets in the tent, the dog also preceded to howl and bark half the night, we all woke up in the morning cold, tired and ready to hit the dog over the head with a stone.

We headed back to the pretty hotel in Bikaner nice and early, not getting much of a chance to rest as we had lots of places to visit, a beautiful palace within Bikaner fort, lots of towers, balconies and beautifully decorated rooms. More memorably, that afternoon we visited Deshnoke, a town half an hour away which is famous for its rat temple, at this place they worship and feed wild rats. We weren't allowed shoes which wasn't the most comfortable experience due to the floor having quite a lot of rat poo, however I was surprised how calm I was when in with the rats, they were smaller than expected and seemed friendly enough. We were told that rats running over your feet was good luck (which happened to me a lot) and also to make a wish if we saw a white rat because they were special, in our group we managed to spot two or maybe three, I'm not sure, it could have been the same rat twice.

We had a nice early evening in Bikaner after a group meal, all pretty knackered after the bad night's sleep in the desert. The next day we would head to Jaisalmer, having to wake up early for a long train journey. 

India on a Shoestring - Part One

I opted to go travelling with a friend from work, Emma, to India. Starting in January and ending at the beginning of February. We decided to do a tour as India is a difficult place to navigate around, going with a company called "G Adventures" due to their low prices and high amount of activities provided.

Emma and I arrived in Delhi on the 12th of January after a long flight from Heathrow, we collected our backpacks and found a man holding a sign for G adventure tours where he sat us down in the airport with another girl until more of our group arrived. The girl was called Dominique who would later become one of my closest friends on the tour, she was Canadian but had travelled from London, we talked about travelling a little bit and two other girls arrived: Ella and a girl for one of the other tours with G adventures who had both been on the same flight as us and were from England. We then got into a taxi with "women on wheels" a company run by and for women, then having our first experience of the mad traffic of India, cars everywhere, loud honking of horns and large traffic jams.

Arriving at the Hotel, ironically named "Hotel Perfect" we were greeted by our tour guide, Manu, who gave us our room keys and told us a time to meet him for a pep talk. The hotel was freezing, having evidently been designed for an Indian summer with tiled floors and electric fans, apart from that it was pleasant enough, but far from 'perfect'. Emma and I had a nap having been tired out from our journey, we later walked down for our talk with Manu who introduced himself and explained a little about the company and the tour. I also got to meet most of the rest of my tour group: Becci from Wales but who was studying in Australia, Suzanne from England, Victoria from America and Mili from Argentina. Manu invited us out for an optional meal, which we all said yes to, and Ella and I shared a vegetarian platter and I had the first of many piña coladas.

The next day we got up to go to Jama Masjid, a large Mosque in Old Delhi. Also meeting the remainder of the tour group, a girl from Australia called Jacqui and an older man from America named Edward. At the entrance of the Mosque we were instructed to put on not the most flattering of robes, mine looking slightly like a hospital gown. We wondered around the site taking in the marvellous surroundings, and paying to go up to the tallest tower of the mosque, a sign telling us that women weren't allowed to go up unaccompanied by a man! (thank god for Edward).

Ella, me and Emma sat outside Jama Masjid

View from the top of the tower

After the Mosque Manu took us on an orientation walk of Old Delhi, stopping to talk about different sites, we stopped at a Sikh Gurdwara where they give out free lunches for anyone who attends and ate food there in a hall, that afternoon we went to visit Salaam Baalak Trust, a non-profit organisation based in Delhi to help street kids. They take in children and give them a home and an education, it was inspiring to hear about and lovely to have the chance to talk to and interact with the children there.

That evening we had an overnight train with compact three tier bunks to sleep in to take us to Bikaner, a vibrant desert town, where the trip would continue.