Bikaner

We spent 2 nights and 1.5 days in Bikaner. We decided to add this to our trip because we read that the fort here is one of the best in Rajasthan.

Shree Karni Mata (The Rat Temple)

We negotiated with the taxi to stop at the Rat temple on the way to Bikaner. We have been curious about this temple since we watched a National Geographic documentary on it a few years ago. We also weren’t really sure if we wanted to go because we saw some blogs discussing the smell and amount of rat poop and pee everywhere. But, in the end, we decided that we would regret it if we didn’t stop and see it.

We were there around 6pm and it was very busy. The man working at the shoe storage later told us that there were less rats that day because there were so many people and that usually after 7pm the place is absolutely swarming with rats. To be honest, there were enough rats there for my liking and I’m not sure I could have dealt with many more.

We all wore socks to protect us from rat feces, but we were the only ones – everyone else was barefoot. At the beginning of the temple, there is a special room that only Indians are allowed to go in and they can pay to share a meal with the rats. They put food and water on the floor and both humans and rats share the dish and drink the milk together! 😮 Unfortunately, it was so crowded and we were being pushed forward so we didn’t really get a good look. But if you zoom into the room in the photo below, you can see it.

Here are some other photos of the temple:

Accommodation

We had limited accommodation choices in Bikaner since we wanted one near the train station. So, we decided to splash out and we overspent on our budget on a great little oasis. We felt like royalty here and the breakfast was amazing and so much food! The hotel is run by a husband and wife. The man recently retired from the military where he was in the cavalry and intelligence. The wife is an artist and was responsible for decorating the hotel.

Fort

One of the main tourist attractions in Bikaner is the fort. Unlike all the other forts we’ve seen in Rajasthan, this one is not on a hill but is at ground level. This fort was built in the 1400s and was used by the royal family until the 1930s. They had some nice displays of the rooms and weapons there.

The Indian Stare

By this point, we were pretty used to being stared at everywhere we went in India and people asking to have their photos taken with us. But, Bikaner was on a whole new level! When we visited the fort, each of us must have been asked about 20 times for our photos and even when we said ‘no’, they were taking them anyway. Then, we had so many people stopping on the street to stare at us. We had one guy stop his car (not caring that he was causing a traffic jam) and then follow us at a very slow walking pace, leaning out the window for about 5-10 minutes! We had another guy do about 5 drive-bys on his motorbike before he finally stopped next to us to say hi. All this staring and being followed made us feel really uncomfortable.

The other thing we were thinking of seeing in Bikaner were the special Havelis, but we felt so uncomfortable going out in this town that we decided to give it a miss. However, if you’re interested in them, this page shows them pretty well.

Due to the staring and creepiness, Bikaner ended up being our least favourite place in India. In fact, I would recommend that other foreigners skip it or just stay for an hour to see the fort and get out!

Overnight First Class Train

We wanted to try a train while in India but we’d heard it was such a pain and to only buy a first class overnight or maybe a second class chair ticket for day trips. We bought our ticket to Delhi at the train station in Udaipur for a first class sleeper. The 9 hour train trip was sold out, so we ended up going on the 14 hour train trip Bikaner to Delhi.

The cabin was pretty basic – but we did get pillows and sheets that were clean and wrapped in packaging, and we got a blanket. But other than that, it definitely doesn’t compare to first class in Europe… But, it was similar to our first-class sleeper experience in Vietnam.

I read in several blogs that trains in India have people coming up and down the aisles selling all kinds of food and snacks, so we didn’t bring any with us. However, this was NOT the case! There was one person at the beginning selling tea and another guy later selling water bottles and that was it. We asked the train attendant and he told us that at certain stops, the train stops for 30 minutes (instead of just a couple of minutes). At these stops, we have to jump off the train and go into the station to buy food. So, we ended up giving it a miss. The trains are sooooo long! 19 carriages! We were in carriage 15 and it took forever at Bikaner station to walk all the way down to our carriage so were were afraid that if we jumped off, we might miss the train again. Also, the first 30 minute stop was after 10 pm and the next one was in the middle of the night. So, we ate some spoonfuls of the remaining peanut butter we had and went to bed early. When we got to Delhi, we were starving! Luckily, there was a good, cheap parantha place near the station. (We loved Aloo Paranthas and ate them nearly every day in India! When I get back home, I need to try to see if I can replicate them.)

We stayed in a really crappy, cheap hotel near the airport in Delhi and then took a 4 am flight to Cairo, Egypt. Good bye India! We enjoyed you very much and will come back to explore other regions.