Yes before I continue, Delhi Belly struck mid afternoon yesterday. And I am happy to report that I broke the personal target of two weeks I set for myself before departure.
The Rat Temple, Karni Mata, is a strange place to day the least. Dubbed as the "8th Wonder of the World" by the billboard located outside the temple visitors are initally given the good news that shoes are not permitted within the temple. Once inside people are calmer than I had expected, no squilling or screaming to be had, as the rats seem to mind their own business mostly and don't really get to close. But there are plenty of them surrounding bowls of milky liquid or running into their holes with coconut or bannana offering given by the worshipers.
After my happy snaps with the rats where over (to be posted when access available) it was back to the hotel to have some lunch before venturing back out into the sand dunes of the desert to see the last days activities at the Annual Bikner Camel Festival. But a simple task such as getting luch in a place like Bikner isn't always so easy. After a failed attempt to get some pizza at the perculiar establishment known as Saras i tried to get some service at a nearby hotel, Hotel Sagar. But unfortunately, nobody wanted to serve me, so I had to leave and find food elsewhere. In Bikner there really aren't that many dining options for those running out of time as I soon realised and after a 20minute tuk-tuk ride through the stinking sestpool of a town that it is I could only manage an icecream shop where i had some butterscotch icecream. Problem solved: Problem created, no sooner had I polished off the small cup of cream did I realise that I was allergic to something in it. For the next 20minutes driving back passing wedding processions and a string of beggers both young and old, I took my tablets and drunk water hoping that the reaction would pass.
It settled slightly and I thought myself fit to head 1 hour off into the desert. The fair is a big event for all the locals from surrounding villagers and it seemed that the tourists were almosts as big of an attraction as were the magnificently decorated camels. Events of the day included wrestling, a tradtional Hindi wedding for two seemingly dazed American tourists and the womens events.
The womens events really seemed to capture the imagination of the crowd, not least because women are so really seen. The events included the jug run and the jug smash. It seems that womens sports in the region are restricted to jug related events.
After we had had our fill of fun and games we headed back out of the sand filled air back to the strench that is Bikner. And just when you think that you couldnt possibly squeeze anything else into a day IT struck. yep the dreaded DB, but it wasnt so bad, in retrospect that is.
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