Rajasthan Part 9: Bikaner & Mandawa

After leaving the desert city of Jaislmer we headed back across the Thar Desert and into the north eastern corner of Rajasthan.  After crossing the desolate desert we once again we were welcomed by a more humid sub-tropical environment.  Grass grew in the highway median, more cows grazed along the shrubbery on the shoulders, and trees began popping up in the distance.  Just outside our destination of Mandawa, we encountered signs of the Summer monsoons.  Massive puddles covered the entire roadway.  We had to slow our travel speed in order to cross these miniature lakes.   

Mandawa, a small town is famous for one thing- Haveli’s.  Haveli’s are essentially extremely decorated houses, sometimes mansions, with a ornamental decoration specific to that area.  In Jaislmer the havelis were intricate carvings in the sand stone.  In Mandawa, they were colorful paintings covering walls, pillars, and beams.  Both inside and outside the structures.

These buildings are often called “Heritage Houses”.  Referring to the Raj heritage of ornamentally decorating higher caste houses.  Some of the heritage houses,  those over 200 years old have been taken over by the Indian government and fully funded for restoration.  Others have been passed down through generations of wealthy families that pay for upkeep and maintenance.  While sadly many have become derelict, their paintings all but eroded or rubbed away.  

The decorative murals cover a range of themes.  Some represent key events in India’s history.  Most have multiple religious symbols or figures.  One more recent Haveli had murals representing important technological wonders, such as the airplane and train.

I really liked Mandawa.  Though it was pretty far off the beaten path, I think we unofficially became lost several times to find it.  I don’t speak hindi, but I’m pretty sure our driver had to ask for directions at least 7 times.  Mandawa was a fairly small town, we walked almost completely around it in less than an hour.  

After two weeks in India I decided I need some sandals. While packing for the trip Gretchen tricked me into not bringing any open toed shoes.  After the first day I disgustingly noticed she herself was wearing Chaco sandals, while I was sweating in my trail shoes.  Hoping for the best I shopped around and finally found this leather sandal shop in Mandawa.  As long as you didn’t mind footwear made from sheep leather, cow leather, pig leather, goat leather, dog leather, rat leather, or any other kind of leather they had great selection!

I tried my best to figure out the sport of Cricket.  We never went to an official match, but observed several local pick-up games.  After reading my Rough Guide discussion I Cricket I still didn’t comprehend the sport.  So we spent about an hour at a Mandawa park watching these school boys play.  I should have filmed the entire experience.  Several friendly English speaking boys came over and pieced together various aspects of the game.

Visiting Bikaner was back to the big city.  This marked almost two weeks wandering around Rajasthan with a driver.  At this point we were a little tired of massive Raj palaces, big cities, and crazy driving.

The highlight of Bikaner was torrential monsoon rains.  This was our first experience actually being in these downpours.  The hotel power flickered as the storm passed through the city.  Low spots in the floor became puddles, then lakes.  Our hotel open air lobby had various water falls coming off the roof.

Within an hour the monsoon rain passed.  We went for a short walk and things quickly seemed back to normal.  Some puddles remained, but most of water drained into ditches and irrigation channels.  The street lights left a nice reflective glow on the wet shiny surfaces.

We have no regrets spending two weeks in Rajasthan.  Though it wasn’t part of our original itinerary, I’m glad we added the excursion.  There are several places I would visit again as previously mentioned in this blog.  There are also a couple places I’m happy not going back to, eluding that I will go back to India again at all.  Surrounding the countryside near Mandawa are several other neat towns and villages. I really enjoyed spending time in these off the beaten path places.  I would certainly have liked to spend more time getting to know people here and exploring.  Most of them would be harder to access by train or bus.  Having a driver helps, if they know their way around, as many of the city drivers I feel do not.  I think the most exciting way to visit this area would be by motorcycle or bicycle.  This part of Rajasthan is only 3-5 hours from Delhi.  It seemed very safe, though most people don’t speak English outside the big cities, I’m sure you could still make your way around.  The occasional detour or dead end would only lead to the fun of exploration and discovery.