Dalhousie hill station

Dalhousie hill station was way up there. Pretty soon we drove into the fog and dark and started to see big piles of snow everywhere. We were lucky to get an overpriced pretty sleazy hotel. It was winter season and pretty much everything was closed. We prowled around a little in the dark and fog and snow wondering if we would survive the night in our skimpy clothing.

We awoke to a different world the next morning. The sky was clear and the mountain scenery was gorgeous.

On the Road

Here is Anil, our driver waiting for some fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice. We were driving through the Punjab and drove through miles of orange groves. These mandarin oranges were probably picked that morning within a few hundred yards.

There are lots of railway crossings in India and they are all manned with an attendant and family living right beside the tracks. There must be hundreds of thousands of railway crossing guard employees.

Bikaner

In 2017 we visited Bikaner. It has very nice toilets and I utilized them to the fullest as I cleaned up after the shit storm at the fort.
For those readers interested in the details I refer you to 2017 India blog.

So it was nice to wander around in good health. It is another Rajastan Fort filled with opulent wealth. Everything is decorated with ornate paintings and tiles. A museum collection houses the rajs collection of rifles , swords , knives, spears etc..   Just a few thousand of each.

^

In Pursuit of the Great Indian Bustard

We stopped off at Jaisalmer to do some research. It is an inhabited fort so we were able to go up to the ramparts and drink a beer in a restaurant perched above the city.
Unfortunately the pictures have gone missing . So you will have to take my word for it.

It seems the best way to view an Indian Bustard is from the back of a camel. It seems they are unafraid of camels.
So it was off to the local camel rental yard where we first had to down a couple of cups of aryidtha which is an alcoholic drink made out of camels milk and goat piss. Then we had to learn the three essential camel commands:

VARELTLITY         RISE UP GREAT BEAST
BREDALFTHY       RIDE LIKE THE WIND
NORTHRUMPTY   STOP YOU GREAT BEAST BEFORE I NEVER WALK AGAIN

Then it was into the desert feeling very magnificent, like Lawrence of Arabia.
Then the pain and discomfort and then the best part of the camel ride, getting off and trying to walk again.
Alas we never saw an Indian Bustard. Turns out the area where the few survivors are is under lock and key because there were so few survivors of the last breeding season.

Demoiselle Cranes

Yammy said she wanted to see a demoiselle crane, so we stopped at these two very small water holes and spotted 2500 in the first pond and another eight thousand in the next pond.
The weather that day blowing 28mph and gusting to 35 mph. The desert sand was on the move.

Yammy has a video of a local woman dressed in a red saree walking through the flock of eight thousand. Ignorant behaviour but made for a great video. 

Pushkar

Pushkar is a laid back holy city built around this pretty scummy body of water. I wouldn't go near it but pilgrims come from afar to bathe in it and bring its holy water back to their homes.
It is a picturesque place and there is lots going on.
Much to our amazement the filthy holy water of this lake was being churned up by about eight hundred pelicans. The first time they had been seen here in living memory. God only knows what they were eating.

Enroute to Pushkar

So we are reunited with our car and driver from our trip two years ago. Unfortunately we don't have much of a plan yet.
We hopped in and blasted off to Jaipur a massive city full of wonders that we had already  viewed two years ago. Next morning we headed for Pushkar with a major detour to this massive salt lake. Our hope to see some flamingos. As soon as we glimpsed some water there they were. We walked up to two species of flamingos and a whack of other birds, some new species for us. As a bonus a couple of nilgai walked by. They happen to be the biggest antelope species, about the size of an elk.

Later we couldn't resist stopping to shop for a new marble counter top. Not sure how we are going to get it on the plane.

Keoladeo Park

Keoladeo was created as hunting preserve. Rajas and their British royal guests would go hunting for ducks and anything else that moved. The record is something like 4500 ducks shot in one hunt by three British royals.
Now it is a wildlife preserve of sorts. There are thousands of migrating ducks and geese and it is home to the Sarus Crane, the tallest of flying birds. We have been here three days and identified about 120 species of birds and sighted mongoose, jackals, spotted deer, blue bulls, pythons , lizards and turtles.
Tomorrow we get reunited with our driver of two years ago. Our plan was to go to Kashmir. Today there was a terrorist attack killing forty Indian soldiers. We may have to scrap that plan.

Another Great Tree Orchha

Orchha

Orchha is a smaller town of about twelve thousand. It's claim to fame is that it was an important spot in the fifteenth century when they built several massive forts and some big but not ornamented Hindu temples. A fairly clean river runs past it and the guide book says it is a good place to chill out.