We took a drive into the country to see the Akal Fossil Park
where we saw a few petrified trees.
We were more excited to see some emu’s up close.
Then we drove to the other side of the city and out into the countryside where we saw more camels and a pretty little lake.
The drive took us to another Jain temple.
There were a number of worshipers there with some food offerings that looked like they were covered with silver leaf.
We were more excited to see some emu’s up close.
Then we drove to the other side of the city and out into the countryside where we saw more camels and a pretty little lake.
The drive took us to another Jain temple.
There were a number of worshipers there with some food offerings that looked like they were covered with silver leaf.
The temple had been attacked at one time by Muslims and
all of the faces of the people had been defaced as Islam bans representations
of the human face. It was too bad about
the damage but otherwise the temple was very pretty.
We then headed back into town to wander through more streets and markets...
on our way to see another Haveli.
We were given a tour of a few of the rooms by a young man from the family who owned the building. The rooms were beautiful and some of the ceilings were particularly colorful.
They were trying to restore it without government support (so that the government wouldn’t take it over). To support the restoration they had shops set up inside with lots of tourist stuff available to buy.
In one of the shops we ran across Frank and Linda from Brighton UK. This is the third place we have met them on this visit. Small world.
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| Necklaces and bracelets for sale. |
on our way to see another Haveli.
We were given a tour of a few of the rooms by a young man from the family who owned the building. The rooms were beautiful and some of the ceilings were particularly colorful.
They were trying to restore it without government support (so that the government wouldn’t take it over). To support the restoration they had shops set up inside with lots of tourist stuff available to buy.
In one of the shops we ran across Frank and Linda from Brighton UK. This is the third place we have met them on this visit. Small world.
We then went back to the hotel for a rest and Mary got a massage. Not as good as her therapist back home but it
was relaxing all the same.
Then it was a 40 minute drive outside the city to a
remote area where there are lots of desert resorts and camps. At our resort we both boarded camels for a
short ride into the desert to take in sunset at the sand dunes. Getting on and off is arduous. The camels don’t seem to want to kneel down
and when they do the angle is precipitous.
We were both glad to be able to say that they have now
ridden a camel. However, the ride was
rough, particularly when going downhill, and the saddles could have used a lot
more padding. Paul thought it wasn’t
bad, although the lack of stirrups made it a rough ride.
The dunes were beautiful and very peaceful.
We were eventually interrupted by a family of 4 who came and sat in front of us and the youngest girl, about 7 or 8, proceeded to dance like crazy while everyone else chanted. She was admittedly very good and a bit of a treat…but they didn’t seem to think we tipped enough and were quite persistent. Our camel driver finally shooed them off.
We were eventually interrupted by a family of 4 who came and sat in front of us and the youngest girl, about 7 or 8, proceeded to dance like crazy while everyone else chanted. She was admittedly very good and a bit of a treat…but they didn’t seem to think we tipped enough and were quite persistent. Our camel driver finally shooed them off.
We saw other camel groups and walkers in the distance and actually had a fairly nice sunset.
Upon our return we had dinner at the camp and enjoyed a show of musicians, dancers and Queen Harish. It had been recommended to us that we take in her show. What we didn’t know was that she was a drag queen. She was actually very good and very creative in her act and we loved the evening.
Today was Paul’s birthday and the guide had roses for him when we got to into the car this morning. And the hotel had a birthday cake waiting in our room when we returned as well as some towels folded into swans and lots of pretty pink flowers scattered around the bed.
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