Srigangari to Bikaner

As we leave Amritsar to our next destination, we have been on the bus for all of 5 minutes when we turn a corner to cross the railway bridge and the bus comes to a sudden halt. The driver tries to turn the engine over but there seems to be nothing doing – and we have been promised a journey of up to 12 hours today. The mood on the bus is tense for those few moments until the engine finally kicks back in, the (fierce) air conditioning is back on and we are moving once again. The air conditioning is perhaps the culprit for Helen coming down with a cold as there are now several snuffles on the bus.
Previously when we've been in India we've passed a number of 'resorts' that are wedding venues and todays hotel is just one of these. It's a fairly modern place, with a significantly sized swimming pool that probably hasn't seen so much activity for some time until we arrive. In the evening we 'deet' up and brave the mozzies to have our meal outside in the hotel grounds. It could be a perfect evening, but for the puppet show going on in the corner with the puppeteer having one of those punch & judy whizzers in his mouth, but just making the same repetitive noise with it over and over and over and over....The only mildly amusing and equally repetitive thing about the show is the appearance of his arm into the viewing area. Our drive to Bikaner is through the desert, but we manage to discover another good hotel at the end of our journey – its only ten years old we are told and for the first time in India the room comes complete with a stocked minibar complete with Kingfisher.
In the late afternoon and early evening we take a trip into town to visit a lovely fort and wander around the old town seeing the sights and sounds.
There is now emerging an acute minority on the bus who we wonder why they've come travelling, as they appear to moan about the slightest little thing day in, day out. Sure, the standards are not like home at all and the way things are done is wholly different to the comforts that we have at home, and there are things that bug us all from time to time, but why choose a trip like this if all you're going to do is whinge and compare everything to your everyday life.
A short time after our departure the following morning we make a short stop to a(nother) temple – but this time with a difference as it's dubbed the Rat Temple and there's a reason for that, as in the pictures. It being a temple, shoes are deposited outside and the barefoot experience is certainly full on, particularly for Helen – when she is standing in the queue to enter one of the main rooms, Debbie tickles the back of her feet and Helen jumps higher than she has in many a year. It has to be said it's as disgusting as you might imagine and all the ladies on the coach are 'wet-wiping' their feet as soon as they are back on the bus.