Jan 12

January 9th-
This morning after another great breakfast we had a long drive to Bikaner. The drive took seven hours to go 300km! In Bikaner we were pleasantly surprised to be booked into staying at Maharajah's palace :) We visited the fort which seemed fairly standard but what made it unique were the incredible painted walls and ceilings that were done using crushed minerals for colour. We then went to a scientific camel research station where the two distinct breads of camel in Bikaner were the black camel (bikaner- which are heavier and stronger) and a light c0loured racing camel. We then went to Richard Gere's cooperative which gives women jobs and pays a fair wage. In this cooperative they sell many scarves, wall hangings, bedspreads-- my wife and daughter looked at them all! We were there for over 2 hours and they walked away with 27 scarves-- lots of pashmina!

Jan. 10-
We headed off to Jaisalmer this morning where we were booked into another extremely decadent hotel (palace). After laying by the pool (we are roughing it in India) for a while we visited two sites where they cremate Maharajahs. Jaisalmer is surrounded by wind farms. We were able to watch a beautiful sunset in the desert and then went to another wholesaler of patchwork wall hangings. Here Cait and Jan purchased more scarves and more wall hangings. Mr. Soni, the owner of the store, invited us to his home for dinner. We were honored to join his wife, two daughters, his parents and brother for dinner. They cooked us a delicious traditional Indian meal of mutton curry (lamb curry), rice, and chapati. His three daughter (who were 3mos, 4 and 6) were very excited to have foreigners in their home. We spent the time showing the girls pictures of animals that we have seen and they tried to identify them in their English-Hindi picture books. Mr. Soni and his family were so hospitable and we were very grateful to be taken into their home.