Bikaner
Heya guys Kate and lee here. We had a six hour car journey to Bikaner where we were greeted and welcomed with open arms by the guesthouse owner. He was lovely. We didn't have our camel trek booked and he could do the whole package. Rooms were clean but beds were rock hard so it suited the rock bottom prices he offered. He kept making a point of what a lovely couple we are etc and said 'come and eat with me'. He said that usually he never invites people into his room but will make an exception for us. He walked us in where his wife was sat eating and I think he must have just told her to shift. She walked out mid dinner and sat us in her place (felt dreadful about it). We didn't want to take liberties so ate minimal amount (don't worry there is a point to us telling you this, just wait till the story unfolds). Later on we came down to see if we could get some food and they said it's a sit down dinner at 8.30. There were no prices or menus so we had the biggest bargain…cheap acc and free food…wow!
We booked our camel trip and set off at 10am to do our camel trek through the desert and camp overnight. Our camels were beautiful. Kate's was called Angoli who was possibly the prettiest camel alive and Lees was called Raja. After two hot hours trekking we stopped for some grub and the guys sat us under a tree while they cooked all our food from scratch. It was a feast. After… the guys seemed pretty relaxed and fell asleep for two hours (taking the piss). The one guy was obviously off his face on what they said was calcium….a suspicious looking white powder that they chewed with tobacco. After another two hour trek which does get slightly boring you end up just making your own entertainment. We ended up chasing desert rats in the dark, which was a tad unsuccessful. While Lee and the cook were busy setting up the tent Raja the camel was watching the sunset……….then decided to make a dash for it, there is something quite amusing about an Indian shouting 'Raja! Raja!' as he chases a camel through the dessert.
Later on we built a campfire that just set the atmosphere. Lee had requested musicians but there was no sign of that happening until the cook starts coming over banging a drum. He was obviously not a musician and didn't hide his embarrassment well and neither did we. The fact he only knew one song and sang it over and over again didn't help the situation. Overall camping in the desert was an experience that had to be had. Lee even slept on a Scorpion

The next day we went back to Bikaner and stayed one more night at hour guesthouse and had a few nice meals at the guesthouse. We asked for the bill and the guy's wife came out to us. She started writing down the charges and everything started to unfold. All the assumed free meals……ended up costing us an arm and a bloody leg! Remember the nice dinner we shared with him that we hardly ate? We got charged for it as a full meal!!! Cheeky b******s! The non musician musicians cost us another bomb!

We did enjoy the Bikaner experience but will save some more money next time.