Bikaner was a very charming city after Delhi. Take all the good parts of Delhi: markets, colors, textures, old sites… now leave out: pollution, tourist shops, yelling. That's Bikaner. Camels are the machines behind much of the city.

This temple is in the heart of the Old City of Bikaner and has amazing views of the city. We had to beg to be let up but it was worth it. In India, a little cash and asking for what you want goes a long way.

Our camel ride ended at this small mud hut village where our camel driver, his wife daughter, and son stayed. They made us dinner: roti, aloo, daal, rice, and chai. Very good. I was so sun-sick by this point though, my main dinner was water. The sunset over the dunes was amazing.

This wasn't my fav place. It wasn't very well up kept and the site was pretty sprawling with little shade. If the gardens were alive and the water flowing through the channels, I imagine it could be an alright place to live.

This is on our Camel Desert Safari. We spent about 6 hours on camel back, and it was no Cadillac. The best part was seeing the desert villages and the scrubby farm land nearby. Our camel drivers made us a hot lunch over campfire like it was nothing. Fresh roti and all.

I'm not squimish AT ALL but this temple is up there on grossest things I've ever done. It's an active Hindu temple with thousands of pilgrims coming to worship. You are required to enter bare foot and there is no surface not covered in rat feces or decaying rats or half eaten rat food. The smell… And the rats are not healthy in the slightest. I did see an albino rat which is supposed to be excellent luck so it was a trip well spent and I think I left disease-free.

As much as I love India, Delhi was not my favorite. There are definitely beautiful moments, but overall a very crowded city with not a whole lot of beautiful sights to visit. We enjoyed walking around the old city and markets. We didn't see any other tourists and the local people looked confused about what we were doing snooping in their shops.

We stumbled upon this temple while walking to the big market. We were brought around the temple by a Sikh man who told us about the giving nature of the Sikhs. Everyday all day they have free food for anyone. We watched the prep and the giving of the food. The Sikhs branched off from Hinduism in their rejection of the caste system.

My favorite building in Delhi. The dark red stone on bare feet was pretty miserable and had us running for cover but it really was a beautiful active mosque.

I was interested in seeing new Indian architecture but this Baha'i Faith temple was really not worth the effort. It was a one liner. You see it, you get it. It had a few nice moments but nothing to rave about.

Just look at that tree. This temple felt like a secluded retreat after the chaos of Angkor Wat.