the road tracklog 
from Mount Abu to Bikaner
from 23/04 to 29/04/2007 

The 23/04 I left with regret the mild temperature of Mount Abu to go to Jodhpur. On the way I decided to make a detour to go to re-examine the Temple of Adinath in Ranakpur at the foot of the Arawalli mounts. Since my visit, the site was arranged; the temple is in a small shaded park. It was built in 1433 by a Jain rich commercial person. Architecture is very complex, set of hypostyle rooms surrounding a cella and directed in the four cardinal points including 144 carved pillars of scenes of the Jain canon.
At three kilometres from the site on the road of the return I found a bivouac on the carpark of Ranakpur Hill Resort. The manager granted to me the free carpark with the pleasure of the conveniences, the swimming pool and the terrace to sleep there. I dined in the garden.

Adinath's Sculpture 
Ranakpur 
the 23/04/2007 

Hypostyle rooms
Ranakpur 
the 23/04/2007 

The 24/04 was a small peaceful-driving day. I stopped after Sanderao at the A1 Plazza of Reliance to lunch and to have rest before heading to Jodhpur where I arrived at low speed around 6:30 pm to bivouac at the Ghoomar Hotel. I was installed on an exiguous carpark close to the Bar where I had a power supply until 11:00 pm to have air-conditioning.

The 25/04, I left to go to visit Mehrangarh Fort on foot. I crossed the Bazaar around the Clock Tower and I climbed the hill by alleys to reach the entry of the Fort. Since I am in India, I had never seen such a dirty city. Everywhere refuses of any nature strewed the ground.
Mehrangarh Fort was impregnable, the last attempt at the end of the 19th century showed a failure. Only a birds-eye picture shows the architecture of the Fort built at the top of the hill. The entry ticket, 250 INR, included a fixed price for cameras as well as the audio hardware of a French guided tour. I put three hours to follow the thirty-three stations of the visit. It was a real enchantment with a sum of information so much cultural than anecdotic. As for the preceding sites heat had made flee the Western tourists.

Mehrangarh Fort
from the Clock Tower
Jodhpur 
the 25/04/2007 

Town overview 
Jodhpur 
the 25/04/2007 

Darbar Mahal 
Jodhpur 
the 25/04/2007 

The 26/04 I left in the end of the morning to Jaisalmer by Pokaran, the exit from Jodhpur is not in very good condition. Roads NH114 and NH15 are very monotonous in the Thar Desert or Great Indian Desert. I arrived in Jaisalmer around 18:30 at the RTDC Hotel Moomal where I bivouacked. I had obtained an electric connection for air-conditioning. We had to carry out several tests because the first connections were on plugs with too weak amperage. Tired I dined at the restaurant of the hotel, not recommended.

Road NH15 
towards Jaisalmer 
the 26/04/2007 

The day of the 27/04 was devoted to the visit of Jaisalmer. The morning I strolled in the low city by bike and I visited the three main Havelis (equivalent of our private mansions in the Parisian Marais), Patwa-ki-Haveli, Nathmal-ki-Haveli and Salim Singh-ki-Haveli. The first is most interesting by the fineness of the jalis, open-type screen. The afternoon was dedicated to the visit of the fortress and the high city. As in Jodhpur admission, 250 rs, included cameras and audio guide of the Palace in thirty stations taking approximately two hours. Here all is in yellow sandstone always finely engraved, seldom covered with lime. The scenography of the exhibit of the parts of the museum does not have the brilliance of that of Jodhpur. That is due partly to the coldness released by the naked stone.
I made a programming mistake of my day. It was necessary to reverse, the morning the high city and the afternoon the low city. Indeed the Jains temples are open from 7:00 to 12:00. I was the only visitor of the Palace!

The Fort 
Jaisalmer 
the 27/04/2007 

Patwa-ki-Haveli 
Jaisalmer 
the 27/04/2007 

The Palace 
Jaisalmer 
the 27/04/2007 

The 28/04 I went to Bikaner by the road NH15 which crosses the Thar Desert. Strategic road, along the Pakistani border, it is not in excellent state especially the last 80 kilometres before Bikaner. I went to Tourism Reception Centre to obtain information. It is located beside DholaMaru Hotel where I decided to bivouac. The electric connection for air-conditioning posed serious problems due to the dilapidated installation. Finally the electrician made a precarious connection for one night. I was to find another bivouac for the following days.

At the beginning of the morning, I went to the Hotel Harasar Haveli to see the site of a bivouac and the possibility of electrical connection for air-conditioning. Around 10:00 I transferred the truck to the new bivouac. But alas the same problems of electric connection appeared. Finally we found a plug delivering an amperage sufficient for the compressor of air-conditioning which required a strong intensity at starting!
Impedimenta being regulated, I left to visit the Fort and the old town of Bîkaner. The Fort has neither the boldness of Jodhpur nor the brutal beauty of Jaisalmer. It is built out of red sandstone on a plate. The visit is carried out in group or only without audio guides as in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. The objects are exhibit in rooms to scanty lighting and the comments are in vernacular language. Scenography is worthy of the prewar years, which is detrimental because the objects presented are interesting. I was going then to see the museum then the temples of Laxminath and Bhandasar. In this Sunday at the end of April the ancient Fort of Bikaji-ki-Tekri was closed.
The temperature continued to increase, it was to reach the 45°C in the shade together with a hot and dry wind getting the visits very painful.

The Fort 
Bikaner 
the 29/04/2007 

The royal swing 
Bikaner 
the 29/04/2007 

Bhandasar Temple 
Bikaner 
the 29/04/2007 

The 30/04 was a day of rest and study concerning the continuation of the trip in India. It was not realistic to continue the visit of the Rajasthan by such a temperature. I decided to go to Kashmir and Ladakh to find a milder temperature in advance on my road plan consequence of time spent in Nepal to look for tires and in Kochi to repair my truck.