Bikaner, camel country!

So let's back-track a bit. 1/15/2012 After another 7 hour drive from Jaipur, we landed in Bikaner, the third great desert kingdom of Rajasthan (Udaipur and Jaipur being the other two). First of all, Bikaner is more like a glorified village. We pulled up Lalgarh Palace, home of Bikaner's maharaja and the rest of the current royal family, and it actually ended up being our home for the night as well. Much like our hotel experience, the city itself was also a mix of opposites. The small town is home to many brahmanas, known as the priest or educator class, making the unorganized city the center of fairly wealthy upperclassmen as well as a center of astrology. Our only real sightseeing was a visit to the city's Junagarh Fort, e former palace of the maharaja before the palace (or better yet, our hotel) was built. The fort is unoccupied but featured some beautiful rooms adorned with intricate designs as well as courtyards and a conference room that remain a common set for Bollywood movies and functions. After the quick visit, we headed to the Camel Research Center and Breeding Farm, a unique center to Asia's camel population. Not sure if I could make that sound interesting BUT our guide did sneak us through to the restricted access area to get a close up look at a 3hour old baby camel! I like to think of that as a a special and unique experience...(?) Anyways, after we headed to some shops. I know I'm not making this any more entertaining, and here another BUT, we were taken to a miniature art studio to take a look at some pieces of art. Okay so that's not the highlight, I just have to set this up. We had already learned about miniature painting in Jaipur and got another short lesson at this place- it actually is quite a skill. The artists actually go out to the local mines/mountains to collect stones to grind for natural dye so that the colors last better than any synthetic paint. We had seen some incredible pieces here and in Jaipur of dieties, traditional festivals, other symbols and floral work. Anyways, one of the artists decided to give me a unique demonstration that I will frame as the highlight of my miniature art experience. In about 5 minutes, he painted an elephant on my finger nail with a single hair (made of squirrel tail) paint brush! If that wasn't enough excitement for you, what can I say... I'm only the messenger of Bikaner's highlights.