Hotel Basant Vihar Palace, Bikaner

An unusual experience...

by A TripAdvisor Member on Jul 01, 2006

2 / 5

We went on a three week tour of India in November/December 2005. The reason for our visit to India was my friends wedding and this is what brought us to ... more the Basant Vihar. My friend is Inidan and as such the wedding was a LARGE event, and it was being held at the Basant Vihar. He booked us into the hotel as we were part of a very limited number of western tourists and as such he thought it would be easiest if we were on site.

Our arrival at the hotel was easy as my friends father was there and met us. However, the largest problem that would face us in the future became quickly apparent - only two people at the hotel spoke any English and one was the owner who was rarely on site. Still we settled into our room in the newly renovated wing - so new they were still painting the corridor. We quickly found out though that the room had no curtain, that the bathroom light did not work and there seemed to be no hot water. We mentioned this to the manager (the other english speaker) and a man appeared with a bed sheet to go over the window and promises were made on the light and water issues. However, later on that evening when we were getting ready for the first night of the wedding that we were attending there was still no hot water so a cold shower and shave followed for me.

The next morning, after som,e time was taken to locate someone whoc could speak englaih, my wife "expressed her opinion" on the continuing lack of hot water to the manager and he moved us into the older wing of the hotel. Oh joy and salvation, curtains, lights and hot water - the rooms were really nice (better than the renovated rooms). Our friends who arrived the day after us were also put in the renovated wing and low and behold they appeared at our room on the evening of the wedding in search of hot water!

The next morning we went for breakfast. The spread looked amazing, however, as a western tourist most of it also looked a little risky. The top choice by the other Indian guests seemd to be a toasted sandwich with everything shoved in it. We attemoted to get plain toast and after a few minutes of confusion we suceeded.

The main wedding was that evening and was amazing - the hotle was a very impressive venue for it and it is an experience we will never forget.

The next morning we came to leave. My friends father had very generously paid our bill, however, the hotel still tried to cahrge us for a number of items - fortunatley we had been wrned this might happen and instructed not to pay by my friend's father. Then came what should have been teh simple part, the actual departure. We had a driver provided by our tour company and he was waiting. Unfortunatley our friends, who were going to Jaipur with us, found that there driver had disspaered. In the most amusing twist the hotel then claimed that they did not know how to contact my friend's father or where he was staying (as he was at another hotel), but what a surprise - they had a driver available who my friends could pay to take them to Jaipur! Fortunately one of the other guests told us where my friend's father was and he fixed it all.

Bikaner itself is not a massive tourist destination, but the twon has some attractive features and as a tourist you were much less harassed than in other cities we had been in.

The wedding and the hotel will make it one of our most unforgetable experiences in very different ways. However, as a western tourist this may not be the best place to stay although the room we ended up in was very nice.
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