We are in Bharatpur the home of the Keoladeo National Park.  A dusty muddy town...with the usual wandering cows all over the place. The park though is superb. Even though it is the off season we saw a lot of wildlife.
Peacocks, pigs, deer, storks, kingfishers, kotuku look alikes, and numerous other local birds. The 2 jackals were very cool - esp as we were at the back of the park by ourselves. We may come back in a months time. The monsoon is late and most of the migratory birds have not arrived yet.
Typical India - not everything is at it seems. The bikes were old dungers(actually we saw dung beetles too). We had 2 ticket checks within 2kms even though the only way to break into the park was through swamp. This took 3 guards to take the ticket and another 3 to supervise. Labour is cheap but i wish they'd put it to picking up rubbish instead of 'watching". Plastic is really the scorge of the world - esp these 3rd world countries with no workable refuge systems.
We biked with 10 holidaying lads from Udaipur. They had very little English but easy to converse with. Everyone knows the blackcaps! They all seem heartbroken for us. We are now famous via the many many many selfie photos we had to have with the lads. Not sure they even noticed the beautiful birds.
We are at a nice guest house Iora.
Quite a a step down from the Hilton last night but $20vs $100. Travelling in the off season has it's advantages...nice hotels for cheap prices.
Time for masala tea. It is so dam good- i haven't even missed my daily flat white.