Pushkar trip Days 1-4

I returned from my Rajasthan trip a little worn down from lack of sleep and only eating vegetarian for the last 8 days. Other than that it was an adventurous trip with plenty to see and do.

Day 1. Pushkar. Left at 4:30 am. Train started at 6am. Arrived in Amjer at 2pm after an hour delay. The drive through Amjer had a large lake and many temples. It took about a half an hour to get to Pushkar. The fair did not look like much from the main highway. We got checked into our rooms which looked like a circus tent fit for 2 beds and a bathroom. My roommate ended up being a 70 year old New Zealander guy. About 4:00 we went on our first camel ride around the fair and out to the desert where a few rugs were laid out for tea and sandwiches. There was also a gypsy band and a couple of dancers. I found out that the gypsies migrated from Rajasthan to Romania about 500 years ago. After watching the sun set we headed back for another camel ride back to the tents. I have never ridden a horse before, but I think it must be similar. You are about 10 feet up on this animal. The animal is guided by a handler from a rope that is tied between its nostrils. I felt bowlegged after the trip, but it was just the start. The food at the camp was served buffet style and was not spicy at all. The Pushkar area was suppose to be dry, but they were serving beer, wine and hard alcohol. The Pushkar lake is dry this year. Many of the locals say that it is dry due to the liquor being served.

The camel festival is always around the time of the full moon. I saw two full moons on the trip, one in the sky and the other from my 70 year old roommate that slept in the buff. What a sight to see that leaning over you as he is getting into bed. Not only that, but he was a snorer. Even with ear plugs, he kept me awake every night while he was on the trip.

Day 2. Pushkar. We had free time all day to wander around. We first went into town around 10 as the group of 14 of us. We took 3 camel carts for the group to get into town, about a 10 minute ride. 4-5 people on a camel cart. In town, just about everyone that walked by seemed to be selling or try to get money from you. As soon as you took a picture, their hand was out asking for a donation. The little kids just said “Hi, 10 rupees” without even doing anything. We walked around past the Brahman Temple, the only one in the world. It was packed around this corner. The line to get in was 2 hours and any electronics and shoes were not allowed. We decided to skip out. However to walk around this area was terrible. I basically put my shoulders down and tried to hit every hole I could find. There was no such thing as personal space here. It took a while to get passed this one block, but we eventually did. We then walked by the lake which was dried up. Normally there are even more people than what we had experienced, but many boycotted this year due to the lake. We saw a couple small pools set up for people doing there holly bath in the lake water. The Sikh temple and many ghats could be seen from here. We then went to a restaurant. I was feeling quite hot and ordered a chocolate shake. Not only was I the last person to get served, but it wasn’t even a chocolate shake. It was milk with a scoop of ice cream in it. The ice cream turned out to be raisin ice crème. However it was still cold and went down easily. After that I split up with a group of Germans that were in our group and we walked around for a couple of hours. Slowly we started to lose one another as there were so many people around. However somehow we all met at the same place to catch a camel ride back.

I once again saw the full moon of the roommate before going to bed. It was another sleepless night.

Day 3. Pushkar and travel adventure. In Pushkar we got up at 6 to walk up the Savitri Temple. It was on top of a mountain/hill. It took about 1 hour to climb and was steep and trechurous. More than halfway up the steps were make of rocks which were slippery. The locals would walk up barefoot and the teenagers were running up and down the hill. I was slipping with my shoes on. Parts of the hill I was using my arms and legs to pull myself up. Bythe time I got up to the top I was in a full sweat, but it was a great view. There were 2 hot air balloons that we could see in the distance. You could also see all the mountain ranges. I began to walk down, which was much easier than walking up. It was quite the accomplishment to climb a mountain that early in the morning.

At 12:00 we heading for our travel portion of the day which was back tracking to Jaipur, a 4 hour car ride, then taking a 6 hour train ride to Jodphur. We get to Jaipur with no issues, however as we are unloading our luggage a local porter yelled that our train was cancelled due to a oil fire from a couple days ago. A couple petrol storage tanks have been burning for 4-5 days due to some kind of accident. Beaty, our guide, went to the office and check in on this. She found out the train was not stopping in Jaipur but some little town called Fullera which was about an hour from Jaipur. This mean we started to back track. We got off the main highway to find Fullera. It was about a half hour ride on a 1 lane road. We were stopping for traffic, cows and goats every couple of minutes. On the way there was an old fort that is not used for tourism. We finally get to FUllera around 5 and find out the train would not arrive until around 11. We make the decision to then drive the entire way and skip out on the train. We left around 5:30 for the scariest ride I have experienced in my life. The ride is scary enough in the day time, but in the darkness of night it is something else. The only really close accident/possible death was at a corner that was about 90 degrees that was rounding a mountain. We began going around the corner and there was a large truck passing another truck that was in our lane. Thankfully there was a shoulder here and the driver quickly swerved and hit the breaks. My heart was pounding from this. Shortly after that we stopped at a rest stop. After last weeks Delhi Belly episode, I decided to not eat anything there. We finally got to the city of Jodphur around 2 am. However our hotel was in the old part of town that has 4 gates to get into. All of the gates were locked. We called the hotel owner and he was able to get us in. We had to walk about 5 blocks. The ladies had rolling suitcases. The dogs did not care for the sound of this and started barking away. It was a long loud walk. Finally we get to the hotel . Once again I got to see the full moon before I went to bed. This time I cranked up the AC and the ceiling fan to try to cover up the snoring, but no such luck.

Day 4. Jodphur. I woke up around 7 and took a shower. On the entire trip every shower but my very last one was very cold weather. It felt nice after a long hot day, but the first thing in the morning, it was freezing. Then I saw the view from the hotel window. I could see the fort, it was an incredible sight. I then went up for breakfast. I had a banana pancake. It was a big yellow thing full of bananas and covered in honey. I also ordered a Coke and the waiter laughed at that, but I need a caffeine and sugar fix. The ladies were not up yet so I walked around the town. I don’t think many people have running water as the ladies were lined up at the local watering hole with their pots for water. They all had colorful sarees. I returned to the hotel without getting lost, they happened later in the day. The roads are like a maze. As a group we went to a marble palace, the fort and another palace.