Into the dust

A few simple,but important intangible factors gave the bus trip from Jaipur to Pushkar the potential to be a good one (in India, that is). The cleansing, hot, pouring, fresh shower that Keith and Dion - the aussie couple - let me have in their hotel room (as mine had no hot water), and bumping into Carmen and Patrick who kindly escorted me to the bus stand (what a treat). I was also in the front row -- i.e nowhere near the wheels, which means a smoother journey sans backache. Ross and Angie - the lovely American couple - were on the same trip, and I also met a very friendly Aussie gal called Glenda who would spend the next couple of days as my travel mate.

Things were really looking up!

The drive from Jaipur to Pushkar has a similar landscape to that of the Karoo in South Africa. Dry, mountainous and speckled with shrubs and small trees. This comes to life as you pass women in luminous yellow, pink and green saris carrying matkas, clay water vessels or bunches of wood on their heads. Men and women work in the field and camels are guided slowly along the dusty road.

The bus screams up a mountain, swerving as oncoming traffic approaches and then it descends, chugging into Pushkar, a holy town built around the Pushkar Lake. It is in this lake or ghats where people from all over India make a pilgrimage to cleanse themselves in the holy water.

A labyrinth of winding narrow roads lead out from the lake. These are lined with a mixture of beautiful, blue washed old haveli style houses. Some have been painted so at times you feel like you are walking through an outdoor art gallery. The town also has the only Hindi temple dedicated to the Lord Brahma and is famous for it's annual Camel Fair which attracts thousands of visitors from abroad and all over India.

Having arrived from 3 big cities in a row Pushkar's holiness is even apparent to an exhausted traveler. It is a blessing. There are few touts (you are hassled when you step out of the bus for hotels) and you are not hassled by the auto-rickshaw maniacs that are characteristic of any large Indian city. There are no auto-rickshaws in Pushkar!

It seems that over the years travelers have cottoned onto the blessing that is Pushkar. The main bazaar is full of tourists. Half are and just chilling out, watching the days pass by drinking Bhang Lassie (Bhang is dried up marijuana). The other half are shop-shop-shopping in the many small shops that cater to Western-Hippie taste. This is definitely a place to unwind.

I checked into one hotel, and checked out and paid the full fee a few hours later. I had found a wonderful guest house - the room was big, clean, cute and had warm water. It was also cheap. 150Rps per night (2GBP).

The guest house was run by an old couple who had watched Pushkar grow from a dusty one-street road into a small boom-town. They took pleasure in showing me old photographs of their building - the now converted hotel, and the once tiny town. They were so welcoming and warm. I spent an afternoon sitting on their balcony sipping sweet, milky Indian chai and listening to them tell me about their lives. The husband owns a school in Ajmer - not so far from Pushkar. He said he would love me to come live there for 6 months to teach - all expenses paid! A very tempting offer which I might have considered had I not had a job to go back to!

I spent most of my time in Pushkar with friends - Glenda the first couple of days - she mainly wanted to shop, so I let her do that alone. But we did a hike up to the Swavati temple (one of Brahma's wives) one morning to watch the sunrise. In fact the guy who offered to take up -- Ashok -- is famous in Pushkar. He has won the camel fair decorating competition 4 years in row. He showed us the pictures and those camels are adorned in the most magnificent fabrics, jewels -- art-work. It's fascinating.

We also spent an evening at the Sai Baba restaurant where they had a buffet and traditional Rhajestani singers and dancers. The music was beautiful and quite moving. The dancing was so interesting. The women are graceful and move so rhythmically.

I met a pair of sisters who were traveling - Suria and Alexandra - they were great. Suria - originally Deppy - has lived in India for 10 years to be close to her Guru. It was interesting to hear her speak of the life change and reasons she came to live here. Alexandra is an artist who spends half the year in Africa observing wild life and the other half year painting wild life and teaching gym in Byron Bay, Australia.

The time I spent alone, I wandered around the town just observing life. I had an interesting experience where I was sitting down for a juice, next to an Indian man. He was deaf and dumb but somehow we managed a little conversation through hand movement and expressions. The gist of the conversation was around how crazy people (tourists) in the town are, drinking bhang lassies and causing distribution to an otherwise sleepy town! It was great! I walked away smiling.

I eventually met up with Ross and Angie on the day that Carmen and Pat were arriving -- we had lost eachother in the initial hotel-haggling-chaos. The five of us spent the next couple of days and nights hanging out - mainly at Seventh Heaven - a very chi-chi, boutique hotel in Pushkar. I wish they had had a room!!! The food is good, so we met up for breakfast and dinner a few times and just chatted about our lives, traveling, living abroad, and just general stuff. It is so refreshing to have long dinners and conversations with people with no alcohol. Pushkar is so holy you cannot get alcohol, meat, eggs in the town. Everything bar salt and sugar is grown locally. It is great. Actually, I realised the other day it's been a month since I had any alcohol or meat. I feel awesome!!!

Pushkar was so wonderful, but unfortunately on the last night in Pushkar I started feeling feverish. My body was on fire and my stomach was churning. I was really worried, but luckily I had Pat and Carmen around who gave me loads of drugs preparing me for the 8 hour bus trip the next day to Udaipur.

The bus trip was OK. I had dosed up on Immodium but still had a fever. Pat and Carmen had handed me into the good care of Angie and Ross, so at least I was not alone. I was passed out most of the way to Udaipur and was really out of it when we arrived. I was not at all prepared for the hordes of people lining the tiny roads in Udaipur. We had arrived slap bang in the middle of a Muslim fest. The streets were wild! We managed to bump into a friend of Angie and Ross's - Sunil - an Indian Scotsman travelling India. He took us to a hotel for refuge until the streets calmed down. By this point I was exhausted and the fever had kicked in. My stomach was rumbling and I was just finished. We had some dinner whilst we waited for the calm. I had one chappati and felt a little better. Eventually we could get to our hotel...the Royal Palace Hotel. I passed out that night feeling like hell.