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Published: February 10th 2009
I got up and looked out at the view from my balcony. Mountains. Hills. Roses. Gardens. I love vacation.
After a quick breakfast (more toast with jam and butter and chai) we headed out around 9 with Rama and yet another tourguide.
Rama dropped us off and we footed it for the rest of the day since our car was in the shop getting the flat repaired. And driving in Pushkar is just not advisable.
We checked out the local temple (lovely, but they're starting to look very similar) and then headed over to the ghats. We had been there last night with Rama to watch the sunset (on the opposite side of the lake). The lake the ghats surround is the one where Ghandi's ashes were placed after his cremation.
Pushkar is the only city in India with a Brahma temple. Legend has it that his first wife put a curse on him allowing him to only have one temple while all the other gods have so many I can't count them all. His first wife's temple is at the top of a hill overlooking the city while he is seen with his second wife (the cause
of his first wife's anger) in his temple.
At the Jagat Pita Shri Brahma temple we were blessed by a Hindi priest and threw our flowers and rice and spices into the lake. Then we were asked to make a donation to help feed the people of the area, which we had expected. We also expected to be told to "give what your heart feels" and pulled out our usual amount (under Rs50) and were then directed to a chart in Hindi that indicated we were supposed to give at least 201. My heart does not feel this. My brain feels this is a cheap trick and being guilted into giving more than my heart desires is not helping my karma or yours either, buddy.
We were actually short on cash, and Kent offered 100, explaining we had already donated in one of the many donation boxes on the stairs. The priest took it, looking displeased, and said those didn't count toward our 201.
He then tried to show us how our friends (we know it was them because how many of us from China are there?) had given more. They keep receipts and give you one so
you know you really gave to the temple and not someone's pocket.
I had no cash on me and the priest said, "Your friend can lend you some." How kind of you to tell me my friend can give me money to give to you. My blessing felt cheap and fake and I felt used.
We both got red and yellow strings to tie around our wrists so no one else would ask us for money for the rest of the day. Amazingly, they didn't.
We left the temple a bit grumpy and receipt-free. We wandered the market a bit and stopped to buy journals. My lack of cheap and consistant internet access has left me going crazy for writing, especially since I know I'll forget half of my trip if I wait until I get back to China to write it all. We found some lovely camel leather journals and bargained down to what we thought was a decent price.
Our tourguide confirmed they were camel leather but seemed to think we paid to much. Thanks for your help.
Our guide then suggested we go back to our hotel (2 and a half hours after we started)
Sunset over the lake in Pushkar
You can see 1st wive's temple on top the mountain.and have a rest until 3pm. You're kidding me, right? We're paying you for what? He'd shown us little, didn't tell us about the cost of the blessing (that was posted on a sign we couldn't read), and then tried to ditch us. We thought we were going to the top of the mountain to see the temple of Bhrama's first wife and a view of the city. Rama had said we were. It's one of the only things to see in this town!
After a few death looks and phone calls, Rama showed up with our chariot and drove us to the edge of town so we could climb the mountain. Of course, it was warm and sunny and I was wearing black.
We hurried up the mountain and made it in about half an hour or so. By the time we got to the top, I was hot, out of breath, and lightheaded. And chasing our stupid tourguide and Kent. Hello, I could have fallen down the mountain and tourguide wouldn't have noticed.
The view from the top was vast. But not as spectacular as I had expected. You can see almost as much from half
way up the climb. And since you're not allowed to take pictures in the temple...
At about this point I'm starting to think our tourguide is a sexist pig, showing Kent everything and leaving me to wonder where the heck they are. Only to see him then help 2 other women (who weren't paying him) figure out where to place their incense for their offering. And then I heard him ask another female tourist (who was obviously of Indian heritage, but from London) what caste she was from. Really? Did you just do that? She was rather put off by it and looked uncomfortable.
15mn after we arrived the temple closed. Yep, it closes at 12:30. We sat outside enjoying the fresh air and spacious views for a while chatting with a woman from Holland while sitting on dirty, plastic, patio chairs. We then headed down the mountain. I tried to not stumble, but my knees were still not happy with me from the uneven climb up so I was a bit slow. Which should be fine because I wasn't going that slowly. Unless you are our stupid, lightning fast tourguide.
So when I slipped on an unusually smooth
rock and landed on my bottom, yelping with surprise, Kent looked surprised and yelled, "Are you Okay?" while the tourguide looked like he could care less, while forcing himself to walk a few steps up to make sure I could get up, before he turned and started his sprint back down.
On our way back to town we spotted the two incense girls and offered them a lift. 6 people in a 5 person car? That's India. Our tourguide happily chatted with them and Kent.
Sufficed to say, I did not contribute to the man's tip.
After a lunch and a short rest, it was time to head out for the next big adventure...
I've added pictures from our drive (including feeding the monkeys) to the previous update entry on the 22nd. Make sure to check them out. I promise, you'll laugh.
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