Scammed again

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Before we even checked into the hotel yesterday we were taken to another "friendly" travel agent and it was suggested we go on a Camel trek. Neither of us were particularly bothered so we said no. It was amazing how quickly the price came down! We ended up paying about half the orginal price just because we weren't that bothered about going!

Checked into the hotel which is very nice (but it should be at the price we paid!). And then pretty much straight away went out on the Camel trek. Neither of us had even asked how long it was or anything but I was a little worried when our camel driver(?) said it would be 3 hours before we got to where we were going to have dinner. On the way we stopped and I just thought it was for a rest but then a man came up and put some flower petals in my hand and I was then led down to the lake.

Note: In Pushkar there is a holy lake with Ghats (steps where people bathe, pray, etc.) all around.

I was still tried from the drive and wasn't really thinking about what was going on. Once at the lake this guy started taking me through this ceremony and I started to feel uncomfortable. I wanted to walk away but my British politeness won through and I stayed. Towards the end he started talking about donations and I started working out what was going on. In the end I said I'd give him 300Rs which he wasn't happy about but I said I wanted to leave and he accepted it in the end. Si said he'd give more but he didn't have any money. They offered to take him back to the hotel on their bike to get money so Si went back. After much messing around we got nearly 1000 Rs lighter and an hour delay on our Camel trip. I was fuming that we'd let ourselves get taken for a ride again and vowed it wasn't going to happen again. Basically if you come to Pushkar don't take the flower petals or just say no!

It kind of took the shine off the Camel trek which was good but I think we'd have enjoyed more if we hadn't have been scammed. I'm not feeling to good today ( cooking in the desert probably isn't the most hygenic!) so I'm going to relax in the hotel and try and forget about yesterday. I can't wait to leave and get to Udaipur

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