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Published: September 2nd 2011
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Day 1 - Aboard the bus to Pushkar, we met an Irish girl called Laura whom we'd previously met in Jasailmer's Bhang shop. The bus journey lasted around 10 hours, getting us to Pushkar for around 4am. Stepping off the bus we met by the usual swarm of touts trying to entice us to their guesthouse. Going off a recommendation, we decided to make a beeline for Hotel Sunshine, so ourselves and Laura hopped into a rickshaw .... along the way we noticed that the streets of Pushkar were lined with hoards of people sleeping outside the temples. Taking an unexpected 10 min journey down a pitch black country road, we finally arrived at the Guesthouse and were greeted by the owner who insisted that we all share a room free of charge (equipped with a wasp nest) until our rooms would be ready the following morning. Around 6am we were woke by a voice - 'Laura, you're room is ready' so Laura left for her own room while we continued to sleep. Hours later we woke from our slumber and were taken to our room to be in the form of a traditional Rajasthani mud hut (cow dung) bungalow! After
unpacking our bags we were in desperate need of clean clothes and so handed over our bag of dirty garments into the complexes laundry service. Being told it would be ready the next morning we headed into town for breakfast, being stopped on the way by a young boy calling himself a priest and bearing free gifts of pink flower petals. After breakfast we headed down to the sacred ghats of Pushkar lake. Having more petals thrust into our hands, we were ushered down to the lake front by separate 'pushy' priests who performed their traditional ritual on us in exchange for a huge donation (which the amount they decided upon) only to line their own pockets. With Chris unwilling to hand over a single rupee to these men, and instead insisting we would place money in the secure donation box (which they told us was only to feed the local cows), the men turned nasty in an attempt to pressure us to hand over huge sums of money to which we refused. After this we set about searching for alternate accommodation as our current place was too far out of town and away from the action. Having found a
cheap room at Hotel Mona Lisa, we agreed to return the following morning. We then headed to find an internet cafe for Hayley's Skype date, during which we experienced a power cut and torch-burning protest in the street. With darkness looming we made our way back down the long light-less road to our bungalow (with our torch breaking on the way). Back at the complex we headed to the rooftop for a pancake and card games, before hitting the hay with our creepy-crawley friends.
Day 2 - Waking bright and early, we swiftly packed up and checked out. With a long walk to be made to our new hotel Chris went to hire a scooter (the pink bazooka) before retuning to do the bag run, we then made two trips to and from hotel Mona Lisa until we were finally checked in. With a day's exploration in toe we headed to the petrol station before breakfast. Once fuelled and filled up we set about sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Shiva Temples located 8km south-west of Pushkar town . . . the great ride through the countryside turned out to be better than the temples themselves, along the way
meeting local village children whom we supplied with paper and Parley-G milk biscuits. We then headed back towards Pushkar before deciding to travel 12km North-west to the Shiva Temple enclosed within a cave. After driving 20km out and finding no temple we returned to Pushkar, getting drenched on the way back by a sudden heavy downpour. After a quick coffee at Sun 'n' Moon guesthouse we decided to set out again in search of the elusive temple, only to fail once more! Returning to Pushkar, we headed to the Rainbow cafe for a bight to eat before setting out in search of sunset cafe (at this point it became apparent that Chris was suffering from extreme sunburn - always wear suncream!!!). Over the bridge and far away our Aussie friend will (from Johdpur) turned up on his chopper to give us directions. At the bridge we attracted the attention of yet more children, with one child guessing that will was from Kengury (a mix between kangaroo and Hungary) after we gave her the clue of kangaroos! At the cafe we watched the sun set to the sound of traditional drums before returning the scooter and heading back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel we made our way to the rooftop where we met a french girl and Swedish couple. Returning to the room to freshen up, there was a knock on the door from the excited hotel owner asking if we wanted his special Thali for dinner which turned out to be delicious. After dinner we were persuaded by the manager to take a look in his friends art shop located next door. After a quick look around we made our way to the local pool bar/restaurant for a drink before returning back to the hotel.
Day 3 - After showering we hastily ate breakfast and stocked up on water before embarking upon the 1hour trek up to the Buddhist temple atop the nearby hill. Along the way we were met by the sights of monkeys, grasshoppers and goats, not to mention magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. After the trek we went for a bite to eat before heading back to Hotel Sunshine for our much needed clean laundry, which we still had to wait around for. We later headed to Moon Dance restaurant for stuffed potatoes before heading back to base for an early night ready
to leave the next day.
Day 4 - Waking early to the sound of heavy rain, we packed up and checked out. Outside we soon discovered that the rain had flooded the streets, causing the open drains to overflow. Unwilling to wade through the water, we headed down a dry road to get some breakfast . . here we enjoyed the sight of monkeys frolicking about. With the rain easing off, we made a dash to a nearby internet cafe for a spot of blogging and to purchase our bus tickets. With the blog done and tickets bought, we then went to purchase our swinging Poy's before heading to the hotel roof for some swinging practice. With out time to leave looming we made our way to the bus stand by pedal rickshaw (due to the flooded streets), where we drank chai before boarding the bus to our next destination - Delhi!
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