A Holy Lake and "Veg Only"


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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Pushkar
March 15th 2008
Published: March 15th 2008
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So i'm back here to update after several days in Udaipur; a beautiful city aptly named "The Venice of Asia". With it's golden sunsets and magnificent mountain spectacles, it's no surprise it's a popular stop for couples. After all, with the girl there with you, "she has nowhere else to go". But that's according to Joe.

During our short stay in Udaipur at Ashfar's place called Lake View, we essentially chilled to a purely decadent level. Drinks, food and lounging. But that's not all, we went no day trips to the villages where we paid a couple of high school students to take us around. We visited a park in construction, which was free until the inauguration. Typical. Then went to the rural villages and had some pure sugarcane juice that was crushed by a small mill-type contraption drawn by a couple of cows.

The highlight here was the visit to the Monsoon Palace. If i'm not wrong this was the place featured in Octopussy, which we happened to watch at our lodge, very cheesy. The view from the palace perched atop a hill/mountain was one of those "breath-taking" sorts. I stood there for an hour and watched the sun dip till he was obscured by the horizon. The hues and colors nearly magical, but hey, i'm too cynical for that shit.

We also went to India's most famous Jain temple, which i just realized is actually another sect of Hinduism. There are 1400 pillars holding up the building, each of which is completely unique carved out of white marble. However, despite all this magnificent visits, i was constantly plagued by the shits and flu.

So we left Udaipur on a chilly early morning and arrived in Pushkar later that day. Another magnificent place, but loaded with cheats/priest. Whichever they are, i'm certainly disappointed. It's pretty much a holy lake surrounded by a small town of havelis and tourist joints. But it's also a great place to take it easy and bum around. Too many touts around to make walking through town a relaxing activity, so i decided to readopt the snotty Singaporean attitude and just stride past the touts. But since it's my first time here, i decided to say a prayer to Brahma with the aid of a holy man and flower. Supposed it pray will ensure the prosperity and health of my entire family and even my friends, all for the superb bargain of 200 Rupees.

So, many veg meals later and attending a festival which involves a little boy dressed like royalty, fireworks and flowers being thrown around later, i'm here typing this in a 2 pc cybercafe 2 steps away for my room.

I'll upload the photos soon.


Cheers.


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