pushkar still

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still in pushkar, it's still really nice. it's getting really hot now. the newspaper said the temp in ajmer is 38degrees. ajmer is about 10km away, but we are a little bit up a hill so it might be a bit cooler.

it's okay so long as you don't try to so anything in the middle of the day.

a hotel here has a clean swimming pool and gardens so a couple of times we have hung out there.

pushkar is the sort of place you feel really at home, and start to develop little routines. there is an excellent cafe doing REAL coffee, and REAL brown bread which he makes himself in the shop. the owner also has the best head wobble in india. (in my opinion, and limited to what i have encountered so far).

the head wobble is a mystery. we have asked around...
me : "does it mean yes?"
them (headwobble) "yes"
me: "does it mean no?"
them (head wobble) "yes"
me: "does it mean maybe?"
them (headwobble) "maybe"

it's like "ish" it's so non specific that you really don't know a lot of the time whether and indian person is agreeing or disagreeing with you!

last night we had some food and them just kind of hung around in a really pretty rooftop restaurant with plants and stuff. i didn't realise at first but it directly over-looked one of the temples. that is not so unusual, there are so many temples here if you on a roof you are bound to be over-looking one statistically speaking.

anyway, at the moment, is some 15 day festival going on. i don't know why, there are so many festivals in india, it is impossible to keep track. but anyway, this one involves, each night a band parading through the town, followed by a cart with a god on it, being wheeled around with a man with a floodlight on a stick lighting it. the light has a long cable to a large generator which is pushed behind.

we encountered this on our first night, in the main square, really loud and hectic, motorbikes and cows getting tangled in the cables etc.

but last night, we saw them all line up and start out from the temple, from above. the temple was so beautiful all lit up in the night, and you could see fairy lights from all the other rooftop places around town. for me in terms of atmosphere and the moment, it was a million times better than the taj mahal.

i have had withdrawal from making tea. i have surprisingly been absolutely fine without a constant supply of strong coffee. i mean, if it is available i will have some, but i haven't missed it much at all. i have got proper into the habit of chai. i even have sugar in it now. it's seems necessary in india. but then i realised i wanted to make myself a cup of tea, so i have bought a metal beaker, a small immersion heater that hooks onto the cup, proper black tea, fresh ginger and milk powder. it's not as good as from the street but in the long run i will save money and i spent a lovely afternoon simply making cups of tea and sitting under the fan in the hotel room!

i have got loads of mosquito bites. they destroyed my arms the first few days in apk, and then left me alone for a while. the first couple of nights in pushkar they left me alone, and then attacked my legs last night. don't worry, not in a malarial area yet).

i showed the bites to the pharmacist, who gave me some medicated cream, but also some natural herbal blood purifier which should prevent skin infections. i think he was just a bit confused by my extra white skin as the bites do look terrible. it's okay though, they are just itchy, not painful.

i'm not brown at all.

however, my hair is FAB after the henna and chris's cut so i am very happy.

mai khush hu. "i am happy" in hindu.

i know i have only been a couple of places so far and haven't really got started "travelling" but so far i am really enjoying myself, i feel really calm and at home everywhere and people are always friendly and helpful.

india is great, i really like it.

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