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Published: December 15th 2009
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Pushkar
View of the city along the waterfront. 5th December - Our Rajasthan Tour Begins... Whilst in Agra we started looking at planning our next train journeys into Rajasthan. Unfortunately we quickly realised that trains were booked up months in advance and we didn’t fancy repeating the unreserved option again. Buses were the other option but we would have spent half of our time in them or waiting for them. So due to the short time we had left in India and the huge area we wanted to cover, the only realistic option was to hire a driver to get us around Rajasthan. We found a tour agent and after trying to bargain hard for a better price (we managed to knock a bit off), we booked nine days with a driver (11 days in total). Our tour would take us to Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, Mt Abu, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Ajmer and back to Jaipur for an overnight train to Mumbai.
Day one started well enough with what appeared to be a well kept car and a driver who seemed pleasant enough. However, we soon realised that the car was a death trap and the driver not so nice after all! Only a few km’s into a 150km
Pushkar 2
The water in these bathing ghats is the only water left... the lake is totally dry. trip we had our first flat tyre, not initially of concern or surprise considering the state of the roads. Whilst waiting, a local approached and asked Dan for Rs. 1000 for no reason other than we looked like we had money. Dan’s choice words sent him on his way with nothing. The tyre was quickly replaced and over lunch we noticed the driver replacing the flat tyre which was a good sign as we didn’t want to get caught without a spare. However, less than half an hour later, another flat tyre... obviously we were having some bad luck today! When the spare was produced from the boot, we quickly noticed that it was so bald that the steel was showing in parts. A few heated exchanges of words followed to which the driver seemed to have no understanding of our concerns; all he could say was
“no problem, no problem, it’s only 80km”. On closer inspection, three of the tyres wouldn’t come close to passing an MOT! Fair enough it’s India but the number of emergency stops required to avoid cows, sheep, trucks, people or random speed humps having a decent set of tyres is pretty important, plus we
Blessed
Showing our tikka from the 'blessing'. were travelling through scrub land and if another flat tyre occurred we would be stuck.
After speaking to the tour organiser to convey our lack of confidence in the car or our driver, he organised a new taxi and driver for us in the next town. We still had to drive over 90km (not the 80km the driver had said) on these tyres and the constant noise was a reminder that it could blow at any second... luckily it didn’t and we made it to Ajmer.
We only stayed overnight in Ajmer as we would return at the end of our trip to spend a few days. That night we met who we believed to be our new driver. His English was excellent and we felt comfortable with him. However the next morning there was another twist as we found our there was a different driver and the guy from last night was a local tour organiser! Apparently he mentioned it... we must have missed it!
Anyway, our new driver was Mr Rau and although his English wasn't great, it was better than our first driver and he was a really nice bloke. His car had a
Camels
Traffic in Pushkars streets. decent set of wheels and we even met his family and had a cup of masala chai and biscuits at his house before setting off. We were back on track...
9th December - Ajmer to Pushkar Our next stop was at Pushkar, a small Hindu pilgrimage town set around a small lake surrounded by Ghats. The town is strictly vegetarian and meat, alcohol and drugs are not permitted (much to Dan’s dismay). However the town had a great atmosphere and vibe, a little hippy and much more laid back and quieter than what we’ve been used to. Unfortunately the lake was dry but a small irrigated area allowed the locals to bath and wash. We set about exploring the Ghats and were quickly pounced upon by some local Hindus who led us to the water for a blessing whilst saying; “No charge here, no souvenirs”. We fell for the scam and before we knew it we were by the water with a ‘holy man ‘who blessed our lives and that if our family using the water, some brightly coloured power, rice and a coconut. The power was mixed into a paste and smothered onto our foreheads, known as
Dry Lake
View of the dry lake from a rooftop restaurant. a tikka, whist we repeated his blessing. We’re still not sure what the coconut was for but for all that blessing we were then asked to give a ‘donation’ with the suggested amount being Rs. 500, £10 or £50! Realising it was all a scam we donated Rs. 10 each, much to their disgust, and quickly legged it. We hope all the blessings have been useful to all the family!!
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Joanne Foster
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Pushkar
Loved your reading about your trip to India I'am going with three others this December for 4 weeks just wanted to know what the hotel was that is in the pic with the pool we want to organise as much of the trip ourselves to save money do you have any tips please Regards Jo Foster Australia