Pushkar

Since I last posted, I had been in Udaipur, a nice, green place (with monkeys!). That night I went out to get some dinner, and who do I see, but the same British couple that keeps popping up (at this point I should mention their names are Elden and Sally). We decided to go to dinner again, and at the same place. We all got the stuffed eggplant, which was very good (although it took about an hour to cook it), and then we went our separate ways, I suspect this time for good (travel safely!).

This morning I had a 7am train from Udaipur to Ajmer. I set my alarm for 5:45, but for whatever reason it didn't go off. Luckily I randomly woke up at 6:15 and had everything packed. I was still freaking out because the train station was pretty far away, and tuk tuks are hard to come by that early in the morning. I walked for about 10 minutes, and started to really worry. I didn't truly know where I was going, just the general direction, and I hadn't seen a single taxi or tuk tuk to that point (occupied or not). Luckily for me, a car pulled up and asked if I was going to the rail station. I said yes and he gave me a price. I got in. Ten minutes later I was there, in plenty of time. Close call, I thought. Of course the train left really late so I ended up being there an hour early! Oh well.

The train eventually arrived in Ajmer, 15km away from Pushkar (an 18 cent bus ride). I grabbed a tuk tuk to the bus station and hopped a bus to Pushkar. The hotel is nice, once again, all marble and such.

The city (or the lake, to be more precise) is a little disappointing, to be honest. It's a holy city, the only in India where they worship Brahma, the Creator. There are ghats (bath houses leading into the lake) and 500 temples surrounding the lake. It sounds cool enough, the problem is India is in the midst of their biggest drought in 80 years, so the lake is virtually empty. That means the lake ringed by temples and whitewashed ghats is partially farmland with a small, nasty pond here and there. It's not exactly the spiritual, serene place the guidebook says it is. Bummer.

I tried my first lassi today, a yogurt curd drink mixed with fruit juice (I got pineapple). It was odd. The curd tastes cheesy, like a nutty hard white cheese, and then it's mixed with fruit flavors and has a texture resembling whole milk. Not my thing.

I ordered my meal and instead of the traditional American saying of "would you like fries with that", I got the apparently traditional Pushkar saying of "would you like marijuana with that?" I politely declined. In this city all meat and eggs are banned, as well as all drugs, except marijuana, which is not only legal, but pretty much encouraged.

Tomorrow I'll be in Pushkar and I think I may take a trip to Ajmer, which has the holiest Muslim place in India (it is believed seven trips there equals one to Mecca). I wasn't planning on it, but with Pushkar not exactly drawing all my interest, I might as well.