Four days ago we arrived in this small city of around 15.000 inhabitants and hundreds of temples. The trip from Jaipur to Pushkar took about five hours in bus. The city is known for various things: firstly because of it's Brahma temple and the holy lake in which Ghandi his ashes were sprinkled. These sacred waters are however the same waters where some locals (as well as the animals) bathe every morning. Alcohol is prohibited but in various occasions we've been offered Marihuana, which is probably also the reason why the place is hot amongst hippies that come from many different countries, a phenomenon started already back in the fifties.
The guesthouse where we've stayed was great: it has a beautiful patio with a nice roof terrace with a beautiful view of the surrounding area. We've stayed here for four days though there is not that much to do. It was a nice opportunity to relax a little bit and get more used to being in India. I have to say that this is getting better by the day: you start learning how to deal with people on the street offering you all sorts of things as well as getting used to the food and moving around. However, the toilets are something I still have a hard time getting used to, hahahaha. Despite this, every now and then we are still caught by surprise, for example the first day when a group of gipsy women came up to us taking our hands to draw henna-figures on them for which we were charged 10 Euro! Ofcourse we didn't pay this much, but they have their ways of working which are quite effective I must say. In another occasion we were offered to throw a flower in the holy lake, which was supposed to be for free as I made sure before (being a good Dutchman) accepting the nice offer ... However when we took off our shoes and approached the holy lake another nice Indian guy came with a sort of dinner tray in his hand loaded with all sorts of powders and a coconut telling us to come with him for the special ritual. However, this turned out not to be for free because this pilgrim asked us to make a donation for the local people as well as for the health and happiness of our families. Furthermore, at that moment I remembered reading something in the guide about having to pay otherwise you might end up taking a swim in the holy waters ... Now that does put some psychological pressure on the whole thing, doesn’t it?? I paid him 50 Rupies (1 Euro)
The other day we made a beautiful walk all the way up one of the hills (see pictures) where we came across many monkeys with small baby monkeys, how cute!! The views were astonishing!!
Tonight we’re leaving for Jaisalmer, a city located in the dessert of Rajasthan.
