Grace & Pills 'extended holiday' What we be mostly doin - innum

Ola,

So - next installment now....

We left Jodpur at the crack of dawn (it was only us, a few auto rickshaw drivers and the men with the grass for the cows about) to catch the train to Ajmer, which is the jumping point for the bus to Pushka. A gentle clickety clack of a 6 hours sat on our own sleeper bunks watching the villages go past with the patchwork quilts of Sari's drying in the fields and me getting excited to see lots of teeny baby goats.
We got to Ajmer and made the foolish decision to walk to a cafe that we'd heard was good.... midday sun, bad directions and big rucksacks surprisingly enough don't mix! I think we must have sweated out 4 times our body weights.... Got there and nearly drank them dry of bottled water! If anyone ever finds themselves in Ajmer for any reason - I would recommend Mango Massala cafe, delicious!
Onto the bus - a crazy locals affair with people hanging out the doors and windows and every conceivable space filled. It was only for 30mins and was actually quite fun. We traveled along an amazing windy road over the top of a hillside ridge - space for one bus one way yet two seemed to fit.... mystical magic I reckon! Pulled up to Pushka bus stop and the most mental scramble ensued... people coming in the windows and then dragging their mates through on top of us before we could even stand to get off! Apparently there had been a special festival in Pushka that day (one a day in Indian I think!), so everyone in a 100 mile radius had ventured forth and were all now desperate to get home for their Tarka Dall. Good ole Pill managed to hoist me and my rucksack off somehow!
Went to a hotel of dubious ownership and filthy rooms - changed rooms 3 times, got very tired so fell asleep and then ran (well.... tumbled down the hill towards the famous lake) as fast as we could manage as soon as we woke up (very early) the next day to a place in the rough guide. Lesson 1) don't go off piste, stick to what those who know whats what are saying... never thought I'd say that!!
Pushka, we discovered is an odd kind of place. It was somewhere we thought we'd stay for a good few days and calm down after all the hectic cities... as it turned it didn't achieve that aim! There are some amazing things there, places, buildings and some good people but in the majority it felt like a magical mystical spiritual theme park. There were chaps pretending to be priests for goodness sake. Naughty people who tried to scare you into going to the waters edge (the water from the lake has been drained as it was infected - so there's only a small storage vat of water left...!!) to bless your family, as something bad may happen if you don't. They then charge you 500 rs for the privalage... I wonder how their karma is doing.. ?? grrrrr !!! Needless to say I didn't get my 'lucky' bit of string and spent the time saying hello to the wild monkeys who were hanging around in the trees instead! I think sometimes it's best to be left to your own devices.
I suppose that people go to Pushka for many different reasons - they've been doing it since the 1960's (and some people looked like they haven't left since.... gnarly old dudes!!) I hope they find what they're looking for and do wish them good luck.

Stephan the German randomly popped up in the street again - he's like our mascot that boy! He'd made friends with Josh from Shoreditch - Josh being of the T-Mobile TV advert fame. The boy who is and owns Josh's band (yep that one with the annoying music...) nice lad though. Spent a nice afternoon enjoying the 'lake' view and drinking cold coffee and ice cream - my new best drink!
 
We stayed another half day, I tried to see as many of the shrines as I could first thing in the morning when it was a lot quieter and they were really quite lovely. We then made our way back to Ajmer to get the train to Jaipur. Sat on the train station platform, on our bags, eating paneer pastie things and drinking Limca (I'm going to start a petition to get this stuff back home!) we made the most lovely friends with a huge local family. As we'd got to the station early and the train was late we spent a great few hours chatting to them and sharing their food (the most delicious cakes and homemade chilli crisps) and playing with the children (yes it is still Grace writing this...!)
The family invited us to stay at their home in Jaipur, I think that the Dad was impressed that I was helping the eldest Son with his spoken English - we'd already booked into a hotel unfortunately. It's funny - by the time the train came there was a huge crowd of us all together and lots of other kids had been brought along the platform and were playing hide and seek behind their hands / boo etc with us, a guy took it upon himself to translate, another offered water and when the stations resident chap with mental health problems interest was caught in the goings on the icecream trolley boys and the local Grandmas formed a barrier and protected us!
 
Got on the train without a kerfuffle and went off to Jaipur, looking forward to the change in place. Over to Pill....
 
Hope you're all well and happy, G & P xx
 
Animal watch - usual usual, more lizards here and lots of wild monkeys. Saw quite a few camels and managed not to get spat on by any of them!