A day before yesterday it happened, I was struck down by a stomach bug, food poisoning or whatever it was. I was lucky enough to get into my hotel in Pushkar and not to leave the room to go have a look in the city. It came out of nowhere, I felt perfectly fine till afternoon and it started very suddenly. I felt really sick till it was dark and eventually went to the reception to get a bottle of a mineral water. I was so thirsty that I had to use all my willpower not to drink from a tap. Usually being thirsty is a first sign that there is a chance to be able to retain some liquid and food.
The hotel was ideally located, I couldh't have asked more. a bit out of the centre but still a nice walking distance and a nice view out to the mountains from a huge window and my own balcony. This city is kind of in between desert and the mountains.A perfect spot to relax and enjoy peace and quietness, especially when the city is full of tourists and of course scammers like I was soon to learn.
After being stuck in the hotel room I was back on my feet yesterday morning. I decided to take a walk in the town to see what's going on there. On the way somebody tried to make me hire a motorbike, he could teach me how to drive,you see. Ehmm no thanks. O don't wanna hurt or get hurt. He also handed me some flowers I can throw into the holy lake to bless my family. Ok so I gotta go see the holy lake. I got another companion to quide me to the holy lake and there I just walked straight into a scam, not that my warning bells didn't start ringing when I saw "the holy man" wearing pinkish t-shirt, sunglasses, very Western clothing, I just didn't know how to react. I should have turn back and run off. Intead I just followed him. See what happens.
I had to repeat some sort mantra after him and he gave some more flowers to throw into the lake and stick some colour on my forehead. Of course after the blessings he started to talk about donations, I just thought that here we go... Since I was from the west I was suppose give money in euros, as if I was carrying a pile of euros with me.I felt like asking whether I have to back and ewxchange some money for him. He was actually asking me to repeat I donate 1000 rupees. (about €15). On that very moment my blood started to boil. I have no bargaining skills but when it comes down to a obvious and outragious scam I am not giving in that easily. I vaguely remember something from my prevous visit in Hindu temple that holy men are not suppose ask for the money. MY guide in Delhi told me this as far as I remember. To begin with I didn't have 1000 rupees on me. I promised to donate 100 rupees, but I turned out that I didn't have a note. As the other scammer came to pick up the money, I handed of a couple of 10 rupees notes and saw disappointment and even anger on their greedy eyes. they saw I had 500 rupees but most defininately I wasn't gonna give them that. They got their flower charge 50 rupes (less than €1)out of me, fair enough. I was suppose to go around to the other parts of the temple with my fraudlent guide who suddenly appeared again.I told him to try to rip off someone else. He tried to convince me that ther is no more money required. True or not I had to get rid of this unthrustworhy person. I have been in a temple a few times before and I have never ever been asked to make such a donation. Most likely no rupee would have gone to the temple but into their own pockets. Perhaps they gave a few rupees to the temple to avoid bad karma. In my heart I feel that the Gods understand and still protect my family even though I got into an argument over money in their temple.
After rushing out of the temple and the holy lake area, I found a nice cafe and got a really nice cup of proper filter coffee. India is a country for tea not coffee drinkers. You can get coffee here but it is mostly instant and they don't like to waste it too much. in other words coffee tends to be kind of weak. But this cup was brilliant. I got into a better mood immediately, However, I didn't feel like spending too much time in the city. I preferred to go back to the hotel to sit by the pool since I wasn't in my full strenght and still a bit upset because of a scam attempt (as of it was something surprising). A scam here is like a stomach bug, most likely you gonna gonna happened to you. I was able to bring the damage down to 70cents so it wasn't too bad after all. As mentioned earlier on I really like this location, my eyes and soul were resting just sitting in the sun and watching the mountains. Today it is time to move on to Jaipur. It is only about 2 hours train trip away. Now having a view over thre city and the holy lake. Pushkar is a nice place after all.
o
