Monday, March 9, 2009

Ugg...just as I wrote that date, I realized that I have a birthday coming up...I don’t really think I need to have one of those. Doesn’t seem necessary. At least I’ll be here! My birthday is actually the same day as a huge festival called Holi, where there is lots of drinking and colourful paint being thrown around – potential groping of females – it sounds like it is kind of sketchy for tourists, especially white, female tourists. We will see...
Regarding today – it was a great day! We slept in a bit before hitting the buffet, where I swiped an extra orange for lunch. I then went over to the internet cafe that was located right near the hotels, which was nice – I was quite behind with bills, news, and blog – and I felt relieved to get that all in order! Dad, mom, and I walked down the main road outside the hotel (M.I. Road) en route to an ice cream shop for an early lunch. En route we stumbled into this great silver jewellery store!! It was really nice because it was low-key, no sales pressure, fixed prices, and good variety and quality! Mom and I both found a couple of pendants that we liked and had just finished paying when we both noticed a couple of other interesting ones! We also bought those...and then, on the way back from the ice cream shop, we stopped again and mom bought a chain! So, I got 2 silver pendants – one Pinocchio pendant that has hinged arms and legs and one that is kind of swirly with a couple of amethyst stones in it – for 10 dollars Canadian! J
We started our drive for Pushkar at about noon, as the oil in the van needed to be changed in the morning before we headed out. And, the drive was only three hours, on good roads, so it wasn’t a big deal. I actually slept the entire first half of the drive, until the rest stop, so I don’t have any interesting stories there at all! After the rest stop, however, the landscape started to change dramatically as we headed further into the desert and mountains. The green fields were spotted with ladies in bright coloured saris, there were houses with thatched roofs, and the dry, dusty hilltops. The road was a twisty, one-lane road, for two lane traffic. I was quite happy I wasn’t driving!
Ohhh!! One of the driving highlights was passing through this town...I don’t remember the name, but it definitely was a marble town! There were trucks and trucks full of marble. On the sides of the road there were slabs, large and small, of many different colours and shapes of marble. It was amazing. I wanted to stop and get one shipped home – because there would definitely be only minimal mark-up at the source! It was marble like I’ve never seen marble before. (apart from the Taj Mahal, of course, but that was marble used in a structure, not in its raw form like this was!)
We got to our hotel in Pushkar, and were greeted with the expected ‘frosty reception’ (Lonely Planet!). It is an older building (a palace, in its previous life, I think), but the rooms are clean and have all of the necessities. The view is to die for! Our room opens up onto a balcony that overlooks Pushkar lake and the sunset tonight was breathtaking.
I think Pushkar is my favourite city up to date. It feels like I stepped back into the sixties (even though I wasn`t there in the sixties to know what it would be like...but I`d imagine it felt like this!). It is a city of only 15000 people, which is tiny!!! It was created (as per the legends) when Brahma dropped a lotus flower here, and is where Hindus come to pray at least once in their life. There are hundreds of temples in the city and little ghats line the water edge. The Hindus make their way here to bathe themselves in the ghats. (I hope I’ll learn more about this on the walking tour tomorrow morning) In the city, women must definitely be covered, shoes are not allowed within 30 feet of the waters’ edge, meat, eggs, and kissing (or PDAs) are not allowed!
Walking around the main street was awesome! Although the LP says to be careful of your belongings, it was a relief compared to Agra, Delhi, and Jaipur! Although people called out from the shops to buy things and come in and look, they were not aggressive and not overly pushy. We were mainly looking around today, and they actually accepted the answer "I’ll come back tomorrow"! There were no auto-rickshaws either, which was a welcome change. The motorcycles are deadly, however, and I think I bike almost ran dad over!
The numbers of Caucasian people wandering around is also interesting. A few of them look like they’re ‘stuck’ here, and I definitely don’t have enough dreadlocks or piercings to fit in easily! It is a low-key, happy-go-lucky feeling. I like it. Perhaps it is just the dramatic difference from the major cities that we have been in to date that makes me appreciate this so much more, but I really do like this place.
Sitting on the balcony watching the sunset was awesome! I think I already mentioned that, but it was just so picturesque. ....there are a tonne of mosquitoes – which is to be expected – I mean, really, there is a lake of stagnant water in the centre of town! Looking out into the water, I noticed there were things coming to the surface for air! I know that one of us read that the crocodiles that used to be here have all been relocated, and the pollution in the lake can’t really be conducive to fish or other aquatic life. And, besides, aquatic life doesn’t have to breathe on the surface! We kind of concluded that it could be rats or mongoose or something! I will ask our guide tomorrow, because it is kind of interesting!
And dinner was great. Another LP recommendation – and just the next hotel over. Food was excellent, the waiter was entertaining, the entire balcony was from Canada, and it was dirt cheap. My dinner cost a grand total of 110 Rs – so about 3$ Cdn! And, I couldn’t even finish it all! I think we’ll be going there for lunch and dinner tomorrow as well.
Night!
-AJ