Mark's Blog

Arriving Pushkar

Got here this afternoon in the blazing heat. Cycle rickshaw from the hotel in Jaipur to the bus station for the Pushkar express. It took three hours in a rattly bus on another one of those endless modern highways, like the one from Delhi. In one pit stop town in the middle of the scrub desert. the bus nearly drove off on me in the middle of a badly needed piss. Sufficient waving and whistling got one smiling indian guy with a white beard to keep the driver at bay. It was worth the risk, believe me.

The sun is really hot here in Pushkar, despite nights in Jaipur being darnright cold. Got into Pushkar at around one, the main bazzar teaming with colour and trade. I could easily carry away a ton of stuff from here and my trip is just beginning. I'll post photos presently. Westerners wandering around, not wanting their experience disturbed by any complications, and enough hoteliers making sure that this gets arranged for them. Pushkar is bordering on the theme-park side, but there's enough "shanti" here to make it popular still with the old india heads. Those guys who come back every year. I met one this afternon, a santa-bearded chillum-smoking German part-time baba talking the India trail talk: "very shanti place, Shiva place". Turns out he's from Bremen.

I headed straight for the Sai-Baba hostel where I had stayed nine years ago. The proprieter, Fatou, is a good guy and is married now to a french woman and they have two kids. Fatou remembered me fairly quickly after a couple of memory nudges ("Ireland baba"), remembered the people I hung out with at the time and the trip we took on camels out into the desert. I was in the "counting room"

I'm sorted out with a huge ensuite room by the courtyard in the new guesthouse for the next two days, there's flamenco dancing on there tonight. I moved into my room this afternoon with Cameron de la Isla singing in the background. Then I'll have a simple cob, thatched cottage for 80 Rs. per day (that's about 1.30 yoyo's). They heat up by day and stay warm at night, made with clay, straw and cowshit -- sustainable tourism!. I can use this as a base from which to explore nearby Udaipur and Jaisalmir, after a little chilling out, of course. I'll re-contact Bunker from the Barefoot College and see what the story is with visiting or helping them out.

It was great to see Fatou and get sorted out so quickly and so fairly. Pushkar has grown since I was here last and there's more of the stuff that you'd expect to see in a bigger place, both positive and negative. Touts at the station, motorbikes tearing down the Bazaar. Fatou mentioned that he bought a farmhouse 2km outside of pushkar (with pushbikes) which i could stay in, if I want. He's up for getting another camel trek together into the desert hills.

After having chai with himself I went to the restaurant that I used to frequent here. There are plastic tables instead of benches now but they still serve the same kicking Thali, with no chili and loads of chapatis and refills for only 30 roops (about 50 cent). The lake is still as beautiful and the town as picturesque. It looks like the monkeys have prospered along with the town. There are loads of them, hanging out by the water or hopping across the rooftops over the bazaar. They're the black-faced ones, very relaxed, no mischief in them, unlike the little red-arsed feckers. Now it's back to the hotel for ringside seats at the flamenco dance show, feeling like I landed well on my feet here. I couldn't have planned it better.

More presently...

Posted by Mark at February 7, 2004 03:39 PM