Pushkar lake and Indian Wedding!
25 februari 2020, Indien ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Tom has said that he woke up at 8am, and I was still asleep...the bed was so comfy and warm that he decided to try and get some more sleep as Wed been going non stop for weeks and needed to reset! He woke back up at 9 and I still wasn’t awake, this is how Tom knew I was ill...as I was always awake before him! I eventually surfaced just after 11 and found Tom chilling on the rooftop. He recommended that we go out and get some watermelon, apparently a good snack if you have diarrhoea...? So we did just that, on our way into town an old hippie Indian guy who was chilling out at the blue temple where the hippie men hung out offered Tom a drag of his joint...we didn’t have a clue what he was smoking, but certainly didn’t want to try it! We got into town and paid 100 rupees for a full watermelon, we found a spot around the lake where we weren’t being pestered by the scammer trying to “gift” us with a flower and a blessing and then demand money from us...nor were we being shouted at for carrying our shoes and we ate the entire watermelon!
We then walked around the lake anti-clockwise, past numerous people bathing in the holy lake and were constantly being hassled for carrying our shoes. We chilled out at our favourite spot, just outside one of the Ghats on the steps and took in the surroundings whilst talking about random things including the purposes of fizzy water...why would you drink fizzy water!? We were obviously going crazy or running out of things to talk about. We made our way back to the hostel for some more chill out time before we made our way to the sunset viewpoint. We had agreed that we would meet the German guy (from Konstanz) from our hostel, Joel at the top of the viewpoint as he was going to get food first. We made our way up the tracks, walking past a woman who was suspiciously cleaning something up on one of the rocks...we come to the conclusion she had taken a shit at the side of the tracks and was now desperately trying to clean it up.
We continued and before long we got to the top of the viewpoint, which was a temple and of course you weren’t allowed shoes inside...however it looked like an awful temple it was really the view you come here for...we decided to keep our shoes on and just perch on a nearby rock to enjoy the sunset. We were joined by Joel, we chatted and enjoyed a nice sunset. Before it got dark we made our way into the town where George and I grabbed a famous Pushkar falafel from lafa falafel, the spot in Pushkar where 3 falafel stores sit adjacent to one another and customers enjoy their food on-street-seating. It was pretty good, nothing on the ones we had in the Philippines though! We thought we’d make our way back to the hostel for a chilled night.....
Upon arriving back at the hostel the guy behind the check-in desk said to Joel he had good and bad news. The bad news was that his washing wasn’t going to be done in time for his checkout because the man who does the laundry is getting married today. However the good news was that by means of an apology he was invited to his wedding. Seems like a pretty good apology to us! He proceeded to say the three of us were invited and even showed us the very official invitation card he had received. Tom was 100% up for it as he’s always wanted to attend an Indian wedding and even more so here in India. It took some convincing for me to be up for it with my current stomach situation but eventually I agreed to join.
We changed into some jeans, still with my scruffy jumper on and got into the party TukTuk that was waiting for us outside the hostel. The wedding was in Ajmer, the town that we arrived into on the train and the “15 minute drive” turned into a 45 minute drive, hanging onto the back of the TukTuk as the driver (who was high) drove far too quickly, meandering through traffic and not slowing down for speed bumps. However, we got to talk to the guys who were working at the hostel, Amit and Micky and they were both really nice guys! Eventually we arrived at the venue, after checking it was the right wedding as so many weddings were taking place today. The entrance was very grand and I could feel 1,000 eyes looking at us as we entered the venue. However, everyone was warm and welcoming to us. Handshake and handshake and selfie after selfie we made our way round the wedding, enjoying the fantastic food that was on offer. I had a paneer curry, vegetable kofta curry, biriyani with freshly made chipatis and naan breads. As I was eating the delicious food, taking in my surroundings it hit me that it was a much more sophisticated than I was expecting. People were stood around chatting and enjoying their food, it felt more like a get together, not a wedding. After finishing the food I dumped my plate into one of the many huge buckets that had been put out to collect cutlery and we made our way over to meet the bride and the groom. I had spoken to Micky on the way and he told me that this was an arranged marriage by their parents, who also paid for this occasion...on average about 1 million Indian rupees, or £10,000 for a wedding of this scale. We waited in a queue to meet the bride and groom, got a picture with them, said our congratulations, got a sweet as hell coffee (Tom got 3 for him and had mine too!) and were back in the TukTuk on our way back to the hostel. The journey back was equally rough but we got back at around 11:30, where we made my way straight to bed having ticked off one more thing from the bucket list.Läs mer
Pushkar day #3
26 februari 2020, Indien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Tom woke up at around 830 and I was still asleep so Very kindly he left me to it whilst I lazed in my bed for a little while...the beds were almost too comfy to leave. After a while I got up, used the hot showers and we chilled out in the room and then on the balcony, looking into our route for Nepal and booking some bits for India too. The music in the streets weals certainly still going, in fact this morning it was directly below our hostel. It was around 13:30 before we actually left the hostel today but, you certainly need those days when you’re travelling to just rest up a bit, especially when you’re not feeling too well.
We went to the 50 rupee thali place for lunch, but again I couldn’t eat a thing so sat and watched Tom devour his meal. Tom very kindly gave me a scrap of chapati and some plain rice - making me feel like a stray dog - but this was all I could stomach. We wandered to the other side of the lake and came across a troop of big monkeys going about their business. We arrived to where the Brahma temple was - the only one in the world apparently. It was a big pink temple but no photos were allowed inside and we also had to leave our bags in a storage locker for free. It was pretty, but not as spectacular as the ones in Hampi or even on our day exploring north it Udaipur, so we left pretty quick and decided we’d go and find a bum bag to hold our things for during the Holi festivities. We looked around with some guy insisting his bag was real Diesel branded but I’m pretty sure diesel was spelt wrong. We eventually found one which would do the job and bartered it down to 300 rupees. I was still feeling pretty awful, so we headed back via the Sikh Temple where we had to wear funny little headscarves before going in. It was dead quiet and actually a beautiful temple made of white marble. We went back for some more chill time on our beautiful rooftop and we looked further into the Nepal route.
We headed back out to town for dinner and I grabbed myself another falafel wrap as I was still not too keen on curry, but it still wouldn’t fix me!! Tom grabbed yet another thali on the way back to the hostel and we just got ourselves a hot shower and an early night again - these beds were amazing!!!Läs mer
Pushkar day #4
27 februari 2020, Indien ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
I was not feeling good, still, so I asked to go and get some dry food for me...so looked like he was having bananas and crackers for breakfast and Tom also had the same. We chilled out at the hostel for a bit. A lot of this in Pushkar so far but it felt as if it was the perfect place to do it and we both thought we were going to feel refreshed after just slowing down a bit. Desperate times called for desperate measures...I’ve never been one to take pills when I’m sick, but I took some Imodium, 2 in fact, and after a little while we went out to get Thali from the 50rupee Thali place...I ordered one this time but only wanted the rice and the chapatti so I donated the curry to Tom, much to his delight. After food, which I choked down and Tom wolfed down as his potion was now massive, we walked to the lake and chilled outside the Ghats.
We just watched the world go by...firstly we watched 2 women get completely scammed by some man giving them a blessing next to the holy lake... but they seemed to be buying it so it was fine. Secondly, an older guy was being told to take his shoes off in the Ghat area and he was not happy about it at all. We were trying to figure out where he was from, and then he said in the most German accent ever “why do I have to take my shoes off, everything is so dirty here” which seemed to really upset the men sat around who seemed to be policing the rules and also waiting for westerners to come by to scam when they started saying “if you think it is dirty then leave”. Really friendly people. Thirdly, a local man saying to a girl stroking a dog “I don’t like dogs, I kick them”....which really summed up how backwards and generally stupid so many Indian people were, especially with animals.
After all this people watching, we made our way back to the hostel for (you guessed it) some chill time. After a few hours I started to feel a bit better so we decided to venture out to the sunset spot that the hostel recommended we did for sunrise (we didn’t, oops). On the walk I began to turn bad again and dove into a grubby little hotel with only squat toilets available. Tom suggested numerous times that we turn back but I was being stubborn and wanted to carry on...I already felt bad for not managing to do a lot of thins here in Pushkar and Tom has been my carer. I insisted we continued so we did for a little while however half way up the viewpoint I was really struggling. Tom changed his approach and said that he couldn’t be arsed to continue anymore...obviously a little white lie but I took it and we turned back just as the sun set. Tom was wanting to grab some food on the way back, so I left him to it as I shuffled back feeling terrible and bloated. With the fear of the runs, I quickened my pace but when I got back and rushed to the toilet it was only gas!!! The Imodium worked a treat!! Upon Tom returning, let him know the good news and so we both got showered and watched “We’re the Millers” on the iPad and then both passed out.Läs mer
Pushkar —> Jodhpur Day train
28 februari 2020, Indien ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
Woke up around 8 and chilled in bed for a little while, there had been a lot of chill in Pushkar and I liked it, however I was definitely ready to get going again and as I was feeling much better today I could actually think about how we get out of Pushkar. We both got a shower (who knows when the next hot one will be) packed up our things and we checked out before the 11am check out time.
As we’d be on a train a lot of the day, we went to grab some breakfast, and eventually found a little cafe and got butter toast and honey for 30 rupee. It was a weird blend, but certainly gave the energy we needed to get out the hostel and get the bus to Ajmer. We walked in the heat to the bus stop with one of the guys go took us to the wedding and the bus arrived minutes after. We bought our tickets from the counter and battled our way onto the bus to get seats, after a few minutes those people who were just battling to get on the bus started to filter off to get their tickets...instead of getting tickets and then getting on the bus like a normal human being. Eventually, the bus departed and we got to Ajmer bus station. We wanted a Tuktuk and played the different drivers off one another for the best price. To minutes later we jumped in a TukTuk to the train station and waited for our train. It arrived only 20 minutes late, we boarded and watched the chaos as people tried to find their seats, it was painful watching them...they had been living in India all their lives, all the signs are in their local language and they couldn’t figure it out, whereas Tom and I managed easily. The train set off at 14:55 and we were on our way to Jodphur! On the train, the chaos never stopped with people still struggling to find their right seat and also the weird man sat in front of us taking selfies with us in the background and sending them to his friends - however, we had now become used to this here. Surprisingly, we had loads of space on this train with loads of leg room and a free seat, so we stretched our end enjoyed the ride. The last hour is where this journey got weird...we were put on FaceTime with a family, had numerous interviews about where we were from etc, the last thing we wanted. We even had a guy sit with us for about 30 mins and interrogate is about what we did, and what two generations back in our families did...clearly trying to set us up. He then pulled out a little black book and asked for our UK address. I thought on my feet and gave him a blend of both mine and Tom’s home address : 16 Esholt Crescent, Barnsley, UK, BD14 4PL. This was all made super awkward as this guy kept trying to either shake hands or high five with Tom, but each time it needed in an awkward mid air hand holding. We decided that from this point we’d just say we were married!! There were a couple of kids on the train who wanted to lay, so we played guns and shooting with them from between the seats - this was met with hysterical laughter from the kids.
Finally we arrived in Jodhpur and as the hostel was only 2km away an that was our upper limit for walking we set off. By this time it was about 8pm so we were hungry. We walked up the Main Street and found a place called Al-Haq who specialised in mutton. Although we’d been veggie for pretty much all our trip, we both fancied a bit of meat and rice. This plate arrived and it was amazing, the tastes and textures made a nice change from veg thali. We made it to our guesthouse within the old city walls and it was pretty nice with a great rooftop view of the fort perched 400ft on top of cliffs. After our long day, we decided to get some rest as we were going to explore the blue city of Jodhpur tomorrow.Läs mer
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Yum -reeee hydrate xx
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So stunning -so Indiaxx
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Hello George! Xxx⭐️😘