Pushkar, Rajasthan (Southwest Peak)

My Turkish companions, Musab and Ozge, accompanied me in my ascent of a nearby mountain in order to get a view of the deserts and plains about which Pushkar is situated. We toasted to our accomplishment at the top before a monsoon (one of the few that arrive in the desert town) stranded us atop the mount. We waited in the pouring rain, shirts off, for half an hour before it slowed and we joined a few locals in the mountain-top tea shop. The descent was much quicker than the climb and we settled in a local thali restaurant for a meal and an opportunity to dry off. It was an eventful day despite the humdrum of the city's uneventful religious Ghats and secular bazaars.Read more