Perpetual Motion

I reluctantly left Varanasi in the evening time and loitered for as long as possible on a terrace cafe watching the colours change as the sun set and the hundreds of kites attached to hundreds of small boys on the surrounding rooftops.


After such a chilled out end to my stay it was with a harsh jolt that I got onto the night train to Jaipur that was full of loud drunk indian guys, each with their mobile phone playing music at full volume. Frankly though even if it had been a quiet train I don't think I, or the other 4 backpackers I was in the carriage with, would have got much sleep having been scared silly by the railway police before getting on the train. They made us each read a leaflet stating that the train was rife with criminals that would try and trick us or drug us in order to steal our bags and so they advised us not to eat or drink anything and to sleep in 'shifts' if possible so there was always someone on guard. Needless to say it was a long 20-hr train ride, but apart from the noise and lack of sleep, a totally uneventful one.

I'd visited Jaipur back in 2000 so got off the train and straight on to a bus to Ajmer, then another bus until eventually, 26-hrs after leaving Varanasi, I arrived in Pushkar where I went straight to bed. After the lush green hills of Nainital & Rishikesk, then the plains of Varanasi I was now in the landscape of the arid and rocky deserts of Rajasthan.

Pushkar is famous for it's lake, ghats and camel fair which happened about a week before I got there. It's also a place that quiet a few westerns seem to have trouble leaving and there are quite a few that have 'gone native' and are experimenting with various forms of dredlocks and facial hair.

Unfortunately I was sick for most of the 48-hrs I had there (bottle of bad mineral water I reckon) but what with it's lake being dry after the poor monsoon and the only other major activity being shopping the town had little that was of interest for me. Given that just a short while ago I was wondering what on earth i'd do for a month here if I wasn't going to trek I suddenly had only 2-weeks left and so much left still to do and see!

Where there should have been a lake... not very attractive is it!

Having already visited the 'Golden Triangle' (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) back in 2000 i'd decided I was going to see the rest of Rajasthan and had put together a non-stop agenda for the next 2-weeks. The next morning at first light I hopped on a public bus to Jodphur and had myself a 'logistical planning' day in which I organised bus, train and an airplane ticket that would allow me to make the most of the time I had left, starting with an early train the next day to Jaisalmer. From here my Rajastani adventure would start!

Up with the sparrows to catch the first bus outta town

Finally the milkman arrives, now we can cook up that first cuppa chai...