Pushkar, Rajasthan

The journey from Agra to Pushkar was much fun indeed. The autorickshaw broke down on the way to the station so the journey was completed by cycle rickshaw. It really is incredible to see those guys cycling in temperatures in the mid 30's with 2 people and 2 heavy rucksacks in the back, you almost want to offer to do it for them, well almost.....We thought we might miss the train, but there was no need to worry as the train was over 2 hours late departing - we could have stayed in bed !!! It was a long, dusty, hot train ride to Pushkar but the time was passed by chatting with other travellers and some Indian students in our carriage. We eventually arrived in Ajmer (about 15kms from Pushkar) around midnight and there was a heavy police presence in the city - a bomb had recently been detonated in the city killing 3 people. We made a hasty exit crammed into a taxi with Bret (English), Chris (Polish) and Naria (Spanish) and, after Chris's fantastic bartering with the hotel owners, finally got to bed in the wee small hours.
We'd planned on spending about a week or so Pushkar, it's the kind of place to just kick back and escape the madness of those big Indian cities.

The holy town of Pushkar

Pushkar is a small town and an important destination for Hindu pilgrims due to it's Brahma temple (one of the few in the whole country). It's a beautiful place set around a lake in the desert of Rajasthan. We soon checked out of the shabby place we'd arrived at on the first night and moved round the corner to a place called 'Seventh Heaven'.

Jon relaxing in Seventh Heaven, Pushkar

Nik in Seventh Heaven

We'd read about this in the Lonely Planet, and after months of cheap dives we'd decided we'd splash out a bit (it was about a tenner a night) and do some serious relaxing. Things didn't quite go to plan as, after only a day or so of being in Pushkar, Nik had developed a nice bout of Gardiasis - a microscopic intestinal parasite. We'll spare you the gory details but this was what Jon got in India all those years ago and ended up weighing 8st 4 lb on his return !! Nik duly spent pretty much the rest of the time in bed (at least it was a nice bed) confined to the hotel. Jon managed to get out and about (between the numerous trips to the chemist), catch a few of the glorious Pushkar sunsets and make the sunrise pilgrimage up to the temple one morning.

Languar monkeys, Pushkar

We ended up staying nearly a week in beautiful Pushkar by which time Nik, after some strong antibiotics, was on the mend.

Nik and camel, Pushkar

Pushkar, Rajasthan

Pushkar, India