This blogspot program is very annoying it has a mind of its own it takes 20 times longer to stick a few pics up than it should. Writing the blog is beginning to be a race before i get pissed off with this program god damn!!!
anyway......HELLO!
Wow Jaipur was crazy i didnt mention we almost got caught up in a jewel scam! This lovely friendly guy who 'sold' precious stones said he does a lot of business in Europe, the problem is that he has to pay huge export tax on these so he frequently flys european tourists to France or Italy and gets them to bring the jewels for him using their tourist quota for bringing gifts out of the country and the toust gets a nice sum of money for it. It seemed a good plan, i could pack the jewels myself and makesure there was nugs and i thought ohmygod i could squeeze in a visit home if i got as far as france i really wanted to visit home!! Anyway it seemed dodgy i just googled it out of interest the next morning and saw its the biggest scam going in Jaipur! If anyone is stupid enough the next step after agreeing to do this is that they charge a E5,000 deposit on your credit card for 'security' for the jewels...come on how stupid would someone be to do that! The next day the guy was calling us and calling us asking why we dont want to do it....and so we hopped on that bus to Pushkar and escaped all that sillyness....how funny, mad, strange! Never a dull moment in India...never!
The bus stations in India are so chaotic and these days anything chaotic-indian style makes me laugh a lot! Nobody really knows whats going on at the bus stations you have to be more carefull keeping out of the way of the crazy bus driving than getting the wrong ticket! The best way to find your bus is just to walk around shouting the name of the place you want to go to anyone who looks remotley like a bus driver and eventually you'll get sorted. Dont waste time looking at the timetable its probably just for decoration.
I like the local busses here. You always get wedged between a funny old man who burps a lot and who wants to keep borrowing your book despite not speaking english and the other side a lady with loads of kids who keeps plonking them bare-bottomed onto your lap while she piles more kids onto the bus! The busses also seem like there is a competition to win the best prize ever if you can make it to the destination faster than the last time! Although the bus we were catching left every FOUR minutes the men were going mental to cram us on and right NOW!!!!! wow they were really panicking! then the bus took off like crazy, reckless driving and speeds so fast i could hardly see what was going past out the window. When the bus started off i was wondering why there is a bar on the back of each seat, after a few major bumps i realsed they are to hang on with! Although a dirty indian man beside me thought he'd help me out with the bumps by holding me by my boob whenever the bus launched itself off the road...or else he was genuinely holding me back...mmm i dont know....anyway! The indians also found us hilarious when we said 'ohhh' and 'ahhh' every big bump!
We got to Pushkar eventually and it was nice to experience how good gravity can be! We settled into a supercheap really lovely guest house and into a super cheap really lovely bhang lassie and slept well.
The bus stations in India are so chaotic and these days anything chaotic-indian style makes me laugh a lot! Nobody really knows whats going on at the bus stations you have to be more carefull keeping out of the way of the crazy bus driving than getting the wrong ticket! The best way to find your bus is just to walk around shouting the name of the place you want to go to anyone who looks remotley like a bus driver and eventually you'll get sorted. Dont waste time looking at the timetable its probably just for decoration.
I like the local busses here. You always get wedged between a funny old man who burps a lot and who wants to keep borrowing your book despite not speaking english and the other side a lady with loads of kids who keeps plonking them bare-bottomed onto your lap while she piles more kids onto the bus! The busses also seem like there is a competition to win the best prize ever if you can make it to the destination faster than the last time! Although the bus we were catching left every FOUR minutes the men were going mental to cram us on and right NOW!!!!! wow they were really panicking! then the bus took off like crazy, reckless driving and speeds so fast i could hardly see what was going past out the window. When the bus started off i was wondering why there is a bar on the back of each seat, after a few major bumps i realsed they are to hang on with! Although a dirty indian man beside me thought he'd help me out with the bumps by holding me by my boob whenever the bus launched itself off the road...or else he was genuinely holding me back...mmm i dont know....anyway! The indians also found us hilarious when we said 'ohhh' and 'ahhh' every big bump!
We got to Pushkar eventually and it was nice to experience how good gravity can be! We settled into a supercheap really lovely guest house and into a super cheap really lovely bhang lassie and slept well.
WOW Puskar is amazing. Its a little village on the edge of the desert, with picturesque, crumbly old buildings, narrow windy lanes full of cows, surrounded by hills with temples on top and this was set around a holy lake in which people prayed and bathed. There was a positive-thinking, energetic, fun vibe about the place and i just loved it!
Although Pushkar was very touristy the it was quite peaceful around the lake.
The Ghats
Very peaceful watching the sunset
The monkeys
Watch out Gardiner!
Cleaning the cow
The time we spent there gosh probably just less than 2 weeks flew by. We didnt really do much in particular which was actually very nice for a change after the maddness in Jaipur. We spent the days chiling out at our lovely guesthouse, walking about the place doing nothing at all, since there was such a big group of us all from the movie it was like being at home everywhere you walked you met someone you knew!
Get out of the way cows!
The little monkeys!
Come on at least 3 more people can fit on that bike! Indian style
The time we spent there gosh probably just less than 2 weeks flew by. We didnt really do much in particular which was actually very nice for a change after the maddness in Jaipur. We spent the days chiling out at our lovely guesthouse, walking about the place doing nothing at all, since there was such a big group of us all from the movie it was like being at home everywhere you walked you met someone you knew!
Andrew and Julien at the guesthouse
Michelle
Puskar seemed to have some kind of festival or wedding going on everyday! You couldnt walk down the street without hearing drums made from bin lids being slammed, bells ringing and trumpets blowing. And we were also in Pushkar for the indian god Shiva's supposed birthday. This involved mad statues and people going down the streets on trolleys, flowers everywhere and ten times the music. Often if you were just walking past a procession you would be roped into the dancing! Its so funny these things in India you see everyday, your mind never had to process such a sight before!
Puskar seemed to have some kind of festival or wedding going on everyday! You couldnt walk down the street without hearing drums made from bin lids being slammed, bells ringing and trumpets blowing. And we were also in Pushkar for the indian god Shiva's supposed birthday. This involved mad statues and people going down the streets on trolleys, flowers everywhere and ten times the music. Often if you were just walking past a procession you would be roped into the dancing! Its so funny these things in India you see everyday, your mind never had to process such a sight before!
It was so sweet, wedding parties on the street everybody giving it socks! Dancing with their hands in the air just to the jangling of bells no shame at all....this i dont think would happen at home unless massive amounts of alcohol were involved....although there was a lot of bhang to thanks to mr Shiva....
Oh my god did i not mention the cows in this entry yet?!! Im sure it is the biggest cow in india that lives in Pushkar...a massive black cow that always seems to be chillin out in the same area. HUGE thing. I never got a picture of it though. Anyway heres a much cuter little thing.
Get out of the way cows!
Puskcar had a cow over population problem in my opinion the streets were narrow enough and there were always a few cows chillin out! When we were leaving Pushkar we were driven all the way back down a narrow lane because an angry cow wanted to go that way! Only in India!
I also did some yoga classes, one guy was excellent but the moves were a little too advanced for me! The other guy was quite an elderly man with a MASSIVE big stomach and he couldnt do a lot of the moves because his belly was getting in the way. He also had a huge flatulance problem so although the classes were held in the most beautiful temple i couldnt help getting a little distracted with the frequent 'paaarrrrrrp!' He he he at least i gave yoga a go! Hopefully more in the future.
The temple where the yoga is held
Puskhar is a very conservative and religious town and so its officialy alcohol and meat free, and possibly dairy free. When you look at the menu a beer is put down as 'cold coffee' and fried eggs as 'fried eggplant'!
Cant get more conservative than that!
Cant get more conservative than that!
Some very nice sunrises and sunsets in Pushkar. The town had two hills with temples in top. First we climbed the smaller of the two to catch a nice sunset and view of the city.
And after a good few failed attempts we managed to get ourselves out of bed at 5am one morning to climb a mountain in time to see the sunrise. It was a good hour journey so we stopped for some sweet chai on the way. One thing about India is Tourist Price, there is one price for indians and one for tourists (which is about double or triple the price) however the indians are lovely, lovely folks with great sense of humour and an example of this is when we got this chai the guy said 10 rupies each (tourist price) we said no we'll give you 5 and there was just laughter no argument. Imagine in ireland saying 'mmm no i'll give you E5'!
Still dark when we reached the top
The temple at the top of the hill
Ive seen so many sunsets (and really began to appreciate the sunsets in india!)but the few sunrises i've seen have mostly been on the way home from a crazy night out in which case the sunrise is bad news! Anyway wow the beauty about climbing at sunrise is that you cant see what is around you until you are at the top and when the sun rises then its a huge surprise, and at 5am my legs where climbing but my head was still completly asleep so it seemed like a rather painless climb! The sunrise was so beautiful it just peeped over the mountain opposite and rose so fast it was all over in a few minutes. There was also a nice temple on top.
Friends from the movie shoot, Courtney, Julien, Lydie, myself and Gardiner.
Colourful India
Friends from the movie shoot, Courtney, Julien, Lydie, myself and Gardiner.
Colourful India
Wow so i cant remember what else i did in Pushkar but when i looked at the calender i realised the days had slipped by and it was time to leave. Off to the desert near the Pakistan border to spend a few days before heading north to nice cool mountains.
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