In Pushkar

Jaipur 134
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

I've added a photo of part of my dress that I was given yesterday because I am unable to connect my computer to the internet here and thus cannot upload photos. I'll put some up as soon as I can.

This morning, Anand and I travelled to Puskar. It's a small town of about 22,000 people. That's really tiny for a country of more than a billion. The interesting thing about this town is that there are more than 500 temples. Most are Hindu, but there are some Buddhist temples and there is at least one mosque and one Christian church. So this is a town that hosts pilgrims more than anything else. They host religious festivals throughout the year and thus have a lot of hotels.

We drove down a major highway for part of the way to get here. It was the main highway to Mumbai, so was very modern with good pavement and fast. There were no bicycles, rickshaws, and very few animals, so we flew. Once we left the highway, it was a completely different story. We even got stopped by a major herd of sheep. Now that's a photo that I'll post tomorrow.

We arrived at the nicest hotel I've been in since arriving in India and then I walked around with a guide that Anand had hired. There really wasn't much to do but see some temples (and was unable to take pictures inside) and then go to the lake in the center of town. It's apparently a holy lake and attracts pilgrims and is the focal point of the many religious festivals here in town. I sat down on some steps for a few minutes at the insistance of my guide and a Hindu priest came over and gave me a blessing, another bindi on my forehead, and another string on my wrist. Before I knew it he demanded a donation of $100 for each member of my family. And he was pretty pushy. I got a little upset and put 200 rupee in the donation box (about $5). I then got surrounded by other "priests" who demanded that I look at every photo in a very large photo album of the festivals that the money sponsors and donate more money. I held my ground (Anand had warned me).

When I finally got out of there, gave my guide a tip, and got back to the hotel, I was told by the guy at the reception desk that the donations are actually distributed amongst the town people as income. Why they aren't honest, I don't know. I have to admit to feeling pretty harassed and ready to leave India by the time I got to the hotel. But then I looked at the dress that Ranjee's family gave me and remembered yesterday. It made me feel peaceful and happy again.

Anyway, we are on the edge of a big desert where they offer camel safaris and the like. Since I'll be doing that in Jordan, I'm going to pass. So now I'm simply meandering around town and taking in the atmosphere (and staying away from the lake). I'll have dinner in a bit and then tomorrow we head out. I have to look at the itinerary to find out where next ...