Rajasthan whirlwind

The past few weeks, I haven't done a good enough job updating this blog. A lot has happened. Went to Rajasthan for a weekend, checked out the Bahai temple, went to Bombay this weekend, crazy Indian elections, and my mini pilot starts tomorrow in Mathura (excited about the latter). I'll start with the Rajasthan trip and then (maybe) fill you guys in about the rest in later posts.

My friend Yaron was in town and we decided to go see some of Rajasthan. It was a bit of a blur; lots of traveling - sitting and sleeping in buses, some sight seeing, and a ton of terrible food. I don't think I had a single good meal while in Rajasthan. I take that back, on the way back to Delhi the bus stops at "Midway". I had a decent omelet there. The worst food was in Pushkar.

Rajasthan is a tourist trap. I don't mean it to sound so negative, but everywhere people either wanted to sell me something or take me to a hotel of their choice. And in the searing desert heat - you tend to get a tad irritable :). Going in the summer was not the smartest decision, but it was a great trip. Sorta slummed it a bit - taking local transport at one stage. Here is a pic of one of the buses we almost took to Pushkar.



Very real and gritty Indian weekend. And did I mention it was hot?

The market place outside the dargah in Ajmer has probably been the same for the last 100 years. This small boy in the market decided to adopt me, and everywhere I went he just tagged along trying to sell me something. Tenacious kid. The shrine wasn't all that impressive, but still worth checking out if you're in the neighborhood. I am also guaranteed a spot in heaven - I had to kiss this "door to heaven" and a guy beat me with peacock feathers. Weird and to you pervs out there, there was nothing sexual about it.

Pushkar on the other hand was this small sleepy hamlet, but comes to life during the camel festival and whenever the sun's ferocity diminishes in the winter months. It sas the only Brahma temple in the world, and likely is in the top 5 destinations for Israeli's during their gap year (Hebrew signs everywhere). Has a few small cafe's in the market where you can order stuff that you probably wouldn't even get in Amsterdam (probably what makes it so popular for Israeli's in the first place). If you're in Pushkar, def check out Cafe Pink Floyd - here is the view from the top of the Cafe.







We didn't really spend all that much time seeing Jaipur. Checked out the city palace and the Hawa Mahal. City palace - worth it, skip the Hawa Mahal.

Overall, this was more of a get out of Delhi weekend than lets check out Rajasthan. Which just means I'll have to come back and really see Rajasthan another time.