Bhola Hotel Ajmer

... as buses shoot towards us, hollering their varied musical horns. There seems to be no system to the roads, each to their own. Despite their reassurances I've seen too many accidents, only the other day Bhai's waiter Deepak came in hobbling. His head had been cut up infour places, his leg bust. I don't want to end in a similar fate!

We neared the bottom of the mountain and ismounted next to an old hut. Rocks and a stray dog were the only things in sight. Carrying ...

... come back after university to India, see how you feel then. That's exactly what I did. Though I won't really admit it that was my main reason for returning, to uphold that promise to Kit and to myself. Yet though we're here and the feeling endured, now I see things differently.

His life would remain very much the same, yet I'd want so much more than a semi-successful business in this town, cooking Indian food, family gatherings. I want to tread my own wild ...

... encouraged to stay outside of the fort, so I’d deliberately asked and been told that it was outside. Of course it looked like we were inside (not easily discernible at all), but they assured us we were not. I was later to find out that we weren’t in Gopa Chowk (as told), shortly before the hard sell began for camel safaris, along with reneged promises and concern that everyone in the area knew what we were doing and saying!

I settled for a cheap, good ...

... pashmina shawls and the maharani's (female consort of the M’a) royal outfits and traditional jewellery.

The armoury, located in the original quarters of the maharanis, looked really impressive, but was totally lost on someone so ignorant & disinterested, other than the variety of ivory, leather, jade & other beautiful gunpowder containers. There were fantastic gold-inlaid & mirrored ceilings, but like so many places in India now ...

Pushkar is a haven for hippies, awash with dreadlocks, the likes of which we haven't seen since Goa. It's a magnet, drawing not only the unwashed but a mix of old and young tourists and those seeking to bask in the spiritual ambiance that sets this place apart from others similar in India. The town is built around the holiest of lakes, where Vishnu is reputed to have materialized and where some of Gandhi's ashes were set free ...

... be to have children who don't. Laying in the desert awake starring up at the brilliant stars freezing my butt and worried about how Janice was doing I thought of our house in Summerland and the picture we have hanging at the top of our stairs . It is a photo of a large hand with a little hand holding the baby finger of the large hand and reads "A man's wealth is measured by the love of his children". This trip has made me one of the wealthiest in the world!!

... redeemed itself in the friendliness of a rickshaw driver who invited us to his home for a few drinks, introducing us to his friends and showing that famed Indian hospitality. However, business is never far away, and the entire night we were told of a great opportunity to import (i.e. smuggle) gems into Australia and make some quick cash to continue traveling. After a few beers and continually turning the men down, we looked forward to heading to Pushkar in the morning ...

... of velvet and silk) embroidered with pleasing gold and silver tracings. --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Gumbad Mubarik Hazrat Bibi Hafiza Jamal Gumbad Mubarak (Dome) Inside the gumbad mubarak, there is a silver 'Chaparkhat' (canopy) inlaid with pieces of mother-of-pearl presented by Emperor Jahangir ...

... puts on a facade of being careful, but take for example the day that I brought my knife.. all my stuff, including my fire toys, on board because I was late... Well, I'm showered (Kunal got a friend of his to let me use a hotel room for a quick HOT shower.. wow.. so I didn't have to buy a room to freshen up) and now here I am, and he's brought me tea and has made a CD out of my photos for me, he's helping me to send another package from ...

... simply know when we had arrived in downtown Ajmer. Usually this involves looking for more buildings and congestion than usual, but more often than not we fell victim to peer pressure and just got off when everyone else did. Fortunately, we headed in the right direction when we got off the bus at some random corner with a group of locals. We had to walk along a stretch of highway for a bit, but we were able to find the historic section of town ...