Gulaab Niwaas Palace Pushkar

... though, anything will do and I ate every drop of it.<br><br>From the restaurant I walked the short distance to the government bus station that had cheap (9 rupee) buses to Pushkar - leaving every few minutes, as soon as they filled up. The ride to Pushkar was picturesque and went fairly quickly.<br><br>Once there I started walking around the town looking for a hotel. The first place I ...

... which was pretty interesting even with the drizzling rain and cool temperature. <br>Ate at a very new age and healthy restaurant called Honey &amp; Spice and had a Tofu steak and vegetables and a strong cinnamon &amp; ginger coffee.<br>Did a bit of shopping in the small clothes shop next door and headed back to the hotel, stopping for some delicious 'malpua' on the way (or malpura to the guji's).<br><br>13/11/09<br>Had a lovely breakfast of muesli ...

... clearly not listening to me and he started to get angry. I got up without hesitation and walked over to Joel who had already filled out a donation card for the two of us. This ****** my priest off even more as he was yelling at me that we couldn't donate together because we both had separate karma. But he better have not jinxed my karma because half the money Joel donated came from my bank account. <br><br>After discussing the incident with Joel, he didn ...

... jewelery etc and 'western' style restaurants. (Think soggy toast, dodgy pizza and overcooked pasta.) The other part of their tourist trade is Indian pilgrims who come to worship at the one and only Brahma temple in the whole country. <br><br>We decided what the hell ( I didn't see blasphemy on that poster) if you can't beat em join em.<br><br>So with all the enthusiasm either one of us can muster for religion / yet another temple we troop past the shops, stalls, piles of rubbish and ...

... explained...I was feeling like this Puja thing had been totally forced on me...as no one had told me about it nor what to expect and had just assumed that I would tag along for the 'fun'. Vanessa was having a good time. She's all into the Hindi, spiritualism and yoga lifestyle...but I was just uncomfortable for 30-45 minutes. After the Puja finally finished I thought for sure we would go home. Think again. Then everyone sat down and started smoking. By this point I was ...

Centered around a holy lake, Pushakr is an oasis in the desert. There are over 400 temples in the area and it is held as a rather sacred place (no drugs, alcohol, meat, or public affection). That being said, it's also a tourist haven, which means you can find drugs, alcohol, meat, and see PDA! It's mostly just a place to chill out and do some shopping, a nice respite from the larger ...

... the sky is quite misty and it makes it hard to take photos that do the view justice. The following morning we get up early as we have to return the bike by ten fifteen. Tara wants another go at finding the Shiva temple so we head out of town. It's freezing though and my hands can't take it - it has been much colder than I expected on this trip. We have brekky and try again at nine. This time we head for Panchkund, a spot a few locals have ...

... is deeply in love with a guy the parents don't approve of. It's very sad to see her upset and the drama is just like a Bollywood soapie. Poor Dooga lives in a tiny bedroom under the stairs because all the rooms are available for tourists. The home-made food is wonderful there and made by the middle brother, especially his cashew nut curry and butter chapatis. There's a nice grassy rooftop chillout space which is gold for the morning sun rays and perfect for late night ...