We had been warned not to accept flowers for prayers off anyone as they could end up charging you 100 dollars or more so when a very insistent man at the entrance of the temple asked us to take a flower to show respect we acted as though he were pointing a gun in our direction rather than a delicate rose... Eventually we gave in and he showed us around the temple and showed us what to do... Which is just as well because it was insane in there. I've never seen such aggressive worshippers! Unfortunately the experience was marred by my absolute distrust in this poor guy who as it turned out was actually just being helpful and trying to win himself some karma points, and although he naturally wanted a tip, the pound or so that I gave him seemed more than enough, and in fact he even offered to give it back to me. Anyway, the nice stranger whose name I didn't even think to ask, took us to the lake after the temple and taught me to pray in Hindi (apparently acceptable for all religions -including atheists) - So now after wishing lots of happiness and good things for all people I hope you are all feeling the benefit! More than anything the experience did teach me that whilst of course you should be wary of people and not blindly trust every idiot who comes our way, sometimes being overly paranoid can turn a potentially beautiful experience into something of a trauma. I'm usually too trusting, so behaving negatively towards someone who is supposedly trying to help feels very unnatural and uncomfortable to me... At the end of the day I think it's best to lighten up and if the worst thing that happens is that you get swindled out of a few pounds then so be it. Needless to say I'll stop short of following strangers down dark alleys or other such activities that may put me in physical danger!
In the evening we went for a camel ride and slept in our guides house in a village in the desert. On paper it all sounded very relaxing and romantic but the reality was that we were the entertainment for his 3 kids for the evening... The eldest girl kindly painted the worst henna ever on our hands and feet, the middle boy happily ran around with our cameras snapping everything and anything (though mainly photos of himself) and the youngest girl took to jumping on our backs and demanding piggy back rides... They were cute though so I guess it was ok... What was definitely NOT ok were the neighbours playing the worst music I've ever heard on full blast ALL night long. When I say the worst music, I don't mean bad as in 'I don't like hip hop or heavy metal' bad. I mean bad as in 3 men wailing into a microphone completely out of tune and out of sync bad. I'm talking music that one's own mother couldn't bear to listen to if they had written it specially for her. So after a practically sleepless night under the clouds and stars (the locals sleep outdoors and we did the same), we hopped back on our camels and bounced back to Pushkar for our sleepy drive on to Udaipur.
When we arrived at Udaipur we found the laws of karma had come into play as we were dropped off at the nicest hotel with the softest most comfortable beds possibly in the World... Or perhaps they were shit and we were just thankful for a mattress? Who knows... The photo still looks nice enough!
The city overlooks a beautiful lake with a palace in the middle of it and with plenty of roof top restaurants to enjoy the views, it is easy to see why they say it is the most romantic city in India. Unfortunately Cata and I were not really after romance so rather than stare lovingly into each others eyes we decided to go to a show at the museum of typical Rajasthani music and dance which was amazing - from the women dancing with flaming jars on their heads to Rajasthan's answer to Tina Turner who was able to give out a heck of a lot of sass while balancing 10 pots on her head and walking on glass...
During the day we did some sight seeing and visited the grand City Palace, the beautiful Jagdish Temple and a beautiful garden just outside of Udaipur... Of course I'm making this all sound rather comfortable and easy but what you must realise and remember is that between each relaxing drink, meal or sight one has to battle through the onslaught of chaos that is India's roads... Ninja rickshaw drivers whose heads pop out of nowhere looking for a fare, moped users with a passionate love for their horns, holy cows frothing at the mouth and whipping you with their tails, the endless chorus of 'where you from's coming out of shop doors, the sweet aroma of incense lulling you into a fall sense of security before falling away to reveal the sharp odour of shit... I could go on and on...
On the whole however, despite its intensity, or perhaps because of its intensity, there is something really endearing and likeable about this country, its culture and its people and for now I am learning to love it!
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