After three nights in Delhi, the last culminating with a very drunk hotelier folllowing me up the stairs to give me ice cream on my way to bed, I got on a very early train from Delhi to Ajmer. I didn't get much sleep my last night there, so once I got on the train and put my bag up top, I fell right asleep. The Shatabadi Express is a great train- fast, and they serve you breakfast and lots of tea, and water, and so that was kind of nice. I really wasn't awake for much of any of it though until I got to Ajmer, which was the end of the line, some 7 or so hours later. I got off the train and was assaulted by about 20 rickshaw drivers all at once, but I knew (having been to Ajmer, once) that the bus station, where I was headed, was about a 20 minute walk straight down one road, and I could use to stretch my legs. Wasn't that hot, and I wanted to check out the sights along the way. Stuff for sale... Lots of offers for rides... etc. Nobody can really understand that you're really fine walking. I mean, if you have money, why walk? That's sort of the prevailing attitude.

Anyway- got to the bus station, found the Pushkar bus, bought my ticket (love these public buses- it was like twenty cents for the ticket), hopped on and waited for it to take off . Got treated to some lady on a bus next to the one I sat on (where I got tea) puking out the window... fun stuff. Finally, about 20 minutes later, the bus filled up and we took off. It was only about a 45 minute ride, but a twisty, hilly one, and the woman sitting next to me looked no better off for wear than the woman that I'd seen puking out of the neighboring bus at the station. I tried to get her to switch spots with me (I was at the window), but she was like, no, no... I wish I knew how to say in Hindi, please, lady, switch spots. I would SO MUCH RATHER you not puking on me as you are aiming over me for the window... Please. She made it without losing her lunch, though. Good thing.

So... Made it to Pushkar. I knew this place is tiny, but I didn't know it per se, so I bit when a kid with a cart came along and offered to take my luggage to the place I'm staying. Really lovely place, by the way. Marble floors, big room, big bathroom, and... get this... HOT WATER. Maybe only for like four minutes, but wow . That's a first. It's lovely. There's a remarkable Hanuman altar in the courtyard, lit with lamps and candles at night. I dropped my stuff, took a shower to wash off ten or so hours of travel dirt, and then decided to poke around and grab a bite.

I walked around a bit, and then went to a restaurant in the market that the LP recommends. Didn't dig it. The idea of a tofu steak sounded great- I could use a little high volume protein, I thought- but it tasted like something I would have created in a shared commune kitchen when I was around 19. It was tofu, sure, but then just absolutely soaked in soy sauce, with some random veggies, soaked in soy sauce. Soaked. It tasted like soy sauce cereal. Also, while walking around, I saw... Eugene. Christ, didn't I like move away, and then get a ticket to half way around the world, to get away from... All these fucking hippies? Seriously. What the fuck? Put some shoes on, for the love of... Health. Dreadheads talking in broken english about vibes and yoga . ..Really? Is this why I came here? Oh, really not working for me, not at all. SO not working for me. There's one guy that drives around town (and by town I mean like the three blocks of town that there really is) being all tan and shoeless and dark and dready and like uber-freaking-cool with his puppy in front of his big Harley-type bike with red powder on his dog's brow... You can bet that guy has luck with the lay-dees.  And, that he's an expat euro, and that he now can't leave here or he won't be cool anywhere else. Except, definitely, Burning Man- or Eugene. To borrow a Sage phrase, "false recyclers" abound. Everywhere.  Put some shoes on. Really. They're cheap. Just do it.

Oh, that was hard. I was sitting about eighteen inches from yet another dreadie. Hoping she wasn't taking a look. She just left. Sorry, dreadie, but there are just so fucking many of you HIPPIES here. I just can't handle being around that much unbridled cool. God. So over it, already .

Pushkar is a pilgrimmage city; the lake in the middle of this tiny town is holy, and all that good stuff. One thing about Pushkar and it's holiness: There are strict vegetarian menus here and no alcohol whatsoever. (Strict veg = no eggs. Yes, there's still cheese, thank GOD.) I can live without an evening beer at sunset, but I'll miss it this evening as I look over the lake from some rooftop restaurant somewhere. I looked out over the lake from a rooftop for breakfast, and got in to that uber-relaxed state of mind... Absolutely no hurry to get anywhere today, nope, not at all. I ended up taking a really long time to eat breakfast, and then sort of write a little bit, have some tea, and stare out at the lake where they are pushing dirt around to make a road through the lake. I mean... There was this other woman sitting there, we were the only two people there, and I look at her and ask, "Why do you think they're filling the lake with dirt?"  She didn't really get my sarcasm... But that's ok. Like, it's this really beautiful picturesque lake with lovely whitewashed temples and ghats all the way around... And now they are apparently building a criss cross road through the lake, which has started with a bulldozer, some guys throwing water on it to help tamp it down, and a whole lot of dirt. It's a shame. And really very odd.

So.. The rest of the day has been me shopping, me eating, me shopping some more, going down to the lake for a blessing for myself and my family and having someone tie Pushkar string around my wrist, and then me coming here to get online and try to figure out how I'm going to get out of here.  Oh! I also bought some singing bowls and ended up having lunch at the shop with the shopkeep and this kid (probiotics... You're on!) and talking about theI learned just now from that dreadlocked Ozzie hippie chick that 5:30 AM is a good time to go for the sunrise hilltop temple stroll, which I will go on tomorrow. My phone doesn't work here, which is odd as Airtel has a shop here where you can buy minutes (you just can't use them, I guess. Handy) so I'm trying to email Kunal to see if it's better for him (he can make the commission) if he gets my train ticket or if I should go to one of the travel agents here. Buses leave to Ajmer every 30 minutes or so- but I'm not taking a bus for 10 hours to Delhi. I like the train.

I'm now going to try to upload pictures.. Wish me luck. Then, I think it's time to go sit on a rooftop somewhere.

Here's to tolerance, especially to tolerance of so many cooler-than-thou european hippies. Otherwise, this place is awesome.

xo, til later.

Andrea