...Not even going to finish that phrase! I want to make a T-shirt that says, "Same-Same but Same", since I'm so sick of all the other ones. The Slogan That Shall Not Be Named.

 

The hotel is nice; reminds me of the last hotel I was at there, except before I stayed at a place right off the bazaar road, which had it's advantages- and disadvantages. This place is much quieter. Kunal cut me a hell of a deal on a room, which was really sweet, and it was nice to see him. Unfortunately he was pretty much working the whole time. well.. Working is a pretty loose term here. He had to be there the whole time, which prohibited him from going anywhere with me, trotting around town, whatever.

Not surprisingly, I slept really late the first day- still on beach time, and while I didn't, like, WORK OUT on my trip up, I was exhausted. And Pushkar was FREEZING. (to me. at this point, after getting acclimated to Goa. Any time when not in direct sunlight, and then especially after sunset, or in my room at any given point.) The whole place is marble, floors are cold, and my room was downstairs and there were no windows that opened or got any sunlight. I suppose that's a good thing in the summer when it's really hot there, but man, I wanted a heater!! I wore sweats and sweatshirt - and socks! - to sleep every night I was there, even though I got an extra blanket. BRRrrr. So it was extra hard to get out of bed. And the electricity keeps going out there (Pushkar in general, not just this place), and to have even marginally lukewarm water to shower, the power has to be on for at least 30 minutes or so... So I was hiding under blankets, timing the lightbulb to gauge how long the electricity stayed on before I dashed to the shower.

Finally braved it, still cold-! Had my lassi breakfast, and went for a walk around town.. Bought a really pretty silk dress (OKAY... THREE.. dammit.) and found the silver shop that I loved last year; got a couple nice pieces. My spending is definitely DOWN from last year, and though I intend to shop til I drop in Varanasi, I haven't picked up nearly the amount of little things that I got last year and the year before. A little light in the ol' wallet this year. I stopped at this place called Rising Star Cafe to get some lunch.. Decided after waiting a good 45 minutes for my food that it's new name is "Setting Sun Cafe" (this was 45 minutes AFTER ordering. I wondered for a good 15-20, initially, if there was anyone there to place an order WITH...) I chanced it and got a pasta with red sauce (if you order Italian, or go on a limb and try Chinese, or anything other than Indian food here - who knows what you'll get. Seriously.) but this was the best Italian spiced pasta sauce I've had in this country, by far! Shocked.

Next day, slept too cold and late again, then went out walking around and tried to get train tickets to and from Varanasi- I'd looked them up as best I could on the internet that morning, tried to compile all the train numbers that might be options for my trip from Ajmer (close, just over the mountain) or Jaipur (further, but biggest city in Rajasthan, more connections, etc), took them to the booking office which in this case was the post office.. All the trains had been canceled. Nobody knew why. Oh, yeah, this was after getting there and asking about the train booking, being told "wait"- gestured towards these chairs along the wall- I'm like, here we go. What am I waiting for. It's not lunch time. You're open. Hmm. I still don't know what I was waiting for. After sitting for about 40 minutes or so, ending up buying a little thing of oil from a perfume oil guy that came in to send some oils, and watching this really interesting family send some stuff (I think? There was a lot of activity within them, the kid running around, the grandpa sitting with the older kid in one of the chairs by me, the dad was clad like a monk- like one shoulder covered, but with a blanket, and the light white cotton sort of wrapped "pants" (not pants, but a lungi wrapped so it sort of looks like pants), barefoot- The mom had the money in an envelope and it looked like transactions were happening but there was no package and they weren't getting a train ticket.. No idea what was going on there. Got a little impatient and went up to the counter again, and this time a guy came to help me (uh, who had been there the whole time.. again, the "wait" thing is still a mystery).. Anyway, no trains from either Ajmer or Jaipur to Varanasi. None, at all, not until the 20th. He suggested I get a camel, which I thought was pretty witty, and so did he. I did get my train ticket back from Varanasi to Delhi, though, so figured I'd check buses or planes to get to Varanasi once I got back to the hotel. I stopped at a travel agent on the way back just to make absolutely sure that all the trains were canceled. Yep. No reason, none given, the guy is clueless. It's just like, no, they are not running, the end. So... You want bus? There's no sense of inquiry in this country (usually- 99% of the time- in my experience, of course) in terms of reasons behind things.. Or surrounding one's immediate experience.. It's really, really different. I'm thinking... Why would they do that? Repairs on the track somewhere, at the peak of tourist season? ..Really? That is so screwy.

When I got back to the hotel, I was hanging out in the lobby with Kunal, and he mentioned that Fiona (Ozzie woman that is part owner of the hotel) is stuck out on her travels, can't get back in to India because she is booked to come in to Delhi, and there's a cold snap there, so they have basically shut down the airport. Ding! I say.. Trains? Have they shut the trains too? ...Yes. Aha. So that's why the trains all disappeared. They all route west to east, the way I'm going, and they would all either originate from or pass through Delhi on this route.

Knowing this, I went to my room and got my plane ticket. Voila'! Thought I had it sealed at that point, and so I called it a day, Kunal and I ordered pizza, and the neighbor that I'd met the night before (so proud of himself and really sweet) brought over two masala omelets- one for me, one for Kunal as treats. We must have talked about it the night before (or they did, in Hindi), so the neighbor knew I liked eggs- and there are no eggs for sale - by law - in Pushkar, because it's a holy town- so as a very sweet gesture, he also brought for me a small black bag, tied, with five peeled, boiled eggs in it. I was like, wow, thank you! (What the hell am I going to do with these? I have no refrigeration...) So I made like I was going to eat the eggs later.. After the pizza I just ordered and the surprise enormous omelet, uh, I would wolf down five eggs. Yes! Thank you!! It was a small pizza, good thing, and we gave half of it to the neighbor as a thanks, and so I got most of the omelet down along with a sliver of some pretty tasty 'za, and made off with the eggs to the room.. where I'm afraid they did not get eaten.. Very sweet gesture, however.

I had the WORST stomach that night- I'm pretty sure that the tomatoes in the omelet or something had not been fully cooked and obviously washed in local water; it was a home kitchen, after all- not used to catering to volatile western stomachs. I was soooo worried that I was going to go DOWN. It was freezing, freezing cold, and I was cold, and sweating, and my stomach was in knots.. Thankfully it was over by morning- I was so, so, so grateful that I did not get The Big Sick. Not feeling like eating eggs since then-! And I did not eat that day, nor much of the next- But feeling fine, energetic, good. Which was a good thing, because I was off on my camel safari....!