With 550 temples Pushkar is one of hinduisms holiest towns. It is said that Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, did battle with the demon, Vajra Nabh, and slew him with a lotus blossom. A petal fell from his hand and landed on earth thus creating the Thirtharaj lake in Pushka. Many Hindus come to bathe in the lake believing it will wash away their sins and earn them a place in heaven. Armed with romantic notions of a beautiful, magical place full of pilgrims bathing, praying and scattering rose petals into the water we headed down to the lake only to be a little suprised at what we actually did encounter!

Being such a holy place there are many fake priests in Pushkar prepared to diddle an unsuspecting foreign tourist out of a bob or two in return for a prayer at the holy water. To prevent any of us being caught out by these imposters, Intrepid organised a blessing at the lake with a real priest, where we were given an arm band and a vermillion mark on the forehead both signs to the outside world that we had said prayers at the holy lake - and for only INR 100 or more if you so desire..!!

So picture this, led by the priest we leave the bustling narrow streets of Pushkar to enter one of the 52 ghats surrounding the lake (a ghat is the name for the steps which lead down to the lake). As we turn the corner the first thing we see are lots of monkeys and men both eyeng us up suspiciously. We remove our shoes, start to descend the steps and there in front of us......is an empty lake, a tractor and a rather muddy ditch sitting at the foot of the steps. Are you having a laugh? Is this it? As we all stood with confused looks on our faces it was explained to us that, as the water level was low, the lake had been drained to allow tractors to deepen it so that boats could be used on it during the upcoming Pushkar camel fair. Think we picked the short straw here..so our once in a lifetime visit had been somewhat spoiled - damn those pesky camels!

Over the deafening hum of the tractors engine the priest began the prayer which we had to repeat after him. I sincerely hope that the impact of my prayer isn't reduced on the grounds that I could only hear approximately 1 in every 3 words he said - mmm what do you think? During the prayers we were given a bowl containing a number of items important to the Hindu faith, such as string, rose petals, sugar, vermillion, rice and a coconut. After reciting the prayer we each received a vermillion mark on our forehead onto which he stuck some rice, the string was tied around our wrist, we threw some rose petals over our shoulder and then we went to the lakes edge (I use this term loosely) to throw the remaining contents of the bowl into the water whilst saying a personal prayer. Most of the contents of my bowl ended up sticking to the muddy wall of the makeshift ditch at the foot of the ghat, which slightly distressed me, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it! To add insult to injury a monkey then peed on Veidi, from up above, as we left the ghat - fantastic!

The streets in Pushkars main drag are quite narrow and lined with shops and food stalls. There was the usual element of hassling which you would expect in any commercial shopping area in India but I did quite like the vibe of this place - the colours, the smells, the bustle. Being so narrow the streets didn't have any tuk tuks on them which was fantastic as there was no peeping or fumes!! You could happily meander down the streets simply trying to avoid the cows, touts, beggars and the odd motorbike. Clearly our outwardly visible sign that we had prayed at the lake worked as we weren't approached once - or had we already been scammed? Cynical I know but l am just a stupid tourist after all!

One evening over dinner the hotel wheeled out its huge plasma screen TV, the waitors removed its protective cover and a Bollywood film was played for our entertainment. All very pleasant as we sat on the roof terrace under the stars, well that was until we realised just how long the film went on for!! It was set half in India and half in the UK and, quite frankly, did nothing for race relations as it portrayed the British as arrogant, bigotted, conservative and very wealthy - we all live in stately homes don't you know! I sat there cringing through most of it.

One afternoon Megan and I were returning back to the hotel after a rather successful shopping trip when we witnessed the most madcap sight. A bus arrived and a hoarde of people, who'd been sitting at the cafe we had just passed, began to race over to it. I've never seen anything like it - at the door instead of queueing in a sensible manner everyone was surging forward so nobody could get on wiithout a fight and probably some personal injury whilst, recognising the futility of trying to use the door, many others procured their seats by pushing bags, children and even elderly relatives through the window. Megan and I just stood with our mouths agape snapping away with our cameras. Later in the day Anuj explained how our next bus to Jaipur had neither a luggage hold nor reserved seating so gave us the option to pay an additional INR 50 for a tourist minibus - with no hesitation we all opened our wallets and purses and gave him the money. Well I'm not quite sure if my bottom would fit through that window!

David, Asher, Megan and I decided to visit a local temple and leaving our sensible heads somewhere else completely we set off at 11.30am - yes that would be the start of the hottest part of the day!! Walking up to the temple was quite an ordeal in itself not just because of the heat but because we were chased by a dog which freaked me out, had to walk through a pack of monkeys which freaked David out and passed through some 'playful' local workmen which freaked Asher out. Up at the temple a loudspeaker was blasting out holy prayers devoted to Lord Krishna and a communal kitchen was serving food to the many pilgrims who had made the journey up the hill. A holy man called Nasabala once lived here, originally a magistrate he invited 20 surrounding villages to come and feast from a huge bowl of food he had prepared for them but when they began to eat the food never diminished and so, legend has it, that he continued to feed people from this same bowl for the rest of his life. As his notoriety increased people travelled from all over India to come and dine at the temple with him. He died last year at the age of 140 years (allegedly).

For the princely sum of INR 250 David decided to visit a street barber in Pushkar and have a cut throat razor shave, followed by a head and face massage. So Betty and Andrew you'll be pleased that you can once again see your sons face (not sure how long though) - so only the hair to sort out now! Sorry no photos are available as the official photographer was off shopping with her friend!