Day 355: Days 5 & 6 of Our Indian Adventure

After a gloriously restful Saturday afternoon and a very good night's sleep, we were once again up with the sun to make our way from Jodhpur to Pushkar, yet another new adventure for me!

We actually took the train to Ajmer. I didn't know much about it, but the rickshaw driver who picked us up assured us it was worth putting off Pushkar for an hour or two to see some of Ajmer's sites. He took us down a busy street, to a place called Dargah Sharif. We couldn't go inside with our backpacks, but it was neat to see from the street. This mosque is the most sacred Islamic shrine in India, and a pilgrimage here is considered second in importance only to a visit to Mecca. There were people everywhere, coming to make this pilgrimage.

We then visited Svarna Nagari Hall, an unassuming building just behind a Jain temple. It's hard to describe, but, as you ascend the steep staircase inside this building, you come upon a sort of fantasy world - a collection of tiny gilded figures that are supposedly celebrating scenes from Jain mythology. It's impossible to make out what any of it means, but it is a sight to behold, regardless.

Finally, our driver took us to a lovely park on a peaceful lake. Remember how we'd become instant celebrities at the Red Fort in Delhi? Well, it happened on a whole new level here. People were running up to us from all over the place, asking if we would take "one photo" with them. We did, of course.




Then we boarded a bus to Pushkar, which is on the other side of a small mountain from Ajmer. We drove up and then down that mountain, and 45 minutes later, we were where we wanted to be.

There isn't a whole lot to Pushkar. It is a pilgrimage site for Hindus, who come to bathe in the holy lake. Other than that, there is a lot of shopping and a few camels roaming around.




But despite this anti-climactic description, Pushkar has, so far, been one of my favorite places. I think it was just nice to spend a day walking around and looking around and just being around, rather than rushing from place to place, praying we had enough time to get everything in. No, yesterday, in Pushkar, we just walked. And we shopped. And we stopped to take pictures of camels and traffic jams. And then we had an incredible dinner.




Later that night, we rode the bus back to the train station. And then we rode the train overnight back into Delhi. We arrived this morning just before six o'clock. Back at the hotel, we had a long shower and a quick nap, and now we are going out to face another day on the streets of this chaotic city. It's New Delhi today; I wonder what new adventures are in store!