Every journey takes a day. I left my hotel around ten and took a tuk tuk ( they call them auto rickshaws here ) to the bus station and caught the 12:30 to Ajmer and then on to Pushkar. It was a nice clean AC bus and I sat next a friendly guy. He asked me where I was from and I usually ask them back. Of course they're from the country I'm in but this time he said "Mexico". They get around these Indians.
The motorway driving wasn't as bad as the guide books led me to believe. There was a bit of indiscriminate lane changing but that's all and we arrived in Ajmer mid afternoon. Mercifully the bus's tv wasn't working so we were all spared three hours of Bollywood dance moves.
In Ajmer I began to wonder if this country can get any rougher. Dusty, dirty, chaotic with old buses crammed with people. I caught one of the old buses which just managed to climb a hill and descended into Pushkar, the sacred Hindu pilgrimage site now a major tourist magnet. The old part of the town is a maze of gifts shops, restaurants and hotels surrounding a lake. Its all stunningly beautiful. The surrounding temples are all gently crumbling into the waters.
I had to ask about six people directions before I found my hotel and I have a fairly barren cell but right by the lake and set in a well tended garden. Finally after checking in I sat in a cafe by the lake and had tea ( the town is strictly dry ). A crowd of attention seeking Italians appeared and a row of urchins with bare feet and wrapped in blankets paraded past the Italians and disappeared to the sound of snapping cameras. Two tabla players started up and were joined by a shaven headed hippy. Pushkar, it's like Brighton, full of foreign tourists, gift shops and ageing hippies.
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