Pushkar is one of the oldest inhabited cities in India and the world, for that matter. The center of Pushkar wraps around beautiful Pushkar Lake. The lake, characterized by its many ghats (set of stairs) leading down to the holy water, serves as holy ground for bathing by both locals and pilgrims alike. As soon as our bus arrived, we were taken to the lakes edge by some very eager indian men. One such man put a red bracelet on our wrists and told us to repeat after him. Starting with some words in hindi and then moving onto asking for good fortune, good health, good family, good parents, good tip... good siblings, good job, good children, good health, good family, good job, good tip... good children, good happiness, 500 rupee tip... good parents, good health, good tip. We both recited the names of our family members and in the end, we were blessed with the water and hands of the man. It felt like it was the true beginning to our adventure in India and what a better way to do it than sending good vibes and well wishes to our families back home. Oh yea, and then we tipped the holy man 50 rupees.
We checked into our room at the Hotel Sunset. The rooms were cute and the staff was so helpful.
After an attempted nap, I gave up and went exploring while Mike continued to sleep. He was reacting to a bit of the food and the long journey had made for one weary traveller. This was our first contact with what is formally known as 'Delhi Belly'. It's not quite food sickness, it's just a bit of an upset stomach. Nothin ol' MK couldn't shrug off with a bit of sleep. During my explorations, I got a lot of big brilliant smiles from the Indian men and women and at no point did I feel unsafe whatsoever. The streets were alive and I knew right at that moment, that I liked Pushkar. Anywhere that allows me to wonder through a market, drink chai, walk past cows, oddly tall camels and a bunch of smiling faces, is a place for me. Oh and in comparison to the hustle of Delhi, Pushkar was positively peaceful. (most of the time...)
In the street above, a purple line along the side of the road gives good luck to passersby, a calf in the distance walks behind some people, carpets hang overhead to shade those below, men sit in their shops calling to potential customers as they walk past, as if customers hadn't noticed they were in a market place, the road is happily shared between people, motorists and animals, music plays from each shop creating a medley of sounds that resembles nothing close to music and incense burns along the road. Although it may seem chaotic and disorganized, it all flows in perfect harmony with about a dozens scooter honks every ten seconds just to make sure everyone's paying attention.
The buildings are beautiful and each looks like it's divided into three or four seperate sections, seperated by color and various designs. There are no two buildings alike in India, from what I saw.
The entire city looks like a intentional art project. I quickly scoped out all the items I wanted to purchase while in Pushkar and took note of prices and shop locations.
We all gathered for dinner as a wedding procession passed directly in front of our hotel. Giant speakers powered off of trailing car batteries blasted music and horses made way for some of the most bombastic dance moves we'd ever seen. I caught Mike on several occasions trying to time his twisting overhead hands with the rhythmic thrusts of his pelvis. I think he's still a ways off from leading any Indian wedding party but at least he was feeling better from the Delhi Belly.
After the music and people faded, ok just the people because we could hear the music across town until about 3 am, the sun set behind the lake and the sky illuminated to orange and blue.
We had a group dinner that night compliments of the guides and they cleverly filled the table with every type of exotic Indian dish on the menu. This gave many of us the gentle 'Pushkar' we needed to open our stomachs as well as our hearts to India. It was delicious!
Fennel is a stample in the Indian diet and is used as an aid in digestion. I know my mother in law would love it because it tastes just like black liquorice. Just take a spoonful and chew it.
We had many leftovers after dinner and our guide Melissa had the idea of packing up individual meals and going out in town to hand them out to those less fortunate. Everyone was all for it so we hit the streets and shared our dinner. Along the way we ran into some other hungry residents of Pushkar and we all stopped to help feed these little guys as well. None would go hungry in Pushkar that night.
Is it me, or does Mike look scared below? Why don't you mooooooove a bit closer Mike?
Everyone was tired from our travel day so we all retired fairly early in the evening.
Day 227- My inner clock was a mess and it had me up at 5 am. Luckily I wasn't the only one. A couple of fellow group members were also awake and we were all itching for a hot cup of coffee. However, we realized quite quickly that we were locked into the hotel complex and the staff was soundly asleep in the room next to the restaurant. Quite the predicament but we were a group of highly intelligent, highly motivated and highly uncaffeinated women, so we snuggled in and began to devise an escape plan. Our master plan was to sit and watch the sleeping staff until we saw someone stir, at which point we would engage this person in pleasant polite eye batting conversation and ask them to let us out. No, it wasn't the most elaborate or creative plan but it was the one that set us free. Once we were out we found a spot nearby who had the kettle brewing and was serving coffee. So we sat and enjoyed the rising sun and a cup of delicious indian coffee while getting to know eachother a little bit better.
We started the day with a yoga class led by Melissa on the balcony of our hotel. Melissa put a focus on stretches that would help release the bodies lymph nodes, which was perfect because for the past three months, Mike was dealing with swollen lymph nodes in his neck that were the size of golf balls. I'm talking big, like huge, like hard to pay attention to him when he talks because all you can look at is his giant pulsating neck!!! We had been to the doctor in Australia twice about them already and although they had receded considerably, they remained a little swollen all through New Zealand. He was getting frustrated with them and thanks to one yoga class led by Melissa, his lymph nodes drained out entirely by the next day and for the first time in three months they were completely gone. Mmmm hmmm. I will make a believer out of him yet.
Mike was beginning to feel better but was still lacking energy so he came with me to check out the rest of town but didn't last long before he went back to the hotel and to the bed that was healing him so thoroughly. I wasn't satisfied so I went out again in search of nothing and everything.
What I found were these beautiful women who are rarely seen on the front lines and often work behind the scenes. You would think they are on their way to some extravagant event but nope, they're just off on a regular day, dressed in their everyday stunning attire.
I returned home to meet with the group to do a sunset walk to the top of the Savitri Temple. The temple is 1.5 kms up some oddly misshapen steps of varying sizes to the top of a hill that provides a beautiful view of the Lake and the city of Pushkar. The sunset was pretty amazing too.
Late night we hit up Om Shiva for some delicious oven fired pizza and admired an adorable cow under the awning, looking for something appetizing.. I think the owner feeds him chapatis.
Day 228- Another early morning had me freezing in the restaurant desperate for warmth but it wasn't too long before hot chai was served along with some delicious banana porridge.
Mike was finally starting to feel like himself again so with my business partner in tow, we hit the streets for some serious bargaining. However first things first. We wanted to send some positive vibes back home to our friends and family in the oil business whose jobs were on the line, given the terrible recession Calgary is in. We got one of men at the lake to bless our friends and families and wished for succcessful jobs, healthy families, healthy tip..., and happy life.
There is a lot of controversy around the men who do these 'prayers', because some say they are imposters acting as holy men and they ask for crazy amounts of money to do the blessing. They also aggressively insisted that Mike and I seperate to get our blessings done by two different men, hoping to receive more money for the deed. Mike and I were prepared this and told the man right from the start how much money we'd give him (100 rupees) and we were firm that we would be doing our blessings together. In the end the prayer was beautiful and although we're not Hindu, we do believe that positive vibes and thoughts sent to our loved ones back home could only help.
On the shopping front I was very successful and finally bought some cool items for our home.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at an Ayurvedic Massage therapist. After many mind blowing and eye opening conversations with some of the people in the group, who practice Ayurvedic lifestyles, we were interested to find out what we could learn about ourselves by getting an Ayurvedic massage. Ayurveda is a way of life that if practiced according to your Ayurvedic type (dosha). An approach that is said to cure illness, free oneself from internal struggles, prevent illness, and basically live a healthy and happy life. It is not religious in nature but rather the eastern counterpart to western medicine. It suggests ways to live ones life by using natural and holistic techniques.
For anyone who knows Mike, I'm sure you're shaking your head because you know Mike is a skeptic. Me on the other hand, would eat rocks if you said it would cure bad breath, so I jumped in feet first.
We had our massage and after it was finished, Deepak, the man you see in the photo above, spoke with us about what he observed in our bodies from our energy. Mike's doubts were briefly lifted when he heard Deepaks feedback on me as it was eerily accurate but hope was lost when Mike heard his own inaccurate reading. Eager to believe as I am, I also doubted the validity of Mike's experience because Deepak himself did not even massage Mike. I don't believe that he got a great sense of Mike before giving us his observations.
Like every phase of this trip Mike and I really wanted to commit to whatever that place had to offer. Be it scuba diving in the Philippines, historical lessons in Cambodia/Vietnam, hiking in New Zealand or beaches in Australia we were going to immerse ourselves in it and India would be no exception. We intended to explore the religions faiths, spirituality and holistic approaches to health that are employed by over 1 billion Indian souls and this was just the beginning of our education. We knew we wanted to delve further into the idea of Ayurveda so we didn't put too much faith into this first experience and looked forward to an official doctor led Ayurvedic consultation at our next destination.
Day 229- I packed up and prepped to leave on the evening train and settled in with a chai to work on the blog. It was a difficult task and the more time I spent with the people in the group, the more in depth our conversations got and the harder it was for me to pull away to work on the blog because all I wanted to do was talk with my new friends.
Mike on the other hand took the free time to join Jeff, Breathe In Life's newest hire, in the grass for some afternoon yoga. I was already impressed with Mike's level of openness in the first days of the trip but I was beginning to see a side of him that I didn't know existed and it made me proud.
I will also say that it's hard not to listen to every word that comes out of Jeff's mouth and not want to try whatever he's suggesting. He might be the most open hearted, free spirited and interesting individuals that we've met on the trip. He speaks with such passion and honesty about every topic that it didn't take long for Mike and I to hop on the Jeff train to awesomeland.
As the moon fell, we boarded the night train to take us to our next destination. The train was sweet and we were all excited to be packed together in a metal tube, riding the Indian railway system.
Just 14 hours to go and we'd arrive in our new city. The time went by all too fast with the aid of 501 jokes from the $2 joke book that someone purchased before getting on the train...."Which way to Rishikesh? Why the Railway of course". OK now 502 jokes, all of superlative quality. Now if we could all just stop talking and go to sleep, much easier said then done.
Next stop, the yoga capital of the world.
So fun Lisa! Loved the beautiful outfits! Glad mike is feeling better after the yoga! Way to go Mike!
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