Previously
After spending some time in Jaisalmer, I realized there wasn’t a lot more to do and decided to spontaneously change my plans and go to Pushkar!
Exploring Pushkar
Hostel Breakfast!
I was trying my best to sleep on a couch in the Madpacker’s Hostel but after an hour there was a mattress that was free to lie on. I was messaging a local Indian guy through Couchsurfing to possibly meet up later in the day. I checked in the hostel early at around 8 am and got into my room and then went upstairs for breakfast. The upstairs area had a great view and a really great breakfast of toast and jam, chai tea, corn flakes, watermelon and some Indian breakfast dishes and all as much as you want!
It was great having a nice breakfast and talking to a bunch of travelers, I never really got much chill time with travelers yet. There was Maya and Johnny from England, Capuciene from France, and some other British guys. After breakfast, Johnny and the other British guys and I were going to do a hike to a temple with a great view point. After we got ready, the other British guys and I waited for Johnny who never showed so we assumed he wasn’t coming.
The three of us walked from our hostel to the temple which took about 20 minutes to the base of it. There was a cable car option or a hike up. We did the hike and the walk up was really tiring with all the stairs! That probably took us about 30 minutes and it showed the lack of shape I was in compared to my normal self. Right at the top were tons of monkeys which were fun just to watch. Unfortunately, the temple itself was nothing special but the view point was nice to see the city of Pushkar. Some people who worked there kicked everyone out as the temple was closed! I didn’t know praying could only be done at certain hours. I would have been so mad if we did this whole hike to come to it being closed.
We debated whether to visit Aloo Baba, a guru who has only been eating potatoes and smoking weed for over a decade in his cave! We decided not to as it was too far out of the way. The Brits went back to the hostel and I checked out the lake in the middle of the city. I gave a quick walk around it but had to take my shoes off as it’s considered a “temple”. There was some religious bathing being done but other than that not much else. I then met up with Azzu, an Indian guy from Couchsurfing I was messaging and we grabbed lunch. He’s a big traveler within India and has been traveling the last two years. We got some great thali food (specialty of Rajasthan) and had some good conversations about our lives in Canada and India.
After lunch I went back to my hostel and Johnny and Capuciene were upstairs chilling with some other travelers. A little while later, a German guy and I signed up for a hostel tour to a sunset spot by another temple, we were able to recruit another guy and he got his roommate Alessandra. The four of us rode a rickshaw to the base of the temple for a short hike to the top. Alessandra was from Brazil and the other guy from California who quit his job to travel for a year and he’s 32! We hiked up to the top and were some of the first tourists there which was great because we had the best spot for the view. The sunset was very colorful with the buildings and it was just a great spot to chill. After we enjoyed the sunset we headed back and walked through a markets area to find dinner.
The four of us went to a Tibet restaurant and had a nice dinner but it was way too much food. After, we walked back to the hostel and stopped at Funky Monkey to see if anyone from the hostel was there but it was empty. We went back to the hostel to chill, but this was my only night in Pushkar and it was Saturday night so I wanted to do something fun but nobody wanted to.
I walked back into town and ran into Maya, the British girl from the hostel at breakfast and we went to Funky Monkey and got a beer and weed cookie for each of us. We had some interesting conversations about traveling, school and work, religion, family beliefs, it got deep! We stayed past closing at 1130 and I bought a weed chocolate ball to go. We went to our hostel rooftop and two Indian girls from Delhi joined us. It was funny how they get mad with their parents when they won’t let them travel alone or with a girl friend as well as other parent beliefs. By 1230 we called it a night, I was glad I could hang out with so many travelers in one day, unlike most of my trip so far it’s been a bit more difficult than what I’m used to.
The next morning I had breakfast upstairs again, seeing some of the same people from yesterday. I also found out Capy was going to Jaipur too so I checked out and took a bus with Capy and the same Malaysian guy I came from Jaisalmer with.
Next
Up Next is my amazing time in Jaipur, especially thanks to Zostel!
Cruzin the World 