Racing Round Rajastan

Hesitantly I said goodbye to Bagsu where I had experienced such good times in the nature of the mountains and learning about music. But I was comforted by the idea that I was moving on for a good reason - to go and meet some close friends from home who were coming to India for a three week holiday and adventure. Had it not been for this, who knows how long I would have stayed there. I headed to Pushkar, in the state of Rajastan, the site of a holy lake where Brahmins (the highest caste of people) come to perform pujas and be blessed by the sacred waters.

The lake in Pushkar

Pushkar has a great atmosphere as it has a small backpacker community but is mainly full of Indians visiting the lake. The bustling streets around the square lake are a blur of colour with the sounds of horns, chanting and touting for business ringing in your ears. Here I ate some of my favourite street food and enjoyed wandering around the ghats to take in the feeling of the place, the lake itself feels very calm and my guesthouse had a great view for people watching.

Cheesy shot of Lawrence and I playing guitar at our guesthouse overlooking the Holy lake

When I arrived I wasn't quite sure how I would find James and Lawrence, in my head I had an image of me spotting them and sneaking up on them. But it happened the other way round as they caught me off guard wandering around looking for an internet cafe to send them a message. After 11 months of not seeing them, I had a huge moment of excitement as I heard my name shouted from afar and then suddenly being in the middle of a hug, which I was quite enjoying, until my sensible side reminded the group that it wasn't a good idea in the middle of the Indian street as it is very disrespectful. Things like this are frustrating however they are part of the package if you come to India. Having said that, I have met plenty of Westeners who have no concept of respect and walk around in the most ridiculous clothes exposing their bodies... but that's a separate rant.

Being persuaded to come and play drums at sunset was alot of fun

The next week in Rajastan flew by and was more about relaxing and catching up with old friends than sightseeing for me. The feeling of being reunited with people you really care about is very special. Having been away from home for so long, I felt in my element and it was great to share everything I had learnt and be a useful tour guide and barterer with my continuously improving Hindi. We had fun hiring mopeds to drive around the surrounding countryside. I'd never driven one before but had been desperate to attempt it ever since my last India trip when I was seemingly the only backpacker in Goa who had to use a bicycle in the intense heat to get around. It completely lived up to my expectations as it gave us so much freedom to go anywhere, right off the tourist trail and India being the incredible country that it is, we paid just 2 pounds, gave no passports, needed no insurance, and not even a deposit. It's crazy, but brilliant in my eyes!

Aghhhhhhhhhhh - the first time on the back of the moped with James

Soon another very close friend, Paul, joined us in Pushkar and then a few days later, in a strange town called Chittogarh, I was reunited with my darling Lucy, who I had spent 6 months with before and had been seperated from for 2 months. It was brilliant to see her but very surreal as it was like seeing and hearing myself as I guess we are so similar. We went to Chittogarh as it is the site of India's largest fort but it turns out that most tourists only go there for day trips as the town itself has little to offer. It ended up being hilarious because our time there coincided with the local Ganesha festival which, in my opinion just seemed like an excuse for a huge party. Had it not been for that it wouldn't have been much fun there.

Group picture of us at the Fort in Chittogarh

You'd expect the locals in Chittogarh to be used to tourists but I have never experienced such a reception. In India it is quite normal for people to come and ask to have a photo with you You can imagine that this is becoming tiresome by now! But in Chittogarh it was even more surreal, as if being white automatically made you famous and gave you some kind of elevated status. Walking through the streets both in the daytime and at night during the festival, was like attending a carnival. There was a long procession of floats blaring out loud, dance music to which men were enthusiastically raving to all the way down the main road as the women watched at the side. The streets were packed full and every time we passed a float with huge blaring speakers, there was an uproar of shouts and screams as we were spotted and people came to drag us to dance. All children wanted to shake our hands and ask where we were from, photos were being taken of us from all sides on people's phones. Dancing would have been fun but given that other women weren't, Lucy and I decided to also watch from the side line which was hilarious to watch the boys get sweaty and be mounted by Indian men doing there hip jiggling dances.

Mad crowds dancing to the pumping music at the Ganesh Festival

Other highlights included the many friendly cows, laughing at Lawrence for being pushed into buying a pair of shoes, assured that they are 'excellent quality' and 'very good price sir' and then later finding the same shoes being offered for a quarter of the price in the shop next door. I also really enjoyed having Lawrence around to play music with, having been practising my guitar skills since buying a guitar in Kathmandu. But most of all it was just nice to spend some quality time with good friends, regardless of what situation we found ourselves in. In Rajastan we travelled very quickly, not my usual way, as you may have noticed by how long I have been away, as it is too tiring and you don't get a good feel for the place. Rajastan was alot of fun but after the craziness of the festival and the travelling from place to place, I think my friends wanted some time to unwind which is understandable.........so off we headed to Goa.

Me in Chittogarh outside the most brightly decorated mosque I have ever seen (only in India!)