20 JAN 99

Hello, again, from Pushkar. I can now understand why so many travellers spend so much time here. They sell hot apple pie in the street at night and have plenty of western food. They also have many buffets. The breakfast buffet lasts until afternoon and the dinner buffets feature good Israeli food. There are many restaurants to choose from and also many tea shops. But best of all, plenty of book stores. I have spent most of the last ten days reading books.

I moved to a new Guest House on the lake. I have a good sized bed room and an adjacent sitting room with a table and two chairs. The walls have plenty of nails to hang things and twelve shelves as well. For the first time since the week I spent in Harare, Zimbabwe in January, 1996, I have my own room that I was able to decorate from scratch. I put my books on a bookshelf and completely unpacked my pack and put everything on the shelves. Then I hung my pack on the wall. I have greatly enjoyed the chance to unpack everything and put it away in its own place. It has been nice to be settled, but now it is time to move on.

Pushkar has about 15,000 people and many Indian and foreign tourists. Because it is so holy, it also has many holy men. The Brahmins, one kind of holy man, puts a flower in your hand as you walk by and tells you about a festival at the lake. He then drags you down there and makes some blessings with coconuts, red powder and flowers. After requesting a hefty donation he ties a string around your wrist. This is very useful. When another holy man approaches with his flower, all you have to do is show the string and he leaves pretty quickly.

Some days I hung out at my local eateries and read books. One day I took a walk into the desert and climbed a nearby mountain. Yesterday I went to Achapal. It was a nice morning walk to the temple. I met an Indian family there and they showed me around the place. After they left I explored the very nice valley a bit before returning to Pushkar. I saw many peacocks in the trees. When I scared them by walking past, they flew off. I had never seen them fly before.

One morning a monkey jumped onto the electrical wires and died. The local shopkeepers were upset. Apparently other monkeys had suicided this way and even one peacock, the national bird, met his end in this fashion. The men blocked the street and sat in the middle. They sang a few songs and made a few jokes. Then the police showed up for a chat. After the policeman saw the monkey, the protest broke up peacefully. I think they do this every time an animal dies on the wires in the hope that the wires will be moved.

I also ran into Steve and Sheila here. They are the Australian couple that I met in Nepal in November. We hung out for a few days before they headed to Jodhpur.

A few days ago was the national kite festival day. Kites sell for a few cents each and everybody loads up on twenty or so. Then all the men and boys go up onto the roofs and fly kites all day. Apparently this is not challenging enough for Indians, so they add their own twist. They try to use the string from their kite to cut the string of other kites. One man from my hotel roof was able to cut the strings of seven kites before his was cut. In professional competitions they put ground glass onto the string to help it cut, but this was just a festival for fun. Of course, many of the kites ended up in trees so the trees were covered in paper kites for days.

Many people call me 'Babu'. This means grandfather and they call me this because of my beard. Indians don't grow big beards until they are very old so anyone with a beard must be a grandfather.

It has been interesting to see the many Rajistani men in their traditional dress. They wear very big turbans, a big mustache, nice earrings and a type of cloth wrapped around their waist and legs.

My stomach has not been quite right so I went to a doctor. He diagnosed me with 'Gastritis'. I did not have any change so I ended up paying him $2.50. I filled his prescription for about 15 cents and took his cure. It did not work so today I went to a homeopathic doctor. I also paid him $2.50 for his advice and cure. I just started his natural remedy and will see if it is any better than the western method.

They have a very nice alternative to paper plates and cups here. Disposable cups are made of clay. When you finish your drink you can throw the cup in the street and it is quickly ground down to red dust. Disposable plates are made of molded banana leaves. When those end up in the street the cows and pigs take a break from eating paper and plastic and eat the plate instead.

That is about it for now. I will head down to the state of Gujarat tomorrow and then look for a beach to relax on. Fiona, an Australian friend will meet me in Nepal in the middle of February. Then two German friends will meet me in March, along with two Kiwi friends.

11 JAN 99

Hello from the city of Pushkar in the state of Rajisthan in the country of India. I found a nice cheap Internet place and went there to write a really long account of my recent activities and thought.

After my last update, I went on a camel safari from Jaisalmer. With a Belgian, another American and two Italians and a few Indian guides we got onto our camels and headed for the desert. I quickly learned that camels have one very fascinating habit. They regurgitate their food back into their mouth so that it can be chewed again. In the process some large inflatable organ pops out of their mouth and makes really fun wet blowing sounds.

For the better part of four days we rode the camels and stopped at small desert villages to look at the people. We spent the second night on some small sand dunes and the third night on the roof of our main guides house in his village. We did not go to all of the places we were supposed to and the safari was not worth the nearly eleven dollars per day that it cost. But, it was enjoyable.

The safari finished on the 31st of December. With three Belgians and an American, I went to dinner in the old fort of Jaisalmer. The fort has 99 bastions in its wall and the restaurant we ate in was in one of them. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and climbed up to the roof. At midnight we watched the fireworks over the brightly lit fort and greeted the new year.

I spent the first day of the year eating. I wanted to eat a lot to make up for the camel safari. I also think it is important to spend a day concentrating on eating every once in a while. Between meals, I looked at the havelis. Havelis are several story buildings in the old city that maharajas and rich people used to live in. They have very intricate stone work and and good views. Pretty much this whole state is saturated with great forts and beautiful stone work.

On the second, I took a bus out to the Sam Sand Dunes with the three Belgians. I had loaded up my backpack with three days worth of food because I felt like getting a little exercise. After leaving my friends, I walked for a few hours in the evening, scared a few deer, and then spent the night on some sand dunes.

After a late start the next day, I decided to walk back to Jaisalmer. I walked about 12 miles that day. I saw very few people. I did run into two guys with guns. The guns were about five feet long and about eighty years old. I explained what I was doing and they told me something in Hindi or Rajisthani. That evening I found a dry river bed to sleep in. I had no sleeping mat, so I had to look for a patch of sand each evening. I walked through the desert and avoided the road that day. The ground was mostly sand or hard dirt with very occasional trees and fields.

On the 4th of January, it was very foggy and cold. I set off at about 8:30. I walked for an hour and found the road. After walking from one distance sign to the next I knew which way Jaisalmer was and decided to get away from the road so that the occasional jeeps and trucks would not honk at me. I had lunch and headed back into the deserted desert. I soon came upon my footprints in the sand and wondered how some one with my same shoes had gotten here. I followed the footprints for a few minutes and quickly found my sleeping place from the previous night. The night and morning had been so foggy that I could not see any stars or even the sun to get my bearings. So, after about three hours, I was right back where I had started the day.

Now I was going in the right direction and decided to finish off the rest of the 18 miles this day. By about five in the afternoon I was getting a bit tired, but the hardest part of getting near the city was explaining to all of the rickshaw drivers that I did not want a ride, even for free. I returned to my previous hotel, but could not stay there. They have very cheap rooms and expensive safaris. They are good at selling the safari, but upon your return they are not very friendly and want you to leave as soon as possible. I moved over to Hotel Swastika and spent the night there. The 5th was another eating day.

Khuri was supposed to have bigger sand dunes than the disappointingly small ones at Sam. I took a local bus out there. Khuri was as far as tourists are allowed to go. After that it is a sensitive border area with Pakistan. This is also near the area that India tests its nuclear bombs. I went out to the bigger sand dunes for sunset and saw a bunch more deer. These sand dunes were also not big enough to inspire me to spend a few days on them so I went back to Jaisalmer the next morning.

Before Jaisalmer I had avoided tourist cities pretty well. Here there were quite a few tourists and I wondered why I never saw many in one place. Then I saw a crowd in front of a drinks shop. They were selling marijuana milk shakes (bhang lassi). Now I new how to find the crowds.

The next morning I took a bus to Jodhpur. This is the town that the horse riding pants are named after. Their fort, Mehrangarh, is one of the most impressive I have ever seen. It is on a very high hill and quite large. From the fort you can look down on the old walled city. Nearly all of the houses are painted blue and it was one of the most impressive sights I have seen in India. In the fort museum I looked at some three hundred year old paintings of princes having water gun fights.

As usual, in Jodhpur, I was the most popular man in town. Dozens of people said 'hello' to me as I passed. Quite a few people took me into their homes to give me tea and show me their collections of foreign currency. Most could only say 'hello' and ask my name and country, but some wanted to discuss President Clinton's troubles and ask me what the U.S. is doing in Iraq. Since the Indian Prime Minister is a celibate virgin for religious reasons, the Indians seem to have an especially difficult time understanding Clinton's actions.

Now I am in Pushkar. This is another holy Hindu city, which means no meat or alcohol and plenty of Hindu pilgrims and holy men. This is also one of the most popular places for neo-hippy freaks and Israelis on motorcycles. There are hundreds of travellers here with dredlocked hair and blankets over their heads. The restaurants play rave/techno music and serve nice cakes. Of course, the most popular places are the bhang lassi shops.

Puskhar is a smallish town and has a nice feel to it. Tomorrow I will move into my new hotel with a room over looking the lake and the area where pilgrims take their ritual baths. I expect to stay here for a few days.

I also have a bunch of observations of India to record.

Rajistan is one of the most colorful areas of India. The women wear brightly colored veils and the men have pretty rose earrings. The women's dresses and veils do not prevent them from working on construction sites and carring things on their heads.

In Nepal it was a national pastime to loudly bring up something to spit and send it on its way as often as possible. Here, in India, people don't spit as much, but those who do make up for the others. They put flavored betel nut (pan) into their mouth and suck on that. Then, when they are tired of looking up when the speak so that the bright red juice doesn't leak out, they spit it out onto the street or floor. Needless to say, the color of their teeth suffers from this abuse.

One thing I like about India is the public urinals for men. Here you don't have to look for a shop or a restaurant when you have to go. If you want you can just go up to the nearest wall, but if you can wait a minute they have a special treat. Along many walls, next to the street, they have partitions, just like in a men's room. You can just turn your back to the sidewalk and take care of business.

I have been surviving quite comfortable on about ten dollars per day. Much of that goes towards books and Internet. Rooms are usually two to three dollars per night and food about the same per meal. Buses usually cost about one dollar per hour, which is about 40 miles.