ah this is pushkar (shanti, shanti!)

so, probably about time I put pen to paper. As you can probably tell from the photos below we are now saddled up with a couple of iron horses. A little bit daunting at first but now we have a couple of days riding behind us it's as easy as falling off the proverbial. Traffic here is not as mad as you'd think once you escape the megalopolis of Delhi. but Indians are clearly reading from a different copy of the highway code than we are used to at home. Extensive use of the horn prevails and it all seems to work, somehow. Obstacles include: cows (loads of those buggers), goats, monkeys, humans, tractors, camels, elephants; and that's just in town. Fortunatley we are riding Royal Enfields which play a very distinctive tune and have most people scurrying for cover before you have even turned the corner.

Pushkar is a delight. Abouit 500 clicks south of Delhi, it is a desert town synonymous with pilgrimage as the lake here is said to be extremely holy. Something about Brahma and a drop of water falling here - I am yet to study the Bhagavad Gita to learn the full tale...How this translates to modern day Pushkar is by way of hundreds of guesthouses dominating the lake shore, providing backpackers with the opportunity to tune in, drop out for a while. I have managed to miuss most of this however, as my bike as been in t'shop for the last few days with some engine troubles. This has involved extended periods of tea drinking - both on my and the mechanics part - occassionally tiunkering with something and awaiting some part or other to arrive from the next biggest town. Things to do not get done in a hurry here. In fact any attempt to define the period of time required for a certain job usually ends in frustrated tears and an extension of said time period for many hours - hindi word of the week: shanti, literally meaning slowly, relax, chill out you uptight westerner we'll have it done when its done.

Hopefully today though the bike will be back on the road, and Holly and I will make our way south.

photos

Marty's beard after 3 weeks, not quite the wild man from borneo yet, but soon

The obligatory sunset shot - from the rooftop of Lake Corner Gusthouse, Udaipur

Rice plantations Kelwara

dennis' bike on the back of the truck after the clutch went on the way to Udaipur

dennis & sarah and Atilla, in convoy on the way to kelwara

a baboon, it's bottom was as red as it's face

monkey disco

puechkar kite festival

The cylinder head, apparently!

Temple art, pushkar. Shiva

some little scamps come to check out the bikes as we were filling up at a petrol station

Near Sariska Tiger Reserve, our two trusty steeds in the foreground and Marty making like a crouching down in front of about 10 monkeys in the distance.

Rural India

Getting directions - India style

Pushkar lake

All done, clothes in bag, goodbyes painfully said, toothbrush almost forgotten, bums on seats, first curries digested and Delhi bearing ever closer from the plane window, it looks a mess...

Marty and I woke up an hour and a half ago and looked out the window, we were flying over a gigantic snow-capped mountain range somewhere over Afghanistan, it was surreal and utterly stunning, we were on our way to the most foreign place I have ever been. Very glad Marty is sitting next to me, his sage reasoning and experience will be a huge aid.

Landing in Delhi airport still in no-mans land between customs and the arrivals gate, we changed up some money, took a deep breath and put our best foot forward into surprising calm, found "Hotel Namaskar" and "Martyn" etched on a placard and wandered off with the taxi driver to our hotel in Paharganj.

This place is mental. The 30 minute drive from the airport to the Hotel was intense, some pretty fruity sights and complete and utter abject poverty were hard to swallow. We've spent the first couple of days doing a lot of walking around and getting acquainted with where we are and how things work. We have been stared at A LOT! The man with the holy hair and the gigantic lady are probably a bit of a weird sight, we are both considerably taller than everyone here, blending in is not going to be a possibility...

Already things are starting to seem easier and a bit less foreign, we've not been hassled as much as anticipated. Marty did some sterling work bargaining with some rickshaw drivers earlier, at one point I looked around and there were about 30 people gathered around watching the bargaining process, as Marty pointed out, as long as you keep a smile on your face and do things with good grace things have no reason to turn nasty.

The food so far has been phenomenal, I think I'll have to have a post designated to food, it's amazing. That's all for now, off to have more of a wander and figure out what tomorrow might bring.

Love to all and thanks for reading. Photos to follow.

xx