Pushkar, India

Pushkar is a holy village, surrounding a holy lake. This little town has sprung up into a very active tourist spot, it being so popular that the town officials have taken to examining passports to make sure people don't stay longer than three months.

Pushkar

It is hard to say why it has become so popular for long-time tourists, but its short term appeal is apparent in all the temples, probably over thirty of them that surround this holy lake. We saw it as the sun was setting and casting a reddish light over the lake temples.

That's the nice thing about Pushkar. The not so nice bit is that it is a little town over-run with long-term tourists. I hate to pinpoint a certain type of person, but it seems that there is some draw that brings the hippiest of folks here to stay. There are dredlocks at all angles, and everywhere there are tourists wearing baggy (undoubtedly very comfortable) clothes that only Indian priests wear.

The tourist attention means that the always attendant street vendors are not so hungry for our business, and this has two effects. First, they don't hassle us nearly as much. Second, they are very resistant to haggling - which is unfortunate because we're just coming into our own with this valuable skill.

The tourist attention has also created a weirder still side economy - that of the local religion. Men on the street approach us, and give us flowers which we are to throw in the lake. This wouldn't be so bad, but we have been warned that they will bully tourists into making 'huge' donations for the effort. Since we knew ahead of time, we avoided these people as much as possible, but one set of touts managed to slip these pretty little flowers into our hands. When it became clear that we weren't planning on dropping them in the lake they became angry and demanded the flowers back. We didn't intend any insult to the Hindu tradition, we just didn't want to participate like that - but these guys took it the wrong way and shouted at us as we walked away "why did you come to pushkar?!?"

Altogether the verdict is: full of tourists, expensive, and obnoxious religious touts. My vote is to stay away from Pushkar.

There is one caveat to this, and that is if you're interested in learning to become Indian. Everywhere there are places to learn to paint like the Indians, to dance like the Indians and even to absorb weird superstitious healing practices like the Indians. We saw spray paintings on the walls like "Aids is curable" through yogic medicines. If this is your bag, then Pushkar is where it's at!