I've been getting a lot of sleep the last few days while in recovery, so I woke up before 5am. Craig heard me and woke up as well, but was much groggier than me! Some of the others had hiked up a nearby mountain to watch the sunset the previous morning so since we were up we decided to get out of bed and go for a hike. It was quite chilly outside and still pitch black when we left at 5:15. We wore our headlamps so we could navigate the dark streets (thanks Alicia & Julia!) Unfortunately we had missed the orientation walk so we weren't fully sure how to get to the base of the mountain, but could see the lit path up the mountain when the buildings weren't in the way. We took a few wrong turns and it was a hard walk up some steep sandy paths. We nearly turned back when a barking dog was standing in the middle of a small road in our path, but a local came by and threw rocks at it which moved it out of our way. We finally found the base and started up the 580 steps to the peak. Wow, was that ever hard! Some of the steps were really steep - higher than my knee - and they were all uneven rock and a bit slippery. We were passed by a local carrying a huge back of supplies (there was a cafe at the top!) but we finally made it as the sky was starting to get light. We took a seat on some rocks at the top to rest and watch the sunrise over Pushkar. We then stopped for a chai masala before heading back down.
In town we saw a group of women in mostly pink sarees walking through town, following a band of musicians. Bish later explained that they did this because one of the women was getting married. This time of year is really popular for Indian weddings so he thought we might be able to see a wedding in the next few days.
After lunch we left for the train station, where we caught a 6 hour train to Udaipur. This train was not nearly as comfortable as the last. On the way to Agra we had AC seats, where the seats were like a coach bus and we got water and a warm meal. For Udaipur we had benches, kind of like a school bus, where there were 3 per bench and the benches faced each other, so 6 in each section, and two sections filling the width of the train. This was very squishy and particularly uncomfortable for those sharing a section with an Indian family didn't purchase a seat for their child. The worst part was when the train went through a sandstorm and the carriage filled with a huge sand cloud. There were fans all over the ceiling but only one was working and the rest appeared broken, so it took a long time for the air to clear up again.
In the last part of the trip Craig decided to wander a bit and make friends with the locals. He was speaking with and Indian woman, Alpa, who was going to Udaipur with her husband and baby for a family wedding with 5000 guests! She was shocked to hear we only had 80 at ours and when she heard Craig was married she wanted to meet me. Craig came to fetch me and introduced us. Alpa told me she'd been looking at all the people in our group and had decided I was the prettiest (awkward, but flattering I suppose). She told us how she likes to wear western clothes around the house but has to wear sarees outside because western clothes aren't appropriate. She was also the first person to ask us if we had a love marriage (as opposed to an arranged marriage). Bish had previously been boasting about the low divorce rate of arranged marriages and stated that 100% of love marriages fail. Guess we're screwed!
Alpa also asked me where Jen, the blond Canadian, was from. When I told her the same country as me she asked why she had a different hair colour. I found this a strange question until I realized that everyone from India has brown skin, dark hair and brown eyes.
We got to Udaipur at 10pm. Our hotel was overbooked so they moved us to another hotel for the first two nights. The replacement hotel was lovely, with large clean rooms and a nice courtyard with a pool. They kept the restaurant open so we could get dinner before going to bed, which was nice because we were famished. Our Indian dinner was amazing and fantastically cheap (70 rupees for a curry - 1 quid!!)
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