Pushkar and Jaipur, India

The bus from Jodhpur arrived in Ajmer around 2-230pm and from there we caught the 30 minute local bus to Pushkar. We had no accommodation organised in Pushkar, but we walked 15 minutes to the Doctor Alone hostel and got a double room as it was chilled out and had good views over the lake. After a late lunch/early dinner, we took a short walk through the Pushkar markets before returning to the hostel and hanging around for the evening.

The next morning, we lazed around the hostel until around lunch and then walked into the markets and to the Laughing Buddha cafe for lunch. After a delicious meal here, we spent the majority of the afternoon shopping for clothes and other goodies, which was exhausting. It was good to escape the markets and hike the small hill to the Pap Mochani Temple which had great views over the town and lake of Pushkar.

After heading back down the hill, we did some final shopping, had another great meal at Cafe Lake View, before heading back to the hostel. We had another lazy evening, eating dinner and taking in the views and lights over the lake.

We checked out of the Doctor Alone hostel at 10am and headed to the bus stop after breakfast and a coffee. We caught the packed and stinking hot local bus at 1130am from Pushkar to Ajmer, and from Ajmer, we caught the 1230pm bus to Jaipur, arriving around 3-330pm.

It was a short tuk tuk ride from the bus station in Jaipur to the Moustache hostel and after checking in, we signed up for free walking tour at 430pm. The “Nomadic tours” walking tour was extremely interesting and amazing. It included one of the best masala chai teas we had to date, through the clothes shopping area, to 2 rooftops with great views, for a samosa and pakora from a street stall, through the local fruit markets, to the Hawa Mahal (wind Palace), for some treats and finally to a Hindu temple as it was the God, Ganesh’s birthday. We finished the walking tour at Albert Hall which was built for an English King in the 1870’s and was lit with a colourful light display. After this, we headed back to the hostel for some drinks with the funny and chilled out hostel volunteers.

It was a slow start the next morning and we checked out at 11am before hiring a tuk tuk and driver for the days adventure. The first stop was the LMB restaurant where we had a delicious thaal for lunch before heading to the Amber Fort.

We wandered through this historical site for a couple of hours before heading back towards Jaipur. The tuk tuk driver took us to the Jah Mahal Lake Palace and then to a textile factory which tried to sell us some rugs, clothing and other textile items which we didn’t buy, but it was interesting to see the manufacturing process.

We headed back to Jaipur to do some final shopping before catching another tuk tuk back to the hostel. After getting back to the hostel, we got some dinner delivered and caught the 9pm overnight bus, which had a double bed in it, to Rishikesh.