January 1, 1:45 p.m. - Pushkar

Happy New Year! It should be right about midnight in California, I hope you all are having a blast! My New Year was definitely one of my all-time favorites. We went out to this farm where they had set up a big tent with a DJ, homemade food, bonfires and firworks (which were NOT safe and sane, defintely scary ones you see in Santa Ana!) The party was about 5 km (damn American public schools for not teaching me how to properly convert!) out of the dry town of Pushkar, so we definitely partook in some alcoholic beverages. Vodka and Limcas (the BEST soda I have ever tatsed, makes Sprite look like a joke!) were only 50 ruppes, which works out to about $1, best deal yet! We drank and danced until 1 a.m. with these gypsy kids (I know I even had fun with kids, 2009 is starting off very strange!) and cheesy Western Music like the a Backstreet Boys and Ace of Base and a dance remix of California Dreamin. So fun. Then we crammed in a bus while an Indian tourguide from an Intrepid group butchered Oasis' Wonderwall...ten times! It was pretty much an excellent night.

So, now we are wandering around Pushkar (after missing the sunrise walk to the temple. Seriously, sunrise on New Years' day?! NOT gonna happen) and I have to take back everything I said about shopping. This market is excellent and has some of the most interesting stuff we've seen so far. Purses and silk tops and dresses...I went a little crazy in the shopping department! I was going to ship stuff buck but to have it arrive in less than a month was going to cost me like $40! So, I bought an extra tote bag for 40 rupees and will just tote it arund instead.

This location is great. In the center is a holy lake where Hindus believe Brahma, the god of creation, dropped a lotus flower in battle and from the flower sprang the lake. People come from all over the world to bathe in the lake, which is an amazing sight. If you can get past the fact that the lake is disgusing, it's all very beautiful to watch these people, completely uninhibited cleanse their souls. Tonight we are going for a sunset walk (much more my style) to the temple of Brahma's scorned wife, she was a little pissed that he married someone else when she was late to a gathering. Being on time is critical, apparently! So, the walk should be lovely.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Jaipur, the pink city, which is supposed to be one of the main highlights. I am looking forward to an elephant ride out to a remote temple.

Everyone who gave me their addresses, I sent postcards, but I will probably beat them home.

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

BFF Sara - you should defnitely come to India! You can cut a few stops out, though, and I would recommend spluring (relative to India) on nicer hotels which guarantee hot water!

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a great New Year celebration, or you had an excellent sleep if you hit the hay early!

Namaste!
amy