The next day in Pushkar I walked for miles! Or kilometers as it is here. I woke myself up by diving in the re-filled pool which was bloody freezing! Then I set out for the day. I walked to the other side of town to a restuarant recommended by the Lonely Planet (I mostly go to places recommended in it) for breakfast, which was average. Then I went to go to the Vishnu Temple but as I got near I saw everyone was throwing colours again. I tried to slyly get past but they saw me so i legged it! I managed to escape and went out of town to climb a mountain/hill to a different temple. I stopped at the little place at the bottom to get some water and chatted to the guys there for a bit. It's meant to take 1-2 hours to get up depending on your fitness and i bet them i could get up and down in half an hour! They were convinced I couldn't... it took me 13 minutes up and 8 minutes down but they didn't believe I had been to the top, despite my photos for proof. I also rested at the top for about 5 minutes so take in the view which was really good, although the temple wasn't up to much. When I got back to the bottom I spent the next 2 or 3 hours in the little shop, mainly to avoid getting covered in paint etc! We watched the cricket, which England won that day :-D we also listened to some music and I bought the CD off him, I tried some of his masala chai and we talked a lot. His friend who was also there is one of the pains in the asses who rings up people in the UK trying to sell phone deals! He gets 300 Rs, 4 pounds, per sale, an average of 2 days in an 8 hour day. He said American's and Australian's are nice but the British are really rude to him! He was cool though and works in Jaipur where I am now so I might meet up with him.

Once we felt it was safe to leave I went back into the town the visited the temples and ghats around the lake. I encountered a really rude fake priest who tried to make me leave when I wouldn't pay him to give me a flower. Everyone tried to give you flowers to throw in the lake so I kept my hands in my pockets, though people still kept grabbing my wrists. I also got rammed by a bull when walking the street so had a dead arm for ages!

When I got back to the hotel I saw some more English people (2 guys) were in the room opposite me so I said hi and started talking to them. We decided to all go out for something to eat. We went to the sunset cafe and watched the sunset over the lake then ate our food. When we were about to leave this Israeli came over and sat at our table. He told us about a party he was organising that night and wanted to sell us tickets. We weren't sure how real it was, as it was a party on a farm, we weren't allowed to tell anybody about it, we had to meet at a hotel to get a lift to the location and there were cars to drive us back all night for free... so we were a bit suspicious. To convince us, he gave us his expensive sunglasses as a 'deposit' so we knew it was real and would give them back at the party.

We went back to the restaurant where we had met him at about 9.30 and got a lift on a motorbike to a hotel. When we arrived we saw a group of touristy looking people so asked what they were doing at they all said "partaaay!" so we stuck with them. Within a few minutes a jeep pulled up on the roadside and the 2 Indians inside told us to get in. We all assumed they meant about 5 of us to get in until another jeep arrived, but no, they meant all of us. All 16 of us, to get in one jeep with them. Out here there are no limits! We were the first people to arrive at the party, it wasn't really up to much even later on in the night so I only stayed until about 2am. 90% of the people there (and I think also in Pushkar in general) were Israeli; we ended up talking to an Israeli girl most of the night. She got the same jeep back as me and I ended up going back to her hotel with her and some of her friends. The drive back was crazy. Less of us in the jeep, 10-15 people but the driver didn't want to take the main roads so was taking the backstreets in the main town. These gave us about 2 inches, literally, of space either side of the jeep and he was going... fast! Skidding to stops all the time, to miss (I think we missed them) dogs and cows. The Israeli's were saying "I wanna see tomorrow man" "Let me live" etc, but in a (kind of) joking way! When I got back to my hotel at about 5am my friends were there so I stayed up talking to them until about 6 or 7, kinda lost time by then though... the insects were really bad in Pushkar, we killed a massive 'thing' about 2 inches long and I got bitten by mozzies 5 times on my right arm alone that night.

The next morning was the drive to Jaipur which was an interesting one, for the following reasons: We crossed a really dodgy looking bridge that had elephant statues either side with their trunks in the air which I had earlier been told means "Good Luck." I think you understand! There's speed bumps placed really randomly sometimes and we hit one at about 80 kph and got a nice bit of air (even more than you got driving back from Justin's dad!) We saw a group of monkeys so we stopped to take photos and they ran at the car. They tried to jump in the windows but we shut them just in time. About 10 of them then climbed on the roof and windscreen until we drove off (see pic of monkey at my window!) Before I had seen 4 people on a motorbike, but this journey I saw 5 on a moped! We saw about 10 dead dogs and a dead cow in the middle of the road :-s Also, my driver indicates right every time a car passes in the other direction which gets quite annoying.

I arrived to find another swimming pool with no water. I was really tired so slept for about 3 hours before walking into town. I didn't realise how big Jaipur is compared to everywhere else (it's the capital of Rajasthan) so it took me an hour and a half by walking/bike taxi just to get somewhere central. And then, before my eyes, I couldn't believe it... a Pizza Hut! Absolute bargain too, I had the meal for 2 deal which was a garlic bread, 2 cokes, 2 pizzas and 2 ice creams for exactly 2 pounds. How good is that? Afterwards I went into this mans shop to use the internet and ended up talking to him for half an hour first.

The next day I stared the sight-seeing. Went to Nahargarh Fort (bit of a let down, maybe I've seen too many forts?), saw the Jal Mahal - a take off of the Taj Mahal in the middle of a lake, Amber Fort and Amber Palace which were both good. I went to a warehouse place too that has fair and fixed prices on all kinds of things so bought something there. After that I went to a carpet and textile factory. I only went to see how the carpets etc were made but the people were intent on selling me a 400 pound carpet. Why they thought I was interested I don't know, that took to long to escape! On the way back to the hotel I saw elephants on the side of the road, so we stoppde to take photos and I had a quick ride as well fo the experience! Kind of similar to a camel actually... though I enjoyed the camel ride more. An eephant ride in the desert or somehwre might be as good; this was jus on the road side.

That evening I headed back into the centre and decided to splash out in an expensive restaurant. By Indian standards that is, my total bill was about 4 pounds. It was a revolving restaurant which was a first for me, was really cool to look out over the whole city. I went back to my friends shop which is where I uploaded the photos and also bought a nice pair of cheap shoes! I got back quite late again, about 1am this time and fell straight asleep.

However, around an hour later I woke up, feeling really ill. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom and was sick. I then proceeded to be sick, pass out etc for the next 3 or 4 hours before I was able to (very slowly) work my way out of the hotel and onto the street in search of a doctor. I found one, who wasn't able to help me, but gave me the name of a public hospital instead. I was there by about 7am and spent the rest of the morning on several drips, think I was fed about 3 litres of fluid... all very confusing. I was taken back to the hotel where I continued to be sick and wasn't able to move for the rest of the day. I also had the needle and end of the drip still stuck in my arm. Later on I fell over trying to get to the toilet and the drip/needle thing kinda snapped out of my arm, which A - really hurt, and B - I'm not sure where the needle went which is worrying! That was Thursday... one of the worst days of my life...