Delhi 2.0 Day 2

We. Packed. So. Much. Into. Today.
It was a little unreal.
Our first stop was to the Amber Palace:

We rode elephants up to the palace which was AWESOME but it was even more awesome watching Jake experience his first elephant ride.

Coolest painted elephant ever--can you see what it is?

At the palace our guide took us to parts that weren’t as busy as others. It was a really pretty peaceful.

There are a few of pics like this but I don't care because I was having fun with my camera. Sorry/not sorry. Mostly not sorry. Besides the fact that I love how the pics turned out they help document some of the ornate carving details that are all over the palace. Most were made from a single slab of marble/or whatever kind of stone it was-meaning if you messed up towards the the end then it would really really suck. 

Call me a stalker but I loved this man! I didn't mean to follow him around---it just so happened that I kept crossing paths with him. Look at what a hip oldster he is!

What wasn’t peaceful was seeing the snake charmers on our way out of the palace. I missed them the last time I was in Delhi so I was happy they were there but so not happy all at the same time. I know the cobra is defanged and all but it was still a freaky satanic little thing. It struck at me a few times and even though I was WAY safe as far as distance away from it, it still startled me enough to make me jump. Both times. Notice how Jake isn't in any of these pics. He was having nothing to do with the whole snake charming business.

Sometimes they let tourists hold the snakes and I had been mentally preparing myself to do it if I got the chance. I would have been scared out of my mind but you only live once right? Well I didn't get the chance but I KNOW I would have chickened out if it had been offered to me. I mean really--I was even a weenie about how close I would get for pics. 

We grabbed some lunch (where we found the longest bendy straws ever......)

and then hit the road for a quick overnight trip to Pushkar—which is basically in Afghanistan. Okay not really, it is still a couple of hours away from the Afghan boarder but the drive seemed to take long enough that I was sure we were right there :)  Before reaching Pushkar, we turned the corner and saw this:

Why hello there!

This one seemed to be doing some kind of yoga:

And these ones seemed to feel left out since they were different:

After that fun we kept driving but made another stop in a small town called Ajmer. Ajmer is a Muslim city that contains the tomb of Kwaja Gharib Nawaz, a famous figure in the Islamic world. We went to see his final resting place and getting there was pretty intense. Benson has warned us not to talk to anyone, not to try to buy anything, etc. Our instructions were to get our head coverings and follow our driver straight to the shrine. I asked Benson if it was safe/respectful for us to be here, to which he said yes, but it was only after starting the process I could see why he gave the instructions he did. It was INTENSE! There were so many people, so many beggars--many of them malformed and missing limbs—so many merchants, well you get the point. I don’t remember ever having so much India-ness all in one place and shoved in your face this way before. I will never forget this lady and her baby who were all kinds of in my space trying to get money from me. I purposely avoided eye contact with her because usually that helps them to move on but this lady wasn’t having it. She was physically grabbing me and pulling my arm trying to get me to turn around and face her. I kept resisting but she kept on trying. Finally she got so frustrated she hit/pushed my back some while mumbling and hissing at me. I hate hate HATE that part of India. It makes me feel simultaneously extremely bad and extremely angry.

There were priests blessing people with peacock feathers before they entered the shrine, but I wasn’t a candidate for whatever reason. I am guessing it is because I am a woman, so what’s a girl to do.

The whole experience was really unique and incredibly culturally rich. I absolutely loved it! AND-we learned later on that Muslims in India have around four or five holy landmarks in country that they must visit before they make their pilgrimage to Mecca. I am not sure if other countries have similar rules/landmarks but I found that really interesting. I also learned that Jake and I will end up visiting two (?) of those places during out Delhi trip. I think the other one we will see is the Taj Mahal. Pretty neat huh?  

Pictures weren't allowed inside so this picture of the actual tomb is from the internet.

Our hotel in Pushkar is so COOL! It is literally an oasis in the middle of sand dunes.

After dropping off our bags, we went out with the guide to take on Pushkar-which apparently is one of/the most sacred city in India. Hindus will make pilgrimages here at least once in their lives and it is also the only place in the world where there is a temple dedicated to the main Hindu God, Brahma.

Once again, pics were not allowed inside so my trusty friend google helped me out with that by providing the pics below:

After the temple we walked down the road to the Pushkar Lake, which is a natural lake that is believed to have healing power—much like how the Ganges river is seen. In fact, some of Ghandi’s ashes were sprinkled in this water in addition to the Ganges River. We got there at night so I wasn't able to get a pic in the light but someone somewhere did so thank you random stranger.

We watched a prayer/offering ceremony when we first got there and were each given a cleansing blessing afterwords. The locals will bath in the lake or at least bath certain parts of themselves, but we just got a bowl of water from the lake and “washed” our hands when necessary. After the blessing we offered a gift to the God’s by throwing rose petals into the water for them.

Our tour guide happened to be of the Brahman caste (the highest and most spiritual caste in the caste system that “doesn’t exists” anymore) so he performed the ceremony for us—after which he declared himself our family priest. After that declaration and because he prayed for our health, hearts and prosperity as well as the health, hearts and prosperity of our family members we figured that we better get at least one picture with him. And by we I mean Jake.

He asked if I was married to which I said no, so since praying for kids was off the table he prayed for my happy marriage to my soulmate. You had better believe he is getting a wedding invitation if any of his God’s come through for me on that one. :)