March 15, 2016
To Pushkar: Turbans on Patrick's birthday
"Make a wish and light a candle for a birthday is here, may it be the beginning of a happy new year" Rachel sings the birthday song to Patrick as we ride down a narrow road with not much traffic. This first half of the day was nice and easy with lots of people interactions.
Starting with getting out of town. When stopped to check GPS, a man on a bicycle stops, Patrick says Pushkar, the man waves right in the opposite direction GPS is showing. Then two men walking by join the discussion and indicate with a wave Pushkar to the left. Yet another man on a motorcycle stops and waves Pushkar is to the left. We go left as the GPS told us.
In Gola, we stop for chai and eat cheese crackers, there's no food at the stalls. Lots of photo opportunities though of men wearing turbans.
Our second food stop is in Pisangan and we pick a food stall at the busy intersection. Here we watch daily life pass by. We see camels with loads walking up the street, a busy market, people hopping on and off the buses that stop just barely long enough for them to do so.
Then we head out off the yellow road to an even smaller road. After bouncing around on the uneven asphalt and through sections covered in sand, Patrick asks, "is this getting harder or am I just getting old?" "Well this wouldn't have been anything to you yesterday" Rachel teases. Patrick turned 50 today. And thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!
In Pushkar, we find our booked hotel, Atithi Guesthouse, and welcomed by Papu who gives us the deluxe room on the third floor. Bikes stay in the courtyard. The room is small but enough for us especially for 650 rupees in touristy town.
We should say a hippie town. The meandering streets are lined with shops of clothing, trinkets and jewelry, and wandering travellers, backpacker types that look like they've been in India too long. But we like being in tourist areas for more selection of food. We fantasized about food today, like neighborhood BBQs with meat, or the yak steaks we might find in Kathmandu.
Tomorrow a rest day.
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Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 14,559 km (9,041 miles)
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