From Udaipur to Pushkar on horseback - Day Three

I loved waking up near the river. You open the zip of your tent and - tadaam - you see the water running down the stream and green everywhere. 

We rode 30 km in the morning, stopped for a break in a village. Absolutely everyone came out to see us as we sat near the temple. They stood there, watching us silently, fascinated by our every move. I was trying to imagine what was going through their mind. Did they think it was strange we should want to travel around on horse back, in the heat and dust, willingly? Did they think it was perfectly normal? 

A lot of the road we covered was tarred. Dinesh said they had built the roads in the past year. He was amazed by the speed at which these roads appeared. It’s great to connect villages but not so great to ride on. He will have to find a different route next year. 

Luckily, the tarmac eventually disappeared. We had lunch under a huge banyan tree on top of a hill. The wind was blowing and cooling us down. As we ate, local girls herding their cows came close by. They sat for a while watching us but must have decided we were rather boring and eventually walked off. 

we made a short stop near this temple

The clothes rural woman wear in Rajasthan is particularly beautiful: a long skirt with a matching top and a long brightly coloured dupatta (thin scarf) they tuck in the skirt and put on their heads. The dupatta flows in the wind as they walk around and the colours can be seen from very far. For the unaccustomed eye it looks like they are wearing their best clothes just to go work in the field. It’s truly beautiful. 

We covered another 15km after lunch. As we went through a village, two little girls run towards me. 

‘Where did you ride from?’ one of them shouted in perfect English. 

‘Udaipur’ I shouted back.

‘Do you know this village?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘To Pushkar. Do you want to come with us?’

‘No. Do you know how to ride?’ (mind you, I was sitting on the horse when she asked that)

‘Yes. Do you?’

‘No.’

‘You should learn. It’s a lot of fun.’

‘Bye bye!’ both of them screamed, out of breath from running after the horses. 

I don’t know why. But this short conversation made my day and judging by their smiles, I think it did theirs too. 

we rode past a lake with this woman standing on a tiny boat collecting water chestnuts

the water chestnut hides inside these lotus like plants

in the evening, children curiously checking out what we are doing

this man was fascinated by Manjeev, he stood there for ages watching him