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India: Pushkar

The lake at Pushkar
The lake at Pushkar

Being ill is miserable at the best of times, but being ill on your own in a foreign country when the temperature's pushing fifty is nightmarish. I decided I had to get out of Jaipur, despite a downturn in my condition, so I clenched my way down to Pushkar.

Lazing in Pushkar

The pool at the Peacock Hotel
The Peacock Hotel proved an excellent place in which to recuperate and hide from the scorching heat

My hotel at Pushkar, the Peacock, was quite beautiful. The rather pleasant rooms were centred round a courtyard containing a garden and a swimming pool (complete with water slide), and hotel's supply of black tea and plain toast provided me with ample rejuvenation without me having to move more than ten feet from my room and its adjoining ablutions. I read Theroux, Forster and Stephen Hawking (my left eye having sorted itself out); I wore shorts and bare torso without feeling rude; and I vowed to do nothing until my strength was up.