We emerged from the car in Pushkar, and were immediately scammed. Ash asked the whereabouts of a guesthouse we'd chosen, and some boys gave us directions. They followed us and we found ourselves at the sacred lake, where they shoved flowers, coloured powder and bits of rice in our hands and began praying. Of course these 'brahmins' wanted 'donations' when they had finished.

When we got to the rooms, I collapsed, exhausted by the journey and the heat. Our car was not air-conditioned, so we had to roll the windows down and the dust and pollution made me feel worse. Combined with the constant bouncing through pot-holes and swerving and honking to avoid collisions, the six hour or so trip really took it out of me. I lay on the bed, half awake and took the pills and rehydration salts for gastro-enteritis/hepatitis the doctor had given me that morning.

By evening, I felt well enough to get up, and Ash showed me where he'd been exploring. Pushkar was small, with crowded, winding, narrow streets lined with shops and cows. We walked to the lake, past temples, and got caught up in a wedding procession with lots of dancing, a horse ridden by the bridegroom, and a bizarre brass band. According to a boy we got talking to, there are around 600 weddings in Pushkar every year. We went to a restaurant with a little courtyard and an over-attentive waiter, and I managed to eat half a bowl of sweet bean curd (about as appetising as it sounds, but I couldn't stomach anything else on the menu). Ash said the loo was like something out of Indiana Jones: he put the light on and the place exploded with cockroaches. This was a taste of things to come, but we wandered back to the guesthouse with no sense of foreboding and went to bed.

And thus began... The Night of a Thousand Cockroaches. I was just dozing off when I felt one on my mouth. I looked around and they were EVERYWHERE. I ran around trying to kill them, but my aim was terrible and I was so tired and weak. I packed up my stuff, intending to go to another hostel, screaming at Ash that I'd see him in the morning, but the door to get out was locked and bolted. After bashing on it, and any other doors and yelling for the manager to no avail, I resigned myself to a miserable night. I got out my cotton sleeping bag, climbed inside and pulled it over my head. It was like being in my own hellish little sauna and I could feel them crawling on me, but I managed to get a bit of sleep.