The Camel Fair

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Hi all

We left early in order to arrive in Pushkar in the early afternoon for the camel fair. After the insanity of some of the other cities, Pushkar was tame, relaxing, quiet.. or maybe we just felt that way cause we were not being harassed the same way as we were in the bigger cities. Our hotel had a pool, which was a huge plus, but Pushkar is a dry town, which was not so good. Luckily, Beebal had warned us and we had ample supplies of beer, rum and vodka. The hotel staff must think the westerners are insane. I am sure after we buzzed through they did.. Haha

We went down to the "Fair Grounds". I have never seen so many camels in my life. We just wandered through the fields and the camels, the people, it was nuts.. Camels as far as the eye could see.. and the people all checking the camels teeth etc before agreeng to a price. I was really funny. This fair even had a midway, and we were excited about that till we saw the rides. I swear they were from the 50's and not one of us was brave enough to even get on the ferris wheel. We were there at the beginning of the fair so we missed the camel judging and the camel dancing, but it was still something unreal to see. We went to a cafe on the lake and watched the sunset. Then they lite candles all around the lake and set off a ton of fireworks. Would have been better had they waited for it to actually get dark though.. haha

A few of us on the tour had mentioned we wouldn't mind taking a cooking class. There is nothing quite that organized in India, so Beebal arranged for us to go to a womans house and learn to cook from her. The house was really just 3 rooms including the bathroom. The couple had 2 small kids and I can not imagine how they live in that small of a space. But they had running water and electricity and a stone house, so they were better off that most. Beebal had to interpret for us as our "instructor" speaks very little English, so the whole thing was really quite comical. I am sure they were thinking "crazy westerners, paying to make their own dinner".. Haha
The woman was fantastic though, everything we made was on a 2 burner hotplate and thats it. We made bread, stuffed bread, A famous yogurt soup of Rajastan, and a cabbage curry. We tried everything and it was all fantastic. It was a very cool experience to be in a local persons home as well and to see how they live. It was well worth the stop.

We took a cart pulled by a camel into the desert to watch the sunset. It was really nice. The camel ride took us all throughout the camp grounds of the camel traders so we saw just how huge the fair truly is. Pushkar was a great time, we had room parties, swam in the pool, and really just got a bit of a break from the hectic pace of the tour.

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