Nov 4/Day 35: Drive to Pushkar, Pushkar Camel Fair
It finally happened. Not only did I manage to go 24 hours without visiting a temple, but I also made it to the Pushkar Camel Fair. It was a 7-hour drive from Udaipur to Pushkar.
We passed through cotton fields and then drove through the Aravelli Hills.
This was the two-way road that led to Pushkar. It was like a never-ending game of chicken.
I always thought my dad was the best car-packer in the world. Now that I've seen the foreign competition, I'm having second thoughts about his international ranking.
I'm ready to open a few gas station convenient stores over here. None of the gas station sell drinks or anything except oil and gas.
The gas station attendant ran over and asked me to take his picture. I love camera happy locals.
I finally reached my hotel--a little slice of paradise. Well, not exactly paradise, but it is about as good as it gets around here. It is the pink building on the left. It is usually about $10/night but during the camel fair it is $50/night.
I dropped off my bags and hit up Seventh Heaven for some food. I hadn't eaten in 8 hours, which in travel time equals about 3 missed meals.
Inside here, I found this....
A little closer to real paradise.
They use a pulley system to get the food from the kitchen to the rooftop dining area.
Pushkar is a meat-free and alcohol-free town. The restaurant had "pizza" on the menu, and I couldn't resist some American fare. It wasn't really what I would classify as pizza, but it did the trick and gave my stomach a spice vacation.
After scarfing pizza, I headed out to see the fair grounds.
I knew I was close to the fair grounds when I saw the dung patties drying in the sun. I'm sure this is enough dung to cook a few hundred pizzas.
And here it is, the Pushkar Camel Fair. On sprawling grounds surrounded by the Aravelli Hills were thousands of camels and horses hanging out with their owners, waiting for the fair festivities to resume tomorrow. It was a dusty mess of people and camels. I'm pretty sure most of the camels, like me, were wondering how they ended up in such a chaotic place.
The scheduled events resume tomorrow afternoon.
The camels were mostly eating dinner and lounging around. A few crazy camel drivers were racing around.
Horses occupied a small portion of the grounds.
Is it fun? I'm not sure yet, but I know it is definitely something worth experiencing.
I love how different all the camels look and how they all have such personality.
A sexy red head.
Dark and handsome.
I think he's wearing a toupee.
This guy appears happy...
But he just had a serious chewing motion going on.
I'm pretty sure she was a rabbit in a prior life.
A true diva.
In addition to the Indian music being played throughout the camp, camels regularly howled. I doubt "howl" is the proper name for the sound they make, but the noise sounds like a deep howl.
They all had special hair cuts for their big Pushkar debut.
Goodnight, my camel friends. I'll see you tomorrow.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It finally happened. Not only did I manage to go 24 hours without visiting a temple, but I also made it to the Pushkar Camel Fair. It was a 7-hour drive from Udaipur to Pushkar.
We passed through cotton fields and then drove through the Aravelli Hills.
This was the two-way road that led to Pushkar. It was like a never-ending game of chicken.
I always thought my dad was the best car-packer in the world. Now that I've seen the foreign competition, I'm having second thoughts about his international ranking.
I'm ready to open a few gas station convenient stores over here. None of the gas station sell drinks or anything except oil and gas.
The gas station attendant ran over and asked me to take his picture. I love camera happy locals.
I finally reached my hotel--a little slice of paradise. Well, not exactly paradise, but it is about as good as it gets around here. It is the pink building on the left. It is usually about $10/night but during the camel fair it is $50/night.
I dropped off my bags and hit up Seventh Heaven for some food. I hadn't eaten in 8 hours, which in travel time equals about 3 missed meals.
Inside here, I found this....
A little closer to real paradise.
They use a pulley system to get the food from the kitchen to the rooftop dining area.
Pushkar is a meat-free and alcohol-free town. The restaurant had "pizza" on the menu, and I couldn't resist some American fare. It wasn't really what I would classify as pizza, but it did the trick and gave my stomach a spice vacation.
After scarfing pizza, I headed out to see the fair grounds.
I knew I was close to the fair grounds when I saw the dung patties drying in the sun. I'm sure this is enough dung to cook a few hundred pizzas.
And here it is, the Pushkar Camel Fair. On sprawling grounds surrounded by the Aravelli Hills were thousands of camels and horses hanging out with their owners, waiting for the fair festivities to resume tomorrow. It was a dusty mess of people and camels. I'm pretty sure most of the camels, like me, were wondering how they ended up in such a chaotic place.
The scheduled events resume tomorrow afternoon.
The camels were mostly eating dinner and lounging around. A few crazy camel drivers were racing around.
Horses occupied a small portion of the grounds.
Is it fun? I'm not sure yet, but I know it is definitely something worth experiencing.
I love how different all the camels look and how they all have such personality.
A sexy red head.
Dark and handsome.
I think he's wearing a toupee.
This guy appears happy...
But he just had a serious chewing motion going on.
I'm pretty sure she was a rabbit in a prior life.
A true diva.
In addition to the Indian music being played throughout the camp, camels regularly howled. I doubt "howl" is the proper name for the sound they make, but the noise sounds like a deep howl.
They all had special hair cuts for their big Pushkar debut.
Goodnight, my camel friends. I'll see you tomorrow.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Pushkar, India
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