Roaming Redhead: 3/4/12

Finally we have pictures from the world famous Pushkar Camel Fair! And we welcome Laura and Tomas to the land of India...

Every year in Rajasthan, farmers and camel traders have descended on Pushkar for 2 weeks to trade camels. It has expaneded, including amusement park, contests (such as longest mustache, though we didn't see any). You can ride a camel, buy stuff for your camel, buy horses, and so on. There are also many ghats-holy bathing spots in the river.

Thanks to Laura and Tomas for really insisting we go, and all our friends who agreed to come with us!

Enjoy.

The journey is sometimes more interesting...
We took the train, you recall that Indian Railways is the second largest employer in the world. It is quite an experience, so we were excited.

The women on the platform outside the train.

View outside our train window

Bion, Kev, Greg and me on the train.

Riding to the Camel Fair day one-on a camel cart.

Me on the cart.

Laura and Tomas didn't ride a cart, they rode the camel!

The people and scene in and around the camel fair

One picture I regret is not here is the tattoo vendors on the street. For real. Needles and ink. Crazy.

Here are many other photos we did take.

This picture shows traditional head wrap for Rajasthani men, and that these men are watching TV. It had Rajasthani music videos from the 80s on loop.

Anish got this guy to pose for this photo.

He also got these guys to pose. They were all in just for the camel fair. Lots of hot pink head wraps.

Here is Anish taking their picture.

Guy selling decoration for your camel.

This is what they were all smoking-sort of like tobacco.

Food for sale.

These decorations put that MTV show "pimp my ride" to shame.

Our Dinner and Authentic Dance

The camels

Camels with one of two Pushkar temples in the distance. We will come back to the temple later.

Apparently the Rajasthanis have a sense of humor.

We are getting to dusk. There are camels everywhere. The hazy dream like air is thanks to the dust.

Sun sets over one of two major areas filled with camels.

The "why did I get up at 5am to see the sunrise over the camel fair, oh to get these photos"

Getting up at o'dark hundred is a theme when we travel, especially somehow with Anish and Ulupi as you will see in future posts. But for now, see the shots Sandip, Anish and I got on our morning journey to the camel fair.

Anish, who along with Sandip and me got up to see the very empty streets.

For the temple offerings

People are still waking up.

After looking for a great vantage point on the top of a hill (which we also discovered served as a toilet for the people at the fair. Thank god for flashlights), we discovered a little tea stand that served phenomenal tea and gave us this great shot, and many you see below.