Pushkar 2

We spent our final morning in Pushkar packing up our bags and checking out of the guest house to get ready for our trek into the desert.  We locked our bags in the trunk of Nandhu's car with the very bare essentials in our side bags (more layers for the cold night, water, etc) and had a couple hours to kill before we had to meet up with our guides.  We let Nandhu lead the way in showing us a temple in old Pushkar that he liked.  It was a beautiful stadium like structure with baths surrounding what used to be a small pond.  The pond had since dried out almost totally, and Nandhu said the temple was often forgotten about when people came to the city.  It was probably the first place we've visited in India where we were the only people, and it was kind of nice to spend a quiet couple of hours outside of the bustle of the city.  After, we went back into town and had a cup of chai with Nandhu in the market, and then headed over to the office a little early.  We again had another cup of chai (our no thank yous were ignored as usual) and got to know our new furry companions for the camp out in the desert.

Temple in old Pushkar

Camel trekking office

Riding a camel is not an entirely pleasant experience. I've never ridden a horse so I have nothing to compare it to, but I guess I always imagined camels having a little more grace when trotting along on the desert terrain.  This was not the case. The beginning of the trip started of slow-- it was an awkward trek through town, and while camels walking through the streets is fairly common, dodging traffic on the back of one is very different.  We finally reached a scenic path and wandered through the back roads that became more and more deserted.  It was actually quite relaxing, and the advantage of being on the camels was the amazing almost rooftop height view (these guys were huge).  After a quick stop to pick up firewood and other supplies, we started out onto the sand paths throughout the small villages surrounding Pushkar.  Our guides joined us on the backs of the camels, who were happily stomping along the paths with their weird squishy feet.  About an hour in we took a break at a little shop, had some more chai ('no' has no meaning), readjusted the enormous saddles on the backs of Garaju, my camel, and Raja, Elliot's.  When we got back on the path and we were casually chatting and laughing with the guides, Elliot joked "Looks like I got the slow camel".  My guide very seriously turned to him and said, "Do you want to go fast?"  Apparently joking about your camel being slow was not accepted, and for the rest of the trek (and continuing the next morning) my guide would shriek out commands in Hindi to our camel causing the large animal to jump start into an incredibly awkward gallop.  He would then exclaim things like "#1 camel!" in delight while I gripped on to the tiny 1 1/2 inch handle, shaking like a bobble-head doll.  After getting used to these outbursts, it was really an astonishing ride through the desert, and between the night trek and the morning trek we went all the way around a large hill in the center which we had climbed the day before to see the temple at the top.  When we got to the camp site we set up our tents and waited for the other two tourists who would be joining us.  Two girls, one from the UK and one from Delaware eventually joined us and we settled into the site.  We sat around the camp fire as the sun began to set, and the temperature dropped quickly.  Dinner was cooked on the fire and consisted of dal, aloo gobi, rice, pepper curry, and a different kind of chapati I had never had before (it was a somewhat dense roll that tasted more like buttery wheat bread than anything.)  We relaxed by the fire swapping travel stories until it became too cold, then retired to our tents for the night.  While it was cold, it was warm enough inside the tent, especially with our cozy winter gear on that we had bought for Nepal.  When we woke the next morning, we watched the sunrise over the desert hills and had a breakfast of chai and sweet paratha (a bit sandy but still delicious)--a perfect way to start the day.  The trek back was much shorter, and cutting through the city was much easier in the morning when it was a lot emptier.  Nandhu was waiting for us when we got back, so we got in the car and headed to Bikaner.

Walking through the city

Best friends

Raja, one weeeeird camel

Cool dude

Oh... hi.

Morning tea

Camp site