Pushkar - City of Camels: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

Later that evening, we rode some camels out into the desert.

This was around the time when we started to feel like we were in a spaghetti western. Or the video game Red Dead Redemption. 

Out here on the outskirts of town, there were people living in ramshackle tents and tabernacles.

Stopping for a rest.

Putting Angela's sunglasses over my camera lens made for some cool photographic effects. 

We learned something new about camels on this trip. Firstly, they're huge, much bigger than they look in photos, and secondly, they have these strange callused-looking bumps on their chest and knees, which help them lie down on the desert sand. 

After a short break, we were on our way back to town.

First, a drink.

As night approached, we came to a large square where the Pushkar Camel Fair is held each year. Right now, there was a different kind of celebration going on. Not sure what it was for, but there were huge crowds, lights, cheering, and music.

Oh, and fireworks. 

Oh, and giant effigies (possibly about to be set on fire).

Riding back through the crazy streets of Pushkar.

Pushkar was, for me, not as outlandishly exotic and exciting as the other cities we visited in Rajasthan, and those phoney priests certainly didn't do it any favours. Still, that camel ride in the desert made me feel like Indiana Jones or the Prince of Persia or some similarly swashbuckling adventurer. Now we were done with Rajasthan, we'd be heading east towards the state of Uttar Pradesh. Our first stop: Agra, home to a very famous and beautiful mausoleum.