Soaking up the Pushkar ambience

Leslie takes off to continue her great adventure and I wander about soaking up the local Pushkar ambience! This is truly a fair, a mela, like no other.

There's ferris wheels (now that looks truly frightening), merry-go-rounds, circus acts, food vendors of every sort, shopping that boggles the imagination, hordes of tourists, men, women, children, and animals everywhere. I find myself at the Baba Restaurant ... up on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Sadar Bazaar Road and the lake, watching the monkeys scampering over the rooftops. Quite the westerner and old hippie hang-out. A yummy lunch of tomato, mushroom and cheese pasta, mango lassi (blended yogurt drink), and Mirinda (orange soda).

Had I mentioned that Pushkar is a city with NO meat, fish, eggs or alcohol ... none, zip, nada (well, except our tents sell horridly expensive beer). I was a bit skeptical at first, but wow, do they know how to cook. Pushkar food is the best ever. My favorite is the meals they cook with a kind of soft cheese pressed to an ultra firm texture. At first I thought it was firm tofu, but it's cheese. So delicious! I've never seen anything like it in the states.

Yummy street vendor discovery ... peanut brittle. Not-so-good street vendor find ... hot roasted peanuts ... yuck! They were either boiled or still raw, not sure which, but decidly awful.

There's the final day camel pageant, or at least I think it's a pageant. There are judges checking the camel's feet, their gait, and inspecting their fur and teeth. The winners get ribbons and the press descends.

Finally, it's time to say goodbye to Pushkar ... and the Indians and their animals begin their long trek home.