05 March 2015

This day has held very many firsts for me!

We took the bus 3 hours from Jaipur to Pushkar, a small holy town effectively consisting of only one street running right the way through with market stalls and a great temple in the centre, and a Holy Lake where the people go to pray.

We were first taken through an example of prayer, which culminated in a wish for our loved ones, and throwing flowers to the river to seal the wish.

We then briefly explored the market and temples, but kept it quick as the town was all a hustle and bustle in preparation for tomorrow’s annual Holi Festival, which will take place all over India!

So we grabbed a quick spot of lunch overlooking the beautiful Holy Lake

Before heading off on our adventure!

We took a camel ride, two and a half hours right through Pushkar’s Thar Desert, taking us past beautiful hills and mountains.

 

I absolutely loved this! Considering I’ve never so much as rode a horse, it was very new and… bumpy! And my camel was a little naughty, more interested in talking to other camels than walking anywhere, but I loved him all the more for it!

Finally, we arrived at our destination. Camp! Again, other than a night in mum and dad’s back garden with my sister, something I have never done before! We got there just in time to witness a serene desert sunset

Before tucking in to some chicken and paneer tikka skewers.

Mmmmm.

Since then, we’ve all been relaxing together around the campfire. But now, at 10:00, the time has come to get a reasonably early night, (in a tent that, by the way, is held up by bamboo) as we need to make a sharp start tomorrow at 5:30, in order to be back to the bus in Pushkar and return to Jaipur in good time to beat the Holi Festival traffic.

 

Night!