Departed late (10am) from Jaipur. Before leaving we were met at the hotel by Mahmud who delivered rings we’d purchased yesterday that needed sizing. Because of the long distance between Jaipur and Pushkar our local contact Ahmit recommended that we eat lunch in Jaipur at the nearby Raj Palace hotel, a totally austere pretentious hotel. Not a hotel I’d ever want to stay at. Left at 2pm for Pushkar and arrived around 7. On the way we stopped at the rest stop we’d stopped at last year with Santa Fe Weaving Gallery. It must be “the rest stop” for tourists. Vijay, our wonderful driver, bought a DVD to show in the van, which turned out to be completely in Hindi but we tried to follow along anyway.
Had difficulty finding the royal tented camp as we approached and stopped several times to ask locals for directions. Pushkar looked like a honkey tonk carnival town with ferris wheels and flashing lights. Main street looked like something out of Woodstock with long matted-haired wise men and camels and awful booths selling junk.
At last we arrived the “Royal Tents” and checked in. Tents had a flap over the door and flap between main area and bathroom. The bath had what appeared to be a port-a-potty with a wooden seat but it flushed! Water at the sink came out of an old teapot; you turned the key a half turn and little water dribbled out and then another half turn to shut off. Bathing involved a hose and two buckets, one with cold water and one with hot, which you needed to request 5 minutes before needing.
The wait staff was incredibly attentive. They wore belted jackets and dhoti and beautifully colored turbans. We were supposed to put a little red flag outside when we needed something but as soon as we lifted the flag to go outside to post the flag, the staff came running across the sand.
Pushkar is located in the desert of Rajasthan and there are extreme fluxuations between day and evening temperature. At this time of year daytime can be 95 degrees and in the evening 45. I needed two blankets in order to sleep. So before leaving for the big dinner tent we put in an order for blankets. Dinner at the royal camp is a vegetarian ("Veg" as Indians call it) buffet. This is my favorite food on the trip so far. Especially wonderful are the lentil and bean dishes. By the time we returned to our tents it was freezing and we hurried into our pajamas and rushed to get under the covers.
