Back in the day, "I'd Walk a Mile for a Camel" was one of America's most popular slogans. Today, that's passé and smoking is a divisive habit, but going to North India and Nepal for a Camel Fair--that's a horse of a different color! It's not exactly cheap, at $2,990 from New York for 16 days, but it's good value, especially if you like camels, otherwise known as "horses designed by a committee."
You can't get more exotic a subject for your camera or memory than visiting the Pushkar Camel Fair in princely Rajasthan, where elephant rides can supplement your activities if you get tired of jumping on and off "the ships of the desert," which we know as, yes, camels. Where else could you get more local and down-to-earth color than by mingling with the crowds in this tented city adjacent to Pushkar Lake during the full moon days of November?
There are camel races, trading in camels and other livestock, handicrafts, drama and music competitions, and a chance to sample regional cuisine. You may be among the very few persons from the USA visiting this popular feast. And now that the posturing and threats between India and Pakistan have died down (with large help from American companies wanting nobody to make waves in which their Indian counterparts could be swamped), it's relatively safe to visit India once again.
You won't spend more than a day and a half at the fair. The rest of the time, you'll be seeing the best of India and Nepal. After you depart Los Angeles, San Francisco or Newark on Singapore Airlines, or Chicago and New York by Air India Airlines on Tuesday, November 12, you arrive in Delhi the next day, where you transfer to the Hotel Taj Palace/Taj Mahal. After a full day of touring Delhi (including the Red Fort and the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi), you visit Jaipur, for its famous palaces. Then it's on to the fair on November 17 and 18, thence to Agra, for the Taj Mahal by day and night. After that, travel to Khajuraho, World Heritage Site of erotic murals, and Varanasi (the former Benares), the center of the Hindu religion, gorgeous silk and burning and bathing ghats. From there, you fly to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, where you see, among other sites, the Temple of the Living Goddess. Then it's back to Delhi and Singapore (overnight in one of those places) and depart for home.
The cost per person, sharing a double, is $1,995--for airfare from Chicago or New York add another $995, for departures out of Los Angeles or San Francisco add an extra $1,195. Single supplements are a whopping $399. Airport taxes are additional. Your land price includes lodging in deluxe and first-class hotels/castles, room taxes, daily breakfast, three meals (vegetarian) at Pushkar, meeting and airport transfers, baggage handling, comprehensive sightseeing tours and excursions, services of an English-speaking guide, entrance fees, travel by air-conditioned car or coach in India, airfare to and from Nepal as per the itinerary.
For reservations and more information, contact Exotic Journeys Group (based in Chicago) at 800/554-6342 or 312/832-9740, Web site www.exoticjourneys.com.