Heading west, we left Jaipur for Pushkar, famous both for its only-one-in-India Brahma temple and its camel fair. Also, it is a very religious city, where no meat or alcohol is consumed. Holy personages abound!

The center point of the city is a lake steeped in Hindu myths; my hotel room balcony looks out over it. All year long, this place is popular, but when the camel fair rolls around, it’s even busier; shopping and eating opportunities increase, and there is a separate, adjoining fair with entertainment and rides. It’s all rather exciting.

I thought I was quite lucky to score a balcony room, until I was bombarded with the noise of the devotions – nonstop chanting, loudspeaker sermons, drums and cymbals – and the cacophony of thousands of happy people kept up until 11pm and then resumed at 4am. When I was on the balcony taking in all this hullabaloo, leaning over the rail to catch a shot of a baby monkey, a rather large monkey appeared six inches away from me. Surprise!

Hope you enjoy the photos. I’ll say it again: India is amazing.