Monkeys!

We walked up the hill to the Monkey Temple in Jaipur and yet I took no photos of the temple.  Just the monkeys for which is was named. I am fascinated with monkeys, especially when I can interact with them directly.

There was one tiny monkey who got tired of waiting for Tukesh to give him another peanut, so he leaped into the air, rebounded off of Tukesh's hip and made a grab for the bag as he arced away. I want to take that one home.

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These monkeys are more confident than any other group I've met.  Several of them tried to grab the bags of nuts from our hands.  Most of them would take a peanut from our hand and then pull our fingers out straight to check for more.  Even the littlest ones would fight the bigger ones over a peanut.

One of the larger males, who had been bullying the smaller ones, got annoyed with me for ignoring him. As I was walking toward a group of smaller monkeys, I felt the back of my long top being pulled backward. He'd grabbed it and was yanking me back to where he was. When I turned around he 'shouted' at me. I made a loud grunting noise and made an angry face, so he backed off. Ooh ooh ooh... I am the monkey queen!

Happy Holi 2010!

This year, we celebrated in Bikaner at the residence of the local Raj.  He didn't ride around on a camel whilst waving a sword and shrieking war cries, but he did put out a fairly decent spread.

Buzzing About in the Thar Desert

This tiny bee was no bigger than my thumbnail

Juxtaposition

Crumbling cenotaphs with towering wind turbines in the background.

Snake Tracks

I'd like to see a snake making its tracks in the sand... As long as it didn't know I was there.

Touts or Terrorists?

We went to see the sand dunes in a village not far from Jaisalmer. Along the highway, we didn't pass very many other vehicles going in either direction.

On arriving at the sand dunes, three men spotted us and came racing towards us from their roadside lean-to. One got to my window and started to lean in, but I knew what was coming, so my window was already on its way up. The other two ended up at Tukesh's window and they both leaned in and grabbed the door of the car.

All three were screaming offers of camel rides, safaris, tent camps. Tukesh made the mistake of trying to argue with them until I shouted "Just drive!".

This guy here wasn't going to let go of the window until it was nearly high enough to take his fingers off. We were already in motion and he'd been holding on, running alongside.

After we took off back where we came from, they all got on motorbikes and chased after us, shouting pleas through our (now re-opened) car windows. Ten kilometres later, the last one finally gave up.

I may have to go back there some day, so I can get it all on video.

Climbing Gear

Rocky hills, high wind and a sari.  Perfect.

Dancing for Joy

On the drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, we went a few hours out of our way to see an amazing temple in Osian. 

It was so un-amazing that I was ready to leave after taking just one photo. 

And then I heard the singing...

Napkins, Salt, Pepper, Sugar... Birds

We were sitting at a rooftop restaurant in Jaisalmer, when these little birds suddenly popped up over the edge of the wall and went straight for the sugar.

Muppet Murder

Somebody skinned a Muppet and put its pelt on this bed in Jaisalmer.