Monkeysssss

So just to make sure we get all the details, our last day in Jaipur was great! We climbed up to the Monkey Temple with a 10 year-old guide Latnu (he followed us up so we didn't really have a choice- ha). We first went up to a Hindu temple where a little girl showed us how to pay our respects and then got the bindi (dot) painted on our forehead as a blessing. She then gave us a tour of the temple, which like many of the others we have seen is full of very old, colorful, slightly odd looking statues as well as pictures and tons of decorations around the gods. She then also offered to do henna for us, which we were all for...so now Dar and I have what is clearly a 8-year-old's art on our hands...indefinitely! ha But it was a super relaxing morning before we went down to the actual Monkey Temple which looks like a sprawling, abandoned temple with hundreds of monkeys scampering around! It was mid-day so there weren't too many as they tend to hide from the sun (as we probably should have been as well :) But there were enough to live up to its name, and we even got to feed coconut to a few (or I did as Dara, animal lover that she is, refused - ha).

We spent the rest of our time in Jaipur wandering the bazaars, and then had a nice dinner ON the "wall" to the old city!

The over-night train was not nearly as bad as Dara and I had feared...and we actually felt safe snug up with our bags on the "upper berth" - top of 3 beds. But we were kinda stuck there for the 12 hour train ride, so even once we woke up - to the all too often guy holding up a postcard with his hotel to try and drum up business - we had to crawl around in our little beds. But it was worth it to arrive into Jaisalmer at noon, and still have the whole day to explore!

Our hotel in Jaisalmer was by far the coolest we have been in, in a 500 year old house (the guy who helped us was the 18th generation of his family to live there!) It was all open windows and old carved decorations on the walls, and just beautiful! It was actually located IN the fort - or giant sandcastle that is Jaisalmer. So it was great to wander the little streets of the fort and spend the afternoon generally relaxing and browsing the leather and embroidery that the town is famous for.

Running to catch our next 6 hr train, but will write another post about Jews wandering the desert and our camel safari... more to come, Jodpur is up next!