Sunrise to Sunset in Varanasi

While we’ve joked about ‘sunrises’ in India and how they aren’t really worth trekking to the top of mountains for, in Varanasi we threw all our baggage aside and joined the throngs to partake in watching the day break from the waters of the Ganges.
IMG_4081 Gliding along on a little boat, its a pretty amazing way to not only start your own day but to view Varanasi as it wakes up too.IMG_4073 IMG_4770 IMG_4773 IMG_4069 IMG_4788 IMG_4059 Sun firmly in place in the sky, hidden behind layers of who knows what, it was off to the stuff that religious studies dreams are made of – Sarnath, the legendary deer park where Buddha gave his first teachings on Dharma.  Pretty epic stuff, really!  IMG_4807 The parks is a veritable playground of stupas, ruins and even a bodhi tree or two and has been developed as a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from everywhere and other nosey/interested parties.  Many predominantly Buddhist countries have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath and it was a particularly cool thing to be able to see the differently clad groups of monks all hanging at the park, doing their respective monk-y stuff. The different countries have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath in the style that is typical for their respective region which means visitors to the park also have the opportunity to experience an overview of Buddhist architecture from various cultures.  Its an amazing and spectacularly interesting place, so if you’re in the area, break away from the Ganges, get thee to a tuk-tuk and explore!IMG_4792 IMG_4796 IMG_4793 IMG_4094 IMG_4797IMG_4812 What better thing to do when you’re feeling all serene and Buddha-ised, than to throw yourself back in to the teeming streets of India?!  The day was still a babe thanks to the early morning boat ride jackknifing us out of our slumber.IMG_4960 IMG_4959 Blue Lassi is one of those places on the well beaten track in Varanasi that is worth a visit.  The due who runs it has has been making the sweetened yoghurt drinks since he was a child in this third generation business near Manikarnika burning ghat.  IMG_4947 IMG_4950 Seasonal fruit is added, and the whole shebang is served in the traditional clay pot – which you smash when you’re finished!  IMG_4954 With the day drawing in quickly, it was time to have a final stroll along the ghats back towards a sunset boat ride.  It seemed like the perfect way to finish up the day and also our time in Varanasi.IMG_4821 This time round, we launched our thoughts/prayers into the water with beautiful candles, which floated serenely down the Ganges.IMG_4832 IMG_4834IMG_4838 IMG_4840 The serenity was, however, fairly short lived as we our boat jostled for position with hundreds of others to witness the nightly puja rituals on the ghats.  Vendors stepped from boat to boat plying their wares.  It was crazy, awesome and the perfect ending for our time in this city that is unlike any other on Earth!IMG_4864 IMG_4878 IMG_4118

Street Art in India

Graffiti isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of art forms in India, and true to that assumption what we had been seeing so far in our travels came in more traditional forms and content – lots of sculptures and pictures depicting gods, history and legends.

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It was pretty awesome when we also started to stumble upon less traditional subject matter and techniques as well as re-interpretations of key icons.

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IMG_4881In Agra, Dan decided to be lazy and while the other guys walked back to the hotel he decided he would catch a lift on an auto rickshaw.  An striking piece caught his eye so Dan asked the driver to stop so he could take a picture.IMG_4613Impressed with Dan’s enthusiasm, the driver then mentioned that he knew where more walls were and would be happy to take Dan there.  Rupees were handed over and off they went! IMG_4614 The driver said that a man from Europe came one day and started randomly spraypainting the walls. The local people didn’t know what to think…but now there are some pieces scattered around the Taj Mahal area of Agra which actually seem to blend in with the rather scruffy looking town surroundings. IMG_4617 Pretty cool really. Another great bonus for Dan on his birthday!IMG_4611

A couple of days later we were in Varanasi. Low and behold the banks of The Ganges were covered with graffiti.IMG_4674IMG_4787 IMG_4889 IMG_4779 IMG_4032 IMG_4709 IMG_4029 IMG_4663 IMG_4708 IMG_4710 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA IMG_4692 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIMG_4695IMG_4665Street art really is an international language!

The Ghats of Varanasi

Varanasi was top of our must-do list in India.  With H-J’s background in religious studies geekery and Dan’s lust for, well, everything, it was one of the most highly anticipated aspects of our time in India.  Everyone seems to have different feelings about Varanasi – some find it too touristy and showy, others feel it encapsulates the very essence of what it is to be Indian with many other folk lying anywhere in between.  Others still encounter wild spiritual journeys that leave them there for dozens of years, hairier and somewhere closer to enlightenment.  Regardless of the motivations for being there, we would hazard a guess to say that everyone takes something away.  Its hard to convey the reality of Varanasi with words so we’ll do our best to give you a guided tour via (mostly) pictures.  The ghats are an amazing part of the fabric of Varanasi, so what better place to start?

VARANASI!!!

The word ghat refers to a series of steps leading down to a body of water, in most cases a holy river such as the Ganges, which courses through the city.  Varanasi has nearly 100 ghats and it is that daily life of the residents is showcased at it most intense, most visible and most accessible.   IMG_4644IMG_4737Of course, like most of the rest of the north of India, cows are everywhere.  ”Beef, beef everywhere and not a bite to eat.”
IMG_4750 They live, bathe and die alongside their human counterparts.IMG_4704 IMG_4688 IMG_4743IMG_4649 IMG_4686Boats are the other noticeable feature here, constantly shuttling devotees and tourists along the fairly calm river.

IMG_4019 IMG_4714IMG_4734IMG_4026IMG_4004IMG_4902With less distance between the sacred and profane than most of us are perhaps used to, extreme spirituality lies alongside laundry.

IMG_4890 IMG_4016 IMG_4913The Ganges is a sacred river to Hindus along every fragment of its length. All along its course, Hindus bathe in its waters, paying homage to their ancestors and to their gods by cupping the water in their hands, lifting it and letting it fall back into the river; they offer flowers and rose petals and float shallow clay dishes filled with oil and lit with wicks.  When someone dies, ashes of the deceased can be brought to the river, or the body itself can be burnt on one of the cremation ghats.  The river is considered the embodiment of all sacred waters in Hindu mythology making it a pretty special and highly regarded place, drawing lay people and holy people alike.IMG_4942IMG_4038IMG_4944IMG_4915Religion, chores, play, commerce, art…everything exists alongside the water.IMG_4894IMG_4899IMG_4893 IMG_4731 IMG_4719 Now, before you all start to think that India has got to our brains and we’ve gone all reflective and serious and stuff, we’ll insert a bit of light relief, in the form of Dan getting sucked into a traditional touristy trade on the shores of India – snake plying!IMG_4917IMG_4928 IMG_4930 For a fee, Dan could even play with little snakey.  IMG_4931 Seems he has overcome his fear of snakes!IMG_4937 As with all good blogs, this must come to an end, and what more auspicious place to leave it than at the final ending for devotees – the burning ghat.  Photography is not allowed of the burning area but en route we caught some cool views of the piles of wood (used to create the pyres) and the surrounding areas. IMG_4046 IMG_4946A pretty amazing place to end up, don’t you think?

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Inflatable Poo and a Pie or Two…

Perfect days occur most often in unexpected and unplanned ways.  Making the most of a day off work mid-week and the unusually sunny, clear day, we decided to hit Hong Kong’s Western Promenade area to check out an exhibition that has been the talk of the town.  So forgive us the short segue from our India travels – but it was the kind of random day that would be rude not to share.

As mentioned, the weather was utterly stunning; it was one of those rare days when the hot sun is shining, the clouds are puffy and white, the sky radiates a delicate but wonderful shade of eggshell blue and the pollution has cleared off allowing the buildings that line the ever impressive HK harbour to be seen in high definition.

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The International Commerce Centre (ICC) is a particularly impressive feature of the Kowloon side of the skyline.  Reaching 118 stories into the heavens, it houses, among other more boring and commerce-y stuff, the Ritz-Carlton, which lays claim to not being only the world’s highest hotel but also to having the world’s highest swimming pool and bar.

IMG_8140Until June a rather random blot on the ICC’s otherwise glamorous foreground can be seen, much to the amusement of, well, everybody with half a soul.

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If you’re looking at this and thinking “that looks like a giant pile of poo”, you’re right, that’s exactly what it is! Well, the inflatable kind anyway which is definitely a good thing in the 30 degree day.  IMG_8139

“Mobile M+: Inflation!” is one of a series of pre-opening “nomadic” exhibitions curated by M+, the new museum for visual culture currently under construction at the West Kowloon Cultural District.  The works, according to the M+ website, are meant to “explore the ever-changing notions of nature and artifice, intimacy and monumentality, permanence and temporariness, as well as beauty and the grotesque in the realm of constructed landscapes.”

Enough of a mission statement, let’s check out some poooooo!

IMG_8146 Just how big is this poo, exactly?!  In the interests of scale, H-J got up close and personal.IMG_8151 IMG_8152 Its not all just shits and giggles at the waterfront.  There’s also a gigantic piggy, complete with apple eyes and meaty insides.IMG_8158 IMG_8178 Upon venturing in through the porky ribcage, one can rest upon inflatable cushions complete with photographic overlays of bacon, mince and other porcine products. IMG_8162 Bugs and legs were up next.IMG_8168 A bowl of water is placed in front of these inflatables, allowing for some cool perspectives/illusions if you feel like crouching down.  Cause half a gigantic upside down body and a giant bug aren’t cool enough by themselves?! IMG_8170 A lotus flower was in the process of being re-inflated when we were there but H-J was far too impatient to await its reaching full glory as something else had caught her eye…IMG_8250 A life size Stonehenge BOUNCY CASTLE!!!IMG_8179 We’re sure you’ll all agree that one of the suckful things about being a ‘grown up’ is that you’re not allowed to do lots of stuff that looks really fun, like jumping on bouncy castles. That is, unless you’re slightly rich/bonkers and can afford/justify hiring your own.  The rest of us mere mortals watch children bounce with glee and harbour secret thoughts of screw driving away their fun.  Not today though – this bouncy delight was open to all (other than those wanting to engage in human sacrifice) and being the amazingly smart people we are visiting on a super hot weekday, we all but had the run of it to ourselves.IMG_8181 IMG_8224 IMG_8182 IMG_8226 IMG_8228 IMG_8187 IMG_8200 IMG_8207 IMG_8212 It was the most fun we’ve had in ages and certainly the most fun we’ve probably everhad jumping around like crazy folk while sober.  Awesome does not begin to describe it.  We’re convinced that if everyone was forced to engage in this kind of activity at least once the world would be a well more chilled out place.  Oh and we felt justified in skipping the gym today – its quite a workout bouncing around like an idiot for half an hour!

Appetites duly worked up and sweat glistening on our brows, our eyes were caught by the promise of Food and Drinks in a humble looking trailer just beyond the ‘Henge.
IMG_8231 What lay inside this discrete package was far, far greater than we ever would have guessed or dared to imagine on the waterfront of Hong Kong.IMG_8233 Pies.  Yes, PIES.  True blue meat pies.  In a queer twist of absolute serendipity the one that H-J randomly ordered even had a little pastry caribou adoring its golden top.  Actually, its probably a cow being a beef pie and all, but we’re going with the theme of perfection here.IMG_8237 Not just pies were to be had though.  Sausage rolls too!  This was a Kiwi expat’s dream.IMG_8240 Piles of poo, a bouncy castle for adults and meaty pastry delights.  Does life get any better than this?!  IMG_8252Thanks Hong Kong for a wildly unpredictable and incredibly incredible day.

And should you want to order your body weight in pies, or learn more about the exhibition (and not just look at pictures of poo), then do check out the following:

Tai Tai Pies http://www.taitaipiepies.com/home.htm

Mobile M+ http://www.mobile-mplus.hk/#_home.

Catch you all back in India soon to share our last few days in the north!

Taj Mahal and Cow – the Birthday of Champions

Travel in and of itself is a wonderful experience (mostly) but there are certain auspicious happenings that make the days even more memorable and ones so epic that they forge a spot in your rhetoric for the rest of your days.  In this case the tale we will bore our future grandchildren with will be of how India found itself lucky enough to be host to the particularly significant occasion of Dan’s 30th birthday!

Even more spectacularly, the day in question just happened to find us in our first non-Rajasthan destination, that of Agra (Uttar Pradesh, India) so what better way to start a memorable birthday than by catching the sunrise at…the Taj Mahal!!! Seriously, having begun the year at The Great Wall of China and now finding ourselves at the Taj, 2012 cracked up to be a pretty special year.

The day began with an early morning group walk down to the road to the Taj from our hotel, belting out the Happy Birthday song at the top of our lungs while sleepy Indian vendors set up shop for the day.  As day broke, we arrived at the line to wait for the gates to open.

H-J had purposefully not looked skyward the entire previous afternoon upon arriving in Agra, awaiting the moment we turned that magic corner and were greeted with the beauty of the building itself.  Its fair to say then, the anticipation was pretty high!

After a cup of chai, some shuffling into the correct lines for entry (ladies, gents, Indian?!?) it was time to pass through security and onto the grounds beyond.

Even the gate was exciting and we stopped for the requisite self-photos along with the ooohs and ahhhhs that emanated from our over excitable little beings.

Then it was through to the Other Side…where lies the absolutely magnificent Taj Mahal itself.  It really is as stunning and impressive as you would expect.  We felt chills.

The Taj Mahal But not enough chills to stop us taking literally a billion photographs of the palace, the mosques, ourselves, the water…blah blah.  The weather is pretty smoggy and grey at this time of the morning, as well as this time of the year, which has had a strange effect on all our (and everyone else’s photos) in that they all look like we’ve photoshopped ourselves overtop.  But we promise, we were actually there!
IMG_4479 IMG_4471 In honour of our time spent in Korea, where couples famously wear matching outfits when on honeymoon/holidays/just kicking it in the main street, we decided that we would have a team outfit for the day and rocked our most fabulously awesome Go! Go! Curry! t-shirts.  IMG_4459IMG_4509 IMG_3950 IMG_3960OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA IMG_3957 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After taking a spin around the mausoleum  which is pretty incredible too (you can’t take photos in that particular area so, goshdarnit, you’ll have to check it out for yourself) it was off back outside to soak up more the atmosphere, surroundings and people.

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A pretty fantastic way to spend a morning, really!

But the afternoon beckoned.  Memory eludes us as to exactly how we ended up there but nonetheless we found ourselves entering through the security gates, scanners, bag checks and into the lobby of the gorgeous Radisson Hotel, Agra.

IMG_4642 Actually, our memory isn’t that hazy – basically Prince Chirag whinged and whined about needing a dose of luxury until the point we all just gave in and went with him.  Not that begrudgingly of course, and much less grudgingly again when we eyed up the gorgeous line up of cakes – a slice of which was complimentary with a drink.  Hard to say no really.  Desserts and Proper English Tea were promptly ordered.

IMG_4621IMG_4633 IMG_4624 It may have been Dan’s birthday but judging by the look on Chirag’s face, it could well have been his lucky day too!IMG_4622

Of course, being a 30th birthday party, a divine looking chocolate truffle cake was discretely arranged while Dan was occupied eating his free slice.  Another round of Happy Birthday burst into being and a surprised looking Dan blew out his candles.

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What else to do in a lovely hotel?  Well, it just so happens that the Radisson is home to a day spa so massages and foot scrubs were indulged in.  We won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say, its the cleanest our feet looked/felt since arriving in India three weeks prior.

An afternoon can pass quite quickly in this fashion and before we knew it, it was dinner time.  Now, for those of you who know us well you’ll know that we love our meat.  And juicy, delicious beef is something that we’re spoiled with in New Zealand.  In Korea we would go hours out of our way solely to find something beefy and delightful…so you can guess how were feeling in beef-deprived India…It turns out, however, that they had saved the best till last – we opened the menu to find A BEEF BURGER.

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Happy Freakin’ 30th Birthday, Dan!  This one is going to be hard to top…

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La Bicicleta y Observación de Aves Diarios – The Joys and Perils of Bird Watching

According to Dan, bird watching can be experienced in one of two ways; the easy way, or the hard way.  During the course of our travels, Dan, while being a relative newcomer to the art of bird-watching managed to engage in both ends of the spectrum!

Let’s start with the easy way.

Dan has always been into chicks, whether they be the feathered variety or other. On each of his expeditions he enlisted a beautiful and intelligent sidekick, (he can use the word ‘sidekick’ as both are currently on the otherside of the world from him) to accompany him.

The first bird-watching colleague was Janie, who has been a bird fan from way back.

IMG_1757Destination: the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park where Dan and Janie decided they would spend an hour or so becoming one with nature and its feathered friends.

The park is the world’s largest free-flight, walk-in aviary and is home for over 3,000 birds a considerable amount of which Dan managed to photograph.  Seriously, we now have (virtual) rolls and rolls and rolls of birds.

IMG_1823IMG_1774 IMG_1761IMG_1809 IMG_1780 IMG_1812 IMG_1738 IMG_1765 IMG_1793 IMG_1776 IMG_1763 IMG_1779 While the bird park was spectacular with lush bush and many different species of birds, were were consistently reminded that we in a zoo for birds and NOT the great outdoors.  Had we been in the wild, of course we would have been pulling and picking bird’s feathers until we could pull and pick no more.  IMG_1769 IMG_1767 IMG_1768After a wonderful time walking around the grounds visiting with the exotic and beautiful birds, you might start to feel a little ‘peckish’…and what could be more appropriate to eat on the grounds of a bird park than…fried chicken?!?  Oh, so that’s where the dead chickens go…IMG_1731

So that was the easy way.  ”A walk in the park” truly describes the Malaysian bird watching expedition.

Bird watching in India,however, was a different story.

This time, our lofty adventure takes place in the Northern Indian town of Bharatpur, Rajastahn.  The town itself barely exists other than housing a few guesthouses all of which are there to hold people who have come to experiences the wonders of the local attraction, the bird park.  Now we had become quite accustomed to accommodations that were perhaps less than our usual standards but here we were pleasantly surprised to discover that not only was our abode in Bharatpur clean, and far from any noise, it was stunning.  As soon as we were able to get into our rooms gorgeous, queen sized beds were jumped on, floors were danced on and, best of all, long, luxurious showers were enjoyed using the full range of fine bath products.  Bliss.

Scrubbed, clean and happy it was to the lawn (poolside, we might add) to sip gin and tonics while discussing the events both past and to be undertaken.  How very colonial of us!

The activity of choice, of course, in Bharatpur is none other than bird watching.  The royal majority of the troupe were more interested in enjoying luxury for a day or two than in glimpsing our squawking avian friends so Dan enlisted the help of his other intelligent and beautiful sidekick, his Argentinian friend Vanina.

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After spending two overnight train trips trying to teach Dan the words ‘Diarios de motocicleta’, Dan and Vanina decided it was time to forget the ‘motocicleta’ and stick with a good ol’ ‘bicicleta’ through the bird sancutuary.

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Once the domain of royal duck shooters, the World Heritage-listed Keoladeo Ghana National Park is now regarded as one of the world’s most important bird sanctuaries with over 400 different species. Even for non-bird fanciers, the forests and wetlands in the area are a welcome respite from the noise and chaos of Indian cities and for our weary, dusty selves Bharatpur, where the park is located, seemed like a mirage in the middle of the desert.  Oh wait, it kinda actually is!
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This time round, no over abundance of signs pointed to the suggested behaviours when bird watching   It seems in retrospect that perhaps Dan would have indeed benefited from a sign suggesting that a very, very important thing when bird watching, even if there are squillions of exciting birds around, is to make sure you stay on the track. 

IMG_4274In Kuala Lumpur staying on the path was a redundant thought but in India’s somewhat more natural setting, Dan saw an interesting bird and like a shot was straight off road to get the best shot.

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A minute later Dan came back to the road, his arms all cut up, bleeding and without half of the gear which he had left under the just-visited thorn bush a mere 10 metres away.
IMG_4229Ouch!IMG_4227 A definite don’t.

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Vanina was not going to put up with a whining Kiwi…so on they went, battle wounds still bleeding.IMG_4222

Its a pretty cool park with a lot of picturesque spots just gagging to be documented.

IMG_4231IMG_4264IMG_4308IMG_4298 IMG_4297 IMG_4303 IMG_4245 Like everywhere else we’d been lately, hoardes of scary, plotting monkeys lurked at every turn.  IMG_4239 IMG_4236The park was wonderful.  After Dan suffered his mix up with the thorn bush we thought  surely that would be the only problem for the day. Unfortunately, bad things do notoriously come in threes.
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Yip, that’s a part of the bike that shouldn’t be lying on the ground – but as luck would have it before Dan and H-J decided to go on a crazy Asian adventure Dan used to work at a bike shop.  Well, technically he ran the cafe inside the bike shop, but over his time there had picked up a thing or two about bike repairs.  Sweet!  Bending down to fix the bike, poor Dan encountered Number 3 as his pants split from seam top to seam bottom (no pun intended).  Gutted.IMG_4257After getting ripped to shreds by a thorn bush, broken bikes, suffering severe chafing (though not as bad as the camel induced type of earlier in our travels) and shorts displaying a hole that was increasingly bigger every time Dan moved it, was time to say goodbye to bird watching.  Oh wait, maybe bad things come in fours!  And that’s how NOT to bird watch.
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Thanks to a stroke of good planning by H-J (who had had her feet up sipping on gin and tonics all afternoon)  she was there to comfort Dan with her wide range of Korean skin care products.  Dan cleaned himself up and met up with Vanina for a cheeky face/ foot moisturising treatment at the end of a very tough day!

IMG_4340Which is possibly the best bit of bird watching, living to tell the story and enjoy some luxury.

The Hottest Rickshaw Driver in the Sub-Continent? Oh, and Jaipur.

At the heart of Rajasthan lies the state capital of Jaipur.  Now, our city experiences so far in India hadn’t been our favourite ones…the crush of people, intense smells, heavy traffic and, most of all, the eye searing pollution, had made us rather appreciate the smaller places.  Jaipur had a lot of potential though; enough temples, forts and palaces to sink a battleship!  What else lurked beneath the crush of motorbikes and auto-rickshaws, we pondered…
IMG_4104Taking off through the streets, we discovered quickly why Jaipur is also known as the ‘Pink City’… if ‘pink’ actually meant ‘kinda salmony orange’.  Is it just us, or is this not really pink?  It wouldn’t pass the Hello Kitty test, that’s for sure.

IMG_4102So what did we do there?  Well ingesting delicious items is always somewhere near the top of the list for us in a new place and the papaya juice at this streetside stand was incredible!  He’s been cranking the business for decades, not surprisingly, when are see how darn tasty these drinks are.  It was the perfect pre-movie treat.

IMG_4106 Pre-movie, we hear you exclaim!  The word on the street was that for the ultimate touristy Jaipur experience it was off to the famous Raj Mandir for a Bollywood feature film.  IMG_4205 The cinema itself is huge, seating 1,000 keen movie-goers at once.  We were there at prime time so, no surprise, the OTT foyer was packed.IMG_4115IMG_4127Seats taken in front of the large screen, a proper old school rouched curtain rose on the latest Bollywood sensation, Student of the Year.  No, it wasn’t in English and no, we aren’t fluent in Hindi after a whole two weeks in India.  Also no, there weren’t subtitles.  But it really didn’t matter.  The plot was pretty straightforward (coming of age rom-com),  the scenery (both the backdrop and the actors) was stunning and the audience filled in the rest of the gaps with heartfelt ‘boos’, gushing ‘awwws’ and raucous cheers at all the appropriate junctures of the movie.  If you’re one of those people that demands silence while attending a movie, then India, it seems, is not the place for you but we thought it was amazing providing a totally different movie atmosphere than we’ve ever experienced anywhere else.
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We were even provided with a half time break – it was like being back in the 80s at a movie in NZ!  Unlike the 80s in NZ, however, here you could pop out and refresh yourself with a large Coke and some samosa! IMG_4138Stocked up and excited for the remaining half of the show we settled back into our sliding chairs.  Who needs English when you have a thousand Indians cheering and a couple of samosa?! Bolly Bolly Bolly!IMG_4136The next morning it seemed like we should pull up our socks and get stuck back into the temple-palace-fort circuit.  Jaipur is the second biggest tourist destination in India for the good reason that it has wonderful examples of all three of our beloved Indian regulars.  First stop, though, was to a little coffee shop tucked just off one of the main roads.  IMG_3726 The Indian Coffee House is a restaurant chain across India, run by a series of worker co-operative societies.  While its good to always take Lonely Planet recommendations with a grain of salt, this place had a wonderful local atmosphere and served super cheap South Indian brekkies alongside omelettes and toast combos.  The service is patchy but hey, that’s India and by now we were starting to expect ridiculously long waits for food as well as frequent omissions, unavailabilities etc…and we’re on holiday so who cares?!IMG_3725Post-breakfast, it was off to explore the Monkey Temple.  Actually, its not called that at all but we got distracted and paid more attention to the tribe of monkeys than the spiritual stuff.  On a hill overlooking Jaipur, it was a pretty amazing setting with loads to capture our interest.
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While Dan was off playing with the monkeys, H-J and Ushma had started to let their inner animals out by getting very excited over a very good looking auto-rickshaw diver. Quote unquote: “He can drive me any day!” Dirty ho bags.

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They figured trying to photograph him in the rear view mirror would be the subtle approach.  
IMG_3765But no, H-J didn’t run off with the driver.  IMG_3774Now for those of you are entirely over the diary-ness of this blog (and then we did this, and then we did that, and then we…SNORE) we sincerely apologise and will be much better little cariboud next post.  Promise.  Too make up for it, we will finish with a real highlight of Jaipur and no, it isn’t a temple of a fort (though we saw plenty of those)…remember Chirag’s face when he was greeted by the Next Level Chocolate Cake?  

Well, stumbling upon a rather funky looking ice cream parlour Chirag and Dan took it upon themselves to create some monster sized sundaes.  Can you say “a sundae as big as my head, please?”  The only thing bigger was the boys’ smiles.
IMG_4209Love at first sight thawed, slowly at first, then more rapidly as they dug their way further into the ice cream trenches.  Along with, it appears, with their determination to conquer this dairy feast.  Their faces were a sight.
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Movies, monkeys and gluttony – turns out Jaipur wasn’t so bad after all!