Monkeys! Monkeys! Monkeys!

If you're in Jaipur, I recommend going to the Monkey Temple, just outside the city about 3 km east in the town of Galta. There are roughly 5,000 monkeys that call the surrounding area their home.  The temple is dedicated to Hanuman and the temple grounds are inhibited by priests and worshipers.  The temple grounds are quite pretty.  There were a lot of people bathing in the pools around the temple grounds. 

It was definitely a great sight but got a little bit unnerving when the monkeys started to move from one side of the mountain to the other by crossing the stairs that lead to the exit just as we were starting to leave.  I followed an older woman who was completely calm and not bothered at all by the monkeys running in front of her, sitting and eating or sliding down the wall to cross. 

Another note to those traveling - apparently it is good luck to give food to monkeys and we were in luck, there was a guy right outside the temple grounds selling peanuts.  What are the odds?? 

Amber Palace, Jaipur

This weekend I am in Jaipur, Rajasthan! It's one of the bigger states in India just west from Delhi.  It took about four and a half hours to get here but overall a much smoother trip than the one to Agra. 

The town's all about tourism and especially shopping!!  I only wish I had known that most shops are closed on Sundays.  I didn't do any shopping on Saturday so Sunday was spent roaming around with a coworker from Delhi, his family, the guide, and our driver trying to find places that didn't want to rip us off completely.  But not to worry, found plenty of stuff. 

Besides the shopping Jaipur also has some great sightseeing.  I'll go in a bit of backward order and start with things I saw today.  First off was Amber Palace (pronounced Amir). It's a gorgeous palace sitting on top of a hill right outside of Jaipur in the town of Amer.  And what better way to get to the top than on top of an elephant.  It wasn't the most animal friendly way but I couldn't resist.  I got asked by a coworker in a completely serious voice, "You never rode an elephant before??"  He was shocked when I said "No, it's not a common thing in the US." 

The walls of the fort are 16 kilometers long.  It looks like the Great Wall of India.  Pretty impressive!

I loved all the different windows.  Such beautiful frames for the pictures.

Mirrors were used to reflect the lights of the oil lamps to light the palace.  

One of the balconies from the Raj's quarters.  This looked onto the court that had 11 doors - one for every 'official' wife.   The other 21 had other 'quarters.'

Definitely worth visiting if you're in the area.