On our last day in Jaipur we visited The Sun Temple, more commonly known as Monkey Mountain because of the vast number of monkeys that congregate at dusk to feed off the locals when coming to pray. 

Many are pretty tame, but the majority are vicious bastards – they get quite irate if you don’t feed them, especially if they know you have food.  We visited early in the day so there were only a few monkeys there.  Just another experience we’re sharing with you.

It’s different to Delhi in so many ways – ignoring the filth that seems to be widespread throughout India – the atmosphere, culture and buildings here is a considerable improvement.

We only had a whistle stop tour but managed to fit quiet a lot in.  The Pink City got its name when the entire old city was painted pink (it’s actually moire rustic), a colour associated with hospitality to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876 (later became King Edward VII). The colour has been maintained since – probably because it attracts so many tourists.

Sorry for the lack of decent photos, we’re not as trigger happy and we haven’t been inside many of the temples – trying to sticking to our budget!

On our arrival in Jairpur and having checked into our hotel, we were told that there was an Indian wedding taking place for 300 guests that evening in the grounds which our patio doors opened onto. The proprietor said we were more than welcome to attend, but having realising it was a  Muslim wedding – no alcohol – and not Hindu, we decided against it!  We were more worried that we wouldn’t get any sleep with the noise.

It was interesting seeing the preparation and then the event. We both had a guided tour of the so called kitchen area and they were very proud when we asked if we could take some photos.  It was a very quiet affair, no music or dancing and it was all done and dusted by 12am. The men on one side and the ladies on the other – how strange?  Had it been a traditional Hindu wedding, there would have been plenty of booze and unlikely to finish before sunrise – maybe then we would have joined in.

Mutton was the dish of the night.  It was crazy to see them mixing the dough and building the clay ovens for the naan bread. Mind you, if you had seen the number of flies surrounding the dough, you too would have refrained from eating, period!

Thankfully, we had a great night sleep.

It’s been a few days since we provided an upload – it’s not for the lack of internet cafes, it’s finding one you trust and many have stopped tourists connecting via Wi-Fi  because an American was arrested recently on suspicion of sending terrorists emails.

We’ve immersed ourselves within the markets or bazaars of Old and New Delhi, taking our time to explore every nook and cranny.  It’s striking to see the arrangements and abundance of colours.  Alongside these beautiful stalls you see horrendous poverty and we’ve chosen not to show these for fear we’d put you off your breakfast.  It’s difficult to describe third world poverty until you witness it first hand.

On a more upbeat note, it’s so funny listening to an Indian pronounce ‘S’, everything is ‘Sh’, “please come shit in my car, please shit, shit” – it’s been crack’n us up!

Tomorrow we plan of visiting the sites of Delhi with a car and driver (should have clarified this earlier) so hopefully we will have some great shots.