Ben, Keshav, and I went to the "grocery store" and got some food. Keshav recommended we try the pomegranates and I mentioned I had never had one before, so he bought us each one. We also got rice, green bell peppers, and bread. I was glad that the first pomegranate I tasted was so good, possibly the best ever (I've had them since and they're just not as good... especially in Utah).
Rainy day!
After breakfast, we walked around and met some kids who wanted Ben to skate for them. He popped an ollie or two and then asked the kids if they wanted to try: only one did but all his friends were laughing. Even though no one can ride a skateboard that well, I appreciate that some are willing to try it.
Ben walking around
Side of the street
Building
Tuk-tuk
Teaching how to stand on a skateboard
Skating for himself
Guy smoking and 'watching' his kids
Friend of guy, also smoking
Skating with more kids
"Take a video of me by this cow... but be sure to get the tuk-tuk driving past"
3 Amigos
Wild pigs
We walked to park and met a bunch of other kids. Ben taught some how to ride a skateboard; they all loved it. I was a bit surprised that the two littlest kids knew more English than the older kids, they talked to us a lot. I don't know how to modestly say this, but everyone at the park loved us, hahaha. One kid ran home to get his older brother to introduce him to us (he spoke the best English), another ran up to his house and told his mother, grandmother, and sisters to look over the balcony at us playing with them. When he ran back down to us and pointed up at the balcony and said, “Mother! Sister! Uhh...” and everyone laughed and some of the other kids said grandmother and he nodded and said, “yes, grandmother!” and we all laughed again.
2 kids at the park
A pup
Friends at the park
Skating at the park
Skating
At this point, I felt my pocket and I realized I didn't have my wallet! We looked all over the park and didn’t find it, so I ran back to where I was sitting when we were skating with the kids earlier, but I didn’t see it. I figured that if it was not our Airbnb, then it was already picked up by somebody. I was bummed, but realized there wasn’t a whole lot I could do right then. They asked us if we liked to dance and when we said yes, they put some music on and told us to dance for them, hahaha. We 'danced' with them for a few minutes and then asked us if we wanted to play cricket. We told him we had never played, so they gave Ben a cricket bat and (very excitedly) explained that they will throw the ball to him and he hits the ball. Of course he hit it on the first try and they all cheered hahaha
Dancing
Cricket
"Can we take a selfie before you go?"
We said our goodbyes and continued walking around Jaipur.
Donkeys
Trash filled river
Trash or big puddle?
you decide.
Average cityscape
A man carrying logs
Skating
Jaipur sign + temple on the hill
I had read online about a place called the Galtaji monkey temple, but didn't save the information on where to go exactly. But as we were walking around we saw this big gate and walked up and saw some monkeys hanging out in front! We freaked out a little bit because we had not seen monkeys on our trip until now. A guy rode pass on a motorcycle and through a box full of bananas out onto the road and a bunch of monkeys swarmed in to grab the food, so I quickly grabbed a couple for Ben and I to hand out to the monkeys! They cautiously would grab them from her hands and take a few steps back and then peel them from the bottom and ate them, so cute!
Monkeys
Money for you
Monkey just chillin'
Banana town
Kind of like a dream
Cow + Galta Gate
Pig
Then we walked through the gate, up the road a bit, and saw so many more.
There was a guy there with a duffel bag full of fruits and vegetables that he'd hand out to the monkeys. Sometimes a monkey would get a bit greedy, so he'd would yell something out it in Hindi, and give it a little smack on the head with a fruit, hahaha.
Monkey man
Someone's eating good tonight
A troop of monkeys + Hot Tub (our dog... he's introduced later)
Seconds before a monkey was scolded, haha
Zoomin' past
Momma monkey was not happy...
Thinking of how to skate without alarming the monkeys
Ruins of a building
Monkey and Goat
Baby monkey
Small troop
Ben skated around a bit and as we started heading up the trail, we met this kid who was about 7 or 8 years old who started following us up the trail and said, "I give you tour?" and we said, "okay, thanks!" He replied, "yes! I give you tour: rupees, yes?" "No rupees. No tour, no thank you" we responded. We didn't need a tour, I knew we'd just walk up this trail to the temple, but the kid kept insisting that he give us a tour and we'd give him rupees. He didn’t really speak English but we told him that we do not need a tour and we won’t give him any rupees. He didn't understand, but kept following us so we decided to ignore him and thought if he wanted to follow us he can, but in the end we’re not giving him any rupees. After walking for a few minutes, the kid tells us to follow him into a passage way and we repeated, “okay. No rupees though”, disappointed he says, "okay. No rupees" He then leads us on top of some houses in this "village" on the hill. Some women and other kids came out of a house, I'm not sure if they were related but they were all smiling at us. The other kids pointed to Ben's skateboard and said stuff in Hindi, which he assumed mean "ride the skateboard! Show us how to!" or something. So he rode it around a little bit and asked if they wanted to try it, so the kids sat on it and Ben pushed them around and they all had a great time. One of the ladies was holding a baby so our "tour guide" handed the baby to Ben but it didn’t really seem amused, so the kid took it back and handed it to me with the same result.
Then of course he asks us, "rupees? For baby?" Hahahah no thanks
Jaipur
Jaipur
Baby + Ben
This poor kid got his finger run over;
the look of betrayal at the end is so sad
This kid learned from the previous kid's mistake.
His hands were holding onto the front of the skateboard
Then we continued hiking up to the temple. The kids started to follow us so we nicely told him one last time, "you can follow us but we are not giving you rupees. We do not need a tour." He understood and went back into the "village". We met this dog that we called Hot Tub. He followed us all the way to the monkey temple and then stopped. He was a great guy, he followed us for a while actually.
Hot Tub
Accidentally majestic Hot Tub
Good boy!
Right before we got the temple, we saw a bunch of monkeys by a pool of sorts. There were signs that said you had to pay if you took pictures, but luckily we only had our phones, so I guess we could say we weren't taking pictures.
Baby monkey
Scratching the back
Once we got to the temple, we met a monk! He smiled and pointed to Ben's skateboard and the flat surface outside the temple and said, "yes, go!" He asked if we'd would get in trouble if we rode it and he just smiled and nodded, pointing to the skateboard. A few others were watching and no one attempted to stop him, so he rode it around and they watched in amazement. I'm sure it was the noise that made more monks came out; they watched him for a few minutes, then he offered to let them ride it. Only one of them did, and he had these weird crutch like things which helped him to ride? Of course, as he was riding around all of his monk brethren were laughing. Once he got off, no one else seem to step forward to ride it, but the younger monks pushed forward an adult 'leader' (I’m not sure if he was a monk or not because he wasn’t wearing the same robes they were. But they all seemed to 'know' him). Ben held onto his arm as he rode around, they were hysterically laughing.
Ben skating around
Skating monk
Shreddin'
Different... but okay
Ben teaching a monk how to push the skateboard
I looked inside one of the temples and a priest came up to me and asked me if I wanted to look around. I said sure, and he led me down into the basement. He brought me into a room and began by wrapping a red string around my right wrist (called Kalava), then said some sort of prayer/mantra to me, and drew a red marking on my forehead (called Tilaka).
I'd say this was a very nice, spiritual moment. I felt very "at peace".
Kalava (fell off about 6 days later)
The room my 'ceremony' was in
Tilka'd Zac + temple
I went back outside the temple and the sun started to set so Ben and I started heading back to our Airbnb. I saw two Indian guys trying to take a selfie and I said, "do you want me to take a picture of you two?" and I said yes. The flash on their camera wasn't really working well so used my phone. We introduced ourselves; their names are Pradeep Jangid and Govind Sharma, and I got there WhatsApp information to send them the photos. After I took the picture, they asked if they could take a picture with me! Hahaha. I took a picture with each of them and then they asked if I could let my hair down (it was pulled back) and if they could have a selfie with the two of them and me. I laughed, and said yes.
Pradeep and Zac
Govind and Zac
Govind, Pradeep, and Zac
We found Hot Tub again, and he followed us all the way to the front gates! I told Ben that if he followed us to our place, that we should adopt him. But right then he ran up to a guy and he said, "hey thanks for finding my dog!" Hahaha. We talked to him for a minute, and said that he stopped following us right before the temple and he laughed and told us it's because they monkeys are mean to him, so he just stays out.
Keshav had made some dinner for his family and offered us some extras: yellow curry, naan bread, and vegetables. I’m not sure if he is a great cook, we’re just in India, or I was hungry, but it seriously was so good.
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