Jaipur: elephants and camels and horses and cows and goats and boars and cats and dogs and monkeys!

And we are off! It is sort of a relief to be on the road, living on the high of insecurity instead of in suspense of it. And we certainly have had some adventures. On our second night in Jaipur, after a hard day's work seeing palaces and their 'ethnic' displays, I decided we needed to head out and see the Temple of the Sun God, on a hill way out on the edge of town. Why? Because of the monkeys!

Earlier that day we were sitting at Jaipur's Jantar Mantar, pondering the astronomical marvels, when August said, "Whoa! Look at that cat! Wait!? Is that a puma?!!" It was a monkey, running along the top of the park's wall. I think that was the high point of the trip at that point, and made me think of the picture a six-year-old Emma drew me of a monkey, becuase it was my favorite animal. So how could I resist going to a temple famous for the monkeys that live around it.

It turned out to be a rather longer walk than I had calculated, but it made such a nice change. Jaipur is very heavily touristed, and every block we walk we are accosted by at least three very persistent rickshaw drivers. It's hard to remember that most Indians are probably as nice as Pratishtha and her family. But this night, walking out of town in the dusk, we finally got out of the tourist district. It was like being back in Syria, with people (mostly children and young men filled with bravado) saying 'hello,' and being both shy and delighted at getting a response. They seemed particularly amused if I gave them a 'namaste.'

It was completely dark by the time we got to the hill to the temple. But as we approached the path, we saw them. Dozens of monkeys sitting all along the edges of walls and prowling the darkened corners, watching. They were waiting for us. Apparently many visitors to the temple bring food to attract them, and they have come to expect it. During the day, maybe it would seem funny to see monkey scamper about you, like pidgeons at San Marco in Venice, but at night they seemed more likely to carry us off for dinner.

Accompanying the monkeys were several goats (who tried to eat my plastic bag), a cow, a cat and a boar(!). We walked part way up the hill, surrounded by strangely human stares, and one made a try for my shopping bag, giving us both a good scare. It was too dark to try for a picture, so you'll have to use your imagination. We eventually decided to turn back, not entirely out of fear of the monkey army, but because there were vagrant families cooking dinner on the path, and it seemed disrespectful. I don't know how sorry we were, though.

So it was quite the day for animals, considering we had already seen elephants and camels walking in the streets (camels are used for pulling carts here), and later that night a man galloped down the street on a bejewelled horse. But nothing could compare with the monkeys.