Ride through Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur; Hanging out with monkeys in the blue city, Jodhpur

---

Feb 26 - Mar 1

We hired a taxi in Udaipur to take us to the fort in Kumbalgarh, the enormous Jain temple in Ranakpur, and then up to Jodhpur. The Jain temple in Ranakpur was particularly impressive. The entire structure was covered in intricate carvings, each pillar different from the others. They had a strict dress code and gave you a long dress if you needed to cover your legs. Shoes were of course forbidden, as was leather of any kind - There was also a sign indicating that menstruating women were also not allowed in order to maintain the sanctity of the temple...

We arrived after dark in Jodhpur, which is known as the blue city. Many of the houses in the old part of town around the fort are painted a light blue color, which symbolizes Brahma and is also believed to repel insects.

One of the highlights of Jodhpur was going to see the monkey temple. We brought carrots and bananas for all the monkeys, and watched the beautiful sunset. The trick was not to show your teeth as the monkeys take that as a sign of aggression. But they are such funny creatures, so it's hard not to laugh.

The lowpoint of this part of the trip was getting terribly sick from something I ate. It lasted a good day and a half - this has got to build some kind of immunity for all the funk and cooties we're exposing ourselves daily...

---