The temple to rival all temples!

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Wowee it's days like today that completely reinforce that the decision to come to India was a great one!!!

So after breakfast Ellen and I caught a bus to Ranakpur, when we got on there were just 2 remaining seats, right at the back (always the worse place as VERY bumpy) and the only other tourist was also sat there (a Jewish American - from Boston, called David). On the way we 4 India ladies started to talk to us, this is an unusual senario as typically they DO NOT speak unless spoken to or if they are selling something, but in this instance they were all English teachers so were very happy to sit and discuss the more complex issues of India with us (honour killings/divorce/caste system/arranged marriges and the like) which was very interesting as as yet i had only heard the male perspective of it all.

So after a few hours our bus came to a stand still on one of the very precarious windy mountain roads, on investigating it became apparant that one of the trucks had overloaded and was then unable to make it up the mountain and had broken down in the middle of the road. It had already been stuck there for over 1.5hrs and the Indian people seemed to be oblivious of the easy answer and keep arguing amongst themselves. Having never driven a truck before so unable to help (noone spoke English so we couldn't even tell them what to do) we decided to the great amusement of everyone there that rather that sitting around we would walk the rest of the way to Ranakpur!

So armed with our backpacks containing vital supplies - camara, buiscuits and water we started our venture into the unknown. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the scenery was a visual feast of mountains, rivers and vegatation and we were privaledges enough to see monkeys, lizards, fish and the most extraordiary dragonfly in vivid colours unlike any i had seen before - all of which we would have missed in the bus. Typically the bus went past us just 15/20mins later but by this point we had already decided fate was on our side as we enjoyed our walk enormously.

So on arriving at the Jain Temple we to be honest were not overly impressed but we then discovered that their belief that beauty is on the inside is reflected by their temple....
Built in 1439 the inside is an incredible complex in white marble supported by over 1000 pillars all covered in intricate carving (no 2 the same) and the ceilings are simply breathtaking. Everytime you look around you or up you are encapture by the sheer beauty of the place and it is impossible not to feel both completely overwhelmed yet completely at peace in there. For me it is on a par with the Taj as the most impressive place i have encountered on my travels so far and again i only wish i could convey it's true brilliance to you all in a way that does it justice

After 4 hours that have been forever etched into my brain we caught the bus back to Udaipur unfortunately there were no seats left for our 3hr journey - i had to take a few pictures just to give you an indication of just how bumpy it really is. However as i have already mentioned fate was on our side and within 20 minutes 2 people left the bus right where Ellen and I were stood so (relative) comfort ensued.

The day came to a perfect ending with an all you can eat Thali for just 45Rs before heading back to the hotel for a well deserved rest ;-)

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