Bundi Again

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Yesterday, did a tour of some of the temples in the area. Saw about 6 or 7, most of which involved a thoroughly knackering walk up very steep flights of steps.

The temples ranged from almost derelict, unused looking buildings, in the middle of nowhere, to brightly painted, end of the pier bandstand- esque buildings, thronging with people clanging bells and chanting. Also in the middle of nowhere.

Had a bt of a scare at one of the derelict looking places. I was charged by a rather vicious, huge, King Monkey, who bared his teeth, growled and ran towards me, menacingly. Luckily, the taxi driver jumped in front of me and shouted at him, and he ran off, but it was a pretty close thing - I could almost feel his horrid yellow tomb stone teeth sinking into my calf - scary! I really should have had a rabies jab. (The driver suggested that the monkey may have been agitated/ attracted by my lurid pink camera - thanks, Mum).

Another little temple was hidden away in a natural rock crevice. A modern looking, concrete structure, resembling a multi storey car park, had been built up around it, presumably to protect visitors from the elements, and somehow, whether the car park looking building had been built around them, or whether they'd just broken through with sheer force, these massive tree roots, all knotted and gnarled and ossified, sprouted from the ceiling. Sprouted is probably far too delicate a word - they splurged, splayed, whatever.

Today, I hired a tuk tuk to take me to Borkhandi, a rural little village about twenty five mins drive from Bundi. It was great - really quiet and peaceful. The tuk tuk driuver seemed to know quite a lot of people, so we spent a lot of the afternoon sat in sun dappled courtyards. refusing constant offers of food. Wherever we went, we were followed by a small crowd of kids. Again, me and my luirid, candy floss camera acted like a pied piper. According to the driver, the kids around the area still aren't that used to cameras, and they were all clamouring to have their pics taken, and absolutely loved looking at the results afterwards.

After we'd wandered around the village and chatted to a few people, we sat and had tea at the tea stall, and the old geezers, learning I was from the UK, all started fishing in their pockets and tins for odds and ends of foreign coins that they'd picked up, or presumably been given by tourists.

I can recommend Bundi, if you;re planning to visit rajasthan - from what I've heard/ read, some of the better known places in the state are pretty touristy, hassley and frenetic, but bundi's seems pretty laid back. Aiming to stick it out here for another couple of days before moving on to Udaipur, then back to delhi for home.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Pushkar?