ninja monkey, the adventures of We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls ~ Anais Nin

While we were with the wedding party and in the south where the headbob is much more prevalent, I noticed that Kellie, Michael and I all started imitiating the locals in our mannerisms. Like with pretty much everything I do, my headbob is too frenetic and rapid, but it at least provides entertainment value.

We have now arrived in Jaipur and are on the last segment of our trip. We left the wedding party yesterday to go off sightseeing on our own. We flew out of Bombay to the desert state of Rajasthan. It's much cooler and dryer here, which is welcome relief from the heat, humidity and pollution in Bombay. It is also significantly less congested though it is a city of 6 million.

Jaipur is part of the Golden Triangle area of India -- the other cities being Agra (Taj Mahal) and Delhi. This area is noticeably more touristy. Many more locals speak English and are very aggressive about getting tourists' money. It seems like everyone we meet wants us to give them money -- it's hard to trust anyone because we are so used to people pretending to be nice and then asking for money. We encounter many more tourists here which is welcome because it makes me feel like the staring is diluted. Oddly, though, they also seem to be staring at us. Not sure what that's about.

We've done a lot of sightseeing in the last day -- lots of forts, palaces, and temples to see. The same goes tomorrow when we drive out to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Tonight is the full moon, and visitors are allowed to see the Taj at night for the 5 nights around the full moon, so we are hoping to visit both during the day and later under the moonlight. After Agra, we take our final train up to Delhi where we will do some shopping in the bazaars and sightseeing. And then we'll head home to jetlag and back to life as usual which will be a welcome change after this adventure.