Into the jungle we went...

we found a natural spring...a natural source of water....

and being India they of course built a temple around it....

it was my driver who told us about this spot....and since it was exploration afternoon we said yes..take us there...

we being me, my mother and my friend Kathy....

he took us along narrow dirt roads....more meant for a dirt bike or even better a camel...

we went "deeper and deeper" into the jungle and closer to the Aravalli hills....

leading up to the entrance...looks like a walking path from back home but this was the road....and it was only this last part that was "made"....otherwise it was just sand 

Burarhik temple is partly built in the mountain....it was bigger than I thought...

it was more like a small temple village....they even had a barn for the holy cows....temple cows...

tok off our shoes and started climbing and exploring the temple grounds...

just look at this wonderful banyan tree...it was huge....

it was like a tree house temple....kind of cool.....

not a lot of sunlight coming through because of all the trees...

jungle life....we where just waiting for the wild jungle animals to show themselves...like swinging monkeys....

jungle paths....

and here's the reason for the existence of this place....the spring....coming through the big hole in the stone.... water coming from the mountain....

my friend Kathy in action trying to get down...

here you can actually see the water coming from the spring....

we climbed up to the black temple at the entrance...

puja shoes....so that the goods can walk out...

this had to be a "teasing bird" because he was really teasing us...following us around but every time we tried to get a picture of him he hid behind the leaves...maybe it was a long tailed shrike ?....just a lot bigger than the ones I have seen before...

I think we saw at least 50 peacocks ... so easilyscared...but so beautiful...

there where butterflies all over....some I haven't seen before....like this one...

water buffaloes...

they always look at me like..."lady, you're not from around here are you?"

nilgais....Indias largest antelope...this one being the male, the blue cow.....

they are quite funny looking with such a small head to a huge body....

not a day goes by without seeing traffic controllers or holy cows..

it had impressive horns, don't you think ?

wow ! what an afternoon this turned out to be....amazing....jungle and all these animals....

oh, I forgot to tell you about the humangus snake my mother saw...!? turned out to be a bicycle tire !

I'm so happy that I have such wonderful driver....

 he is such a nice person and I do think he really enjoys all these little adventures he gets to take me and my friends on.... 

I wonder where we will go next !

Dhobi Ghat-the laundry place behind Ugrasen ki Baoli

the other day my friend Kathy, my mother and I went back to visit the Dhobi Ghat...

remember I showed you pictures of wash hanging out to dry ?

last time we understood that their had to be a place where they actually did the washing but just didn't explore the place enough....

now we did...

not as much wash as last time....

but then...all these big sheets...

I was told before coming here that 35 dhobis ( washers) work here and that it costs 20 rupees for a double sheet....

so we walked in and ......it was like travelling back in time.....

old tubs filled with laundry....done by hand....

these giant ground tubs....and the booths are all washing sinks...

scrub away the dirt and the stains....

they did have a couple of these washing machines...

but the rinsers where more modern.....see the water coming out....

it was a big place and it was laundry everywhere....

this guy put on a show for us...he was so funny....he was singing and laughing....

but the way he treated the clothes I'm sure happy it wasn't mine....the clothes can't last very long with this treatment....

the folding guy....

inside a little house ( hot hot hot ) the ironers where working....and not only women....

surprised to see that the irons where electrical....

the room was so full of laundry....

another folding guy

who would have thought that a visit to a Dhobi Ghat could be so interesting !

I didn't get to see the ladies making starch out of arrow root though....

maybe next time....

have a lovely monday dear reader 

The Oberoi Gurgaon..it dropped a star or two last night

not far from where we live is where we had dinner last night....

since it was my mothers last night with us it we thought it was nice to try a new spot....

the hotel is beautiful 

the "pool" in front is really welcoming...and the wall with the greenery was just gorgeous...

do you see the "rock climber" working on the wall ?

just as the Oberoi in Delhi there's a gallery and art all over....and the hotel houses some of the top brands in fashion like Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta etc

always fun to look...

he was kind of ...different....

we started of with drinks in the piano bar....blue lagoons and rusty nails...

the blue lagoon was really good....and Mr M enjoyed his rusty nail...

then we decided to eat at 361...gorgeous view....

the food was really really good...too bad that the chefs work gets spoiled by waiters fumbling with...

almost everything....we ordered Carlsberg beer and they brought in Cosmopolitans....hmmm

I can't explain how you can get beer and drinks wrong...anyhow....we waited for our food but didn't get any bread.....got the check and for once we did check the check...and the had added two extra beers on our bill !!...so I recommend the food but be prepared for waiters  not knowing what they are doing....

the view just got better and better ....

before leaving we had a peak inside the art gallery....strange art I tell you....

we had a really nice evening and I think my mother really enjoyed it and that's good....

at the moment she's on the plane going back home...

and boy, does she have stories to tell her friends !

The Smurfs popped up in my mind...

at the foot of the Aravalli hills in the outskirts of Gurgaon I found this temple....

 I saw all these colours from far away..that's what got me interested ......and I saw a little pink temple at the top of the hill...life around the temples are usually interesting....

and this time was no exception

it's amazing how much effort that is put in on all these temples...

bells are always present ...

when I saw this huge colourful statue I thought of Disney figures and the smurfs....

this was the biggest holy cow I have ever seen.....it was a whole village of cows...

again the effort put in at this place....

a dog greeted me into the temple....she wasn't in the best shape though.....so I kept my distance...

on my way to the hill top pink temple....

I didn't count the steps up but it took a while..took the picture when I was almost at the top...

I think that I'm in quite good shape but this climb really wore me out...38 degrees celsius and no water also helped....the truth is that both my calves cramped when I climbed down again.....so this visit stayed with me for three days....

I couldn't use me legs the day after !

it was a nice view from the top though....little hazy .....too hazy to get any good pictures....

a couple of families lived in and around the temple....this man was one of them...

also part of the village around the temple..

I'm happy that I managed to get any picture at all of this beautiful blue bird...

it was really tiny....but look at that colour....

don't know the name of it though....maybe you do ?

enjoy your saturday