Khadjuraho, August 5
Temples of Kamasutra
After a week in this city of lunatics, I am delighted to be back on their feet in the village of Khadjuraho famous for its temples with facades covered with erotic sculptures depicting the positions of the Kamasutra. In a country with a libido as restrained as India, it is quite pleasant to come across these spirited bas-reliefs depicting very explicit oral sex, orgies and even a few somersaults zoophiles. Many engraved figures for the education of young Brahmins of the X century, which visibly amused then and now.
Agra, August 8
palaces of Orchha the Taj Mahal
Leaving Khadjurao, I go through Orchha, a former Muslim capital provided with a half-dozen gorgeous palace, now a quiet village. I have two more days.
I win then Agra, where I discovered the famous Taj Mahal, a kind of Indian equivalent of the Eiffel Tower and more romantic. It is a mausoleum dedicated to his deceased wife by a sultan, a marvel of balance while finely carved white marble, the graceful dome flanked by four minarets, all placed in front of a long piece of water to 'in reflect the image. Its architect was even thought of elevating the building on a land-plain that he was silhouetted against the sky rather than on the campaign. Agra but has little interest elsewhere and touts for hotels and restaurants in town are really mad. After admiring the Taj Mahal, I'm leaving too dry for the palaces of Rajasthan and its maharajahs.
Jaipur, August 10
Palace and congestion
But I am quickly annoyed by the types riders who take turns to try m'embobiner with their stories of smuggling precious stones. And faster still, I can not stand the jostling on the pavements and traffic jams in the polluted streets. By the end of the tour regulatory, I put the sails. Or rather, I fight a whole afternoon in the middle of the spray on the man who crashed the station ticket offices freeway before finally dig up a ticket to Pushkar, a small village sacred to the peaceful reputation.
Pushkar, August 17
Sacred Lake
I had not lied, the place is worth a visit. It's a cute traditional village built around a small lake surrounded by the magnificent Ghats chiseled white buildings, all overhung by mountains. It is the only temple in India dedicated to Rama, the god of creation. Suddenly, the place is inhabited by Brahmins, who are dedicated to his worship. These characters at the top of the hierarchy Indian to me are not very friendly. The haughty, they spend their days walking the ghats to sell puja, a sort of prayer, before leaving the pilgrims perform their ablutions. When entering the water, they hit the surface in their hands to scare away fish. As the lake is sacred and that fishing is prohibited, it teems with monstrous carp mutant sometimes measuring over a meter long, equipped some with long hairy fin, which gives hives and send electric shocks the unfortunate swimmers that affect ...
Anyway, pictures of landscape, it's going for a while. On the banks of the lake, it also crosses the big bulls and pretty lazy gypsy, which resemble those of a lot here, but in just over bejeweled ...
Curée night
As everywhere in India, Pushkar is located cows lying in the haggard munching a tuft of grass or a piece of newsprint, air wonder what they might think. But here they are accompanied by monkeys who watch the plates of tourists for their biting their pancakes, friendly donkeys resting in the shade, wild pigs which snoops in the mud, full of dogs copulate and fight alternating and a few cats that do not reduce, given the number of dogs. One evening, this bestiary gives me an amazing spectacle. Around midnight in the sleepy village, I saw two men grabbed the large bin of the main square on the floor ... and empty all its contents! In a few seconds while tumbling the dark mass of the whole menagerie teeming village who rushed to the detritus giving that a shot horns, a bite to better secure its place in the quarry at night.
meetings
A Good Pushkar, I also fell on a gently eccentric population. First, there is the Swiss with whom I am board, a hippie who converted to Hinduism lived here for twenty-five years, but never managed to be ever be accepted by the local Brahmins who openly despise. Her testimony is all the more interested she is the first person to give me a perspective of the Western side of the picture. Big fan of opium, it also gives some tips to happy customers. I met with her a very nice French who became his guru by renaming the name of Hanuman, the Hindu god bodybuilder headed monkey. There is also this very lean English studying traditional percussion for six years in a village near Agra. It is a cultivated and charming character, but then entered a spin when it comes religion. Adept Ari
But the most curious person I meet in Pushkar is a Sufi Muslim equivalent of the sadhu, with whom I spend an afternoon talking about religion. He saw God and ganja, "he tells me cheerfully putting all my shit in four successive Chillum, where I had plenty to make a dozen joints. Then, of course, I am totally devastated and I have great difficulty understanding his explanations on the omnipresence of God, the sacred lake that lies before us, the marital infidelities of Rama and Krishna why would cut head of his son Ganesh before replacing it with that of an elephant. So after a while I stopped her flow of words by putting the headphones in the ears of my walkman Consumed with the sublime album super dark and minimal Plastikman. He is amazed to discover such a thing, but he loves and suddenly I have a good hour before me to regain my senses. Then we have dinner together before finishing the evening with a game of cards. In the photo, he discovered Kraftwerk.
Finally, there's this sadhu cul-de-bowl a bit eccentric, with whom I do not speak but who seems nice.
Jaiselmer, August 20
The early troubles
After one week I am going to Jaiselmer, a majestic fortified city walls in the desert to ocher the extreme west of Rajasthan. Unfortunately, again touts for hotels, shopkeepers and taxi drivers are so tourists are stupid that I finally get tired and move on.
But before climbing into my bus to the Himalayas, I have time to rent a bike and roam the desert for two days, a good idea which I will return later. It was then that I watch a dance performance, where musicians collide two pieces of wood, after the fashion of the Spaniards with their castanets. Below, the dancers they were accompanying.
Finally, Jaiselmer is also the city where I feel the first effects of diarrhea that accompany me faithfully until the end of my trip, getting weaker day by day and I progressively disgusting Indian food, Yet I found excellent so far.
Bikaner, Aug. 21
sacred
Rats After an overnight trip, during which I crossed Jodpur ...
... I stop in the town of Bikaner and take a little commuter bus to visit a temple dedicated to rats. It's everywhere. They converse in corners, climbing on the Trident of Siva, take a nap next to bowls of milk or trot between the feet of visitors. All bathed in a surreal atmosphere of devotion that the stench can not disturb.
Leaving the temple, a new mystery awaits in India: a true five-legged cow. It's true, I swear, there are five. The extra leg, all rickety, out of his left shoulder blade and goes around his neck, the shoe dangling limply in the air. The phenomenon is decorated with red ribbon and an elegant presentation in a sleigh pulled by flashy decor another cow. I'm so sawed that I forget to photograph.
A little later, I came across a meeting joyously colored. I do not know
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