Sun Temple

Today we went to some temples about 120 km from Ahmedabad and to a family silk weaving business that is very famous in India. As you can probably tell, I am kinda burned out on the long blogs so I am just posting pictures so you can see what's up. We are taking the train to Jaipur tomorrow night on the "Midnight train to Jaipur" and it will be an adventure!

An Indian extended family at a cultural visit today. They were really excited to see the pictures on the view screen!

The silk weaving machine! They dye the pattern into the thread and it is a very intricately involved process. They can do about 8 inches per day and this scarf will sell for about $4000 dollars over the internet. This is a family business that has been going for 4 generations and they are now the only family in India doing this kind of weaving.

This was the idol in a Jain temple. Jains are offshoot of Hinduism and they believe in complete nonviolence and non-killing of everything. Some extreme Jains even wear a mask so they don't kill any insects when they breathe!

I finally got a picture of a monkey today! They have been very elusive to my camera. Our bus driver pulled over so we could all get this picture!

The new India in action! These guys are carrying boxes of computer equipment on their scooter. 

Isn't this AMAZING??? I saw women carrying piles of sticks, bricks, cloth, etc! 

This is called the Sun Temple. It was built in the 10th century and is really amazing. When you get close you can see intricate carvings of various Hindu mythical stories, daily life, and a lot of erotica (which I will not be posting pictures of, sorry!) PS- In case you are wondering, I am sweating in this picture.

Some carvings at the Sun Temple.

Later, we went to a "step well" which is an area carved into the ground with water in the bottom. It is 5 stories deep and was built in the 10th century along one of the silk roads. I couldn't resist, it was the perfect opportunity for a senior picture!

A carving at the step well that I thought was pretty cool. I still haven't seen an elephant but I have heard that Jaipur is the place and that we will probably get to ride on one! I am pretty excited about that!