Temple Carving Madness in Mount Abu

Yet another too-early-in-the-morning bus arrival from Jodhpur brought us to the small, friendly hill-station of Mount Abu. After passing out for a few hours, Kim and I spent the day exploring the small towns wide avenues and (surprisingly narrow) market alleys.
I love busy Indian markets. They're so much fun to just wander through. It's a really great place to see the true art of haggling taking place. For us tourists, we come to a point where we realize the value of our dollar and realize that, while for us Rs. 10/- (~20 cents) is not a big deal, it may make a serious difference to the seller. But watching haggling in these markets, where each person has a similar value for those Rs. 10/-, is a real treat. I've seen all sorts of deals struck, from an extra twig of grapes to a chicken plus-a-promise-to-buy-another-tomorrow.

After our fill of Abu's markets, we began walking around the lake that is enclosed by the hill's undulations. The path took us to a lovely viewpoint over the open agricultural plains of Rajasthan and Gujarat below. The surprising part was how far up we actually were. Since the town is built up around the lakeside, it's surrounded by the upper parts of the hill on all sides. So you lose perception that you're actually high up in the hills. It becomes very clear very quickly how high up the town actually is when you get to the edge, and the hill literally drops away for over half a mile down to the plains below. Stunning.

So we decided that we'd join one of our guesthouses' treks through the hills to scope out some better views. We were supposed to have a plain-jane sort of walk, but a split second decision to investigate a new trail possibility gave most of our group more than it bargained for. Our descent took us halfway down the side of the hill and halfway around the entire mountain. We ended up joining a family taking part in a Shivaratri pilgrimage to the small shivalings peppered around the side of the hill. In all honesty, the trek was quite difficult - steep inclines and slopes, narrow ledges, loose gravel, and low underbrush. And that the grandmother of the pilgrims was leaving all of us in the dust with her ability to navigate the terrain was, for lack of a better word, embarassing. While we were out of breath, she would restrain herself from tapping her foot impatiently waiting for us to move on...

But eventually, we emerged on the other side of the mountain near the town of Dilwara, famous for its Jain Temples. These temples are something else entirely. They are by far the most intricately carved that I have ever seen. So intricate, in fact, that I think that the artisans must have been a bit foolish to spend so much time carving out details that no one sees unless he looks really close. The Luna Vasahi and Vimal Vasahi temples were just extraordinary. The most amazing part was that the carvings were so close... I just wanted to reach out and touch them, and I COULD, but I felt guilty immediately after I did because the pieces looked like they'd break off if I touched it again. Each of the figures were so real, each of the leaves so delicate. They were totally mind-boggling.