I remember why I never climbed Masada!!!!

Bloody Hell!!! I mean BERRR ... LUDEEEEE .... HELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! 320 steps!!! And I did it!! My legs may not be my best friends at the moment but I bloody did it!!! Got to the top, nearly passed out my heart was beating so hard, I thought it was going to burst out of my chest (just like that scene in Alien!!) Claudine was great, she just marched up had a quick look at the sun setting and said: "Right let's go down before it gets too dark!" Whilst I lay sprawled out on the chair, sweat pouring profusely out of every pore in my body, practically catatonic from exhaustion!

I was allowed a couple of minutes to recuperate and managed to take a couple of photos, the scene was stunning!! 

Then we made our way back down by torch light. The pair of us must have looked so pathetic, both slightly nervous as the terrain was quite rough for the first half hour and my legs were still shaking from the walk up.

As we carefully made our way back down, slipping every now and then, (sometimes it pays to have a large bottom, excellent cushioning!!!) I kept getting berated by my travel companion for not walking down sideways as apparently it is safer?? When suddenly out of the blue there was this strange noise and I shone my torch back behind us to see a rather large Monkey, running down the steps at full throttle!! We were both frozen to the spot, my brain kept shouting at me to "get that over ripe banana out of your bag!!! Now!" then luckily Mr Monkey lept off the steps and disappeared amongst the bushes!!

We carried on painstakingly making our way down the steps and boulders, as I commented how agile the monkeys were, must be their aposable big toes that help them grip. When suddenly a group of tourists came running past us, laughing and chatting, not the least bit scared about the journey down.
I think it took us about an hour to get back down in one piece. A major challenge for me and Pam, if you are reading this, you would have been well impressed!!! (Pam is my physio that I have to visit regularly to ease the pain of my active life getting in and out of my car!)

Today is chill out day ... our driver Suresh has the day off, so we are just taking a leisurely stroll through the market and visiting the Brahmen temple. Stunning, but unfortunately I was not allowed to take any piccies!!

I would like to go back to the hotel this afternoon and relax by the pool, but I have to say that this time I am in agreement with Claudine, the water is so green and murky I am not sure that Cholera is the only thing that we could catch in there!!

Tomorrow we move on to Puskar for a few days then onto Johdpur!! Bet you can't guess what I plan to buy over there!!!!!!