pretty

pretty, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

andy and laurel indian wine party style

bar shot

scene, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

top of the bar, hanging double bottle lights, bottle projection wall, and balcony view

wall

wall, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

this wall has one side with clear glass facing in for wine bottle display and one side with sand blasted glass and lights for a nice fuzzy projection effect. that works both ways so that you see the same effect from the lobby below. the floor is blue epoxy. to the left in this photo is the glass display area and entrance, to the right is the glass mosaic bar and exit to the balcony. there are large viewing windows where you can see the bottling room at work, but you cant see them in this shot.

crystal palace

glass, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

here's the display area, made of glass to reduce claustrophobia in a small space and, oh yeah, cuz it's pretty and sparkles

bar full o' people

barfull, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

we finally get to see it in action

final touches

final touches, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

there are more pics and adventures to share without respect to actual timelines, but for now we're moving on to heading back to maharashtra to put some final touches on the tasting room for our opening party. here priya (one of our favorite indian friends) and i clean the bottle lamps above the bar.

lengur lounging

lengur, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

the red faced macaques are pretty freaky, little mean sharp toothed drunks looking for a beer brawl, but the black faced lengurs are mostly chill (unless you have something they really want). Hanuman, the monkey king, is supposed to be a lengur.

kid and kid

kids, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

he was snuggling and petting on his goat as i walked by so i asked him and his mom (?) sitting nearby if he'd like to have his picture taken. he really wanted the goat to look at the camera when i took it and then for it to see the little digital image when i showed it to him.

painting detail

painting, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

i love the detail of the foliage. the palaces used to be covered with painting like this but most of it has worn away...there are a few spots that give a glimpse of how bright and vibrant they must have been.

boatbuilders

boatbuilders, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

these guys were very proud, and rightfully so as you can see, of the boat they were building out of popsicle sticks, complete with powered lights and little characters having tea parties on deck.

lady of the sands

desertho, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

we stayed one night near this womans house in the desert where she lived with a man, a toddler and a baby, a few dogs, and a few dozen goats and sheep. she came and sat by the campfire with us for the evening and was very entertained by staring at me and laughing (what can i say? i'm pretty damn funny sometimes). her little hut (with no electricity, of course) is surrounded by giant high tech windmills that our driver said power the border between them and pakistan. the land right around there is covered with ancient coral and sea life fossils. very surreal in the desert.

boys in camel drivers village

puppeez, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

the boys showed us their very new puppies and offered to let me take one (so i'd have something to play with while sitting on a camel for the next 4 days?)

girls in camel drivers village

girls, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

we got to hang out in our camel driver's village for a while with all the kids and have lunch with his family before setting out. this pic was taken while the girls were still warming up to us (the boys are bolder) - later the girls showed us how to play a game involving a stack of rocks and a ball made out of tied up plastic bags. we weren't very good at it.

roomofmonkeez

roomofmonkeez, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

the whole palace was filled with bats, lengurs, and macaques

bundi

bundi, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

and here's a view of the palace from the rooftop of our hotel )the lower left area is home to some 'bad monkeys much biting danger!' the little local boys who adopted us warned us about.
we ran into some pretty scary macaques that wouldn't let us pass and made little angry drunk faces at us if we got too close.

bundi st

bundist, originally uploaded by seamonkeylifeboat.

finally! some travel photos. here's a street in bundi, our favorite town