Temple elephant

Today we travelled from Cochin to 'Ooty' in the hills. It was a 9 hour journey but what we saw on the way was so interesting the time just flew by!
This was the first elephant we saw and it was having a ride in a lorry! Apparently there are special elephants which are kept at various Temples. They stay for 10 months of the year and then have 2months holiday in an elephant sanctuary. This one had jut been on his holidays and was returning to the Temple! 
A lot of my photos were just snaps taken from the bus window, so they aren't paricularly good but give a feel of what we saw. In India there are lots of motor scooters, they are often laden with goods and people. In the extras you will see what I mean. The second one shows a little boy between his parents being held on by the shopping. We saw whole families of up to 5 on one scooter and sometimes it includes a Mum holding on to a baby!! Very few of them wore helmets which was quite frightening considering how busy a lot of the roads are.