Photo Contest - Shameless Plug

[JayVe]

I don't normally enter contests, but I just happened to have a brand-new photo that was perfect for this "Best Travel Kiss" contest that crossed my inbox. So I entered an image of me being kissed by an elephant (http://www.travelpapa.com/gallery/img/137/) that I had taken on Saturday.

If you are feeling generous, please click the 'vote' link at the bottom. I think if my photo gets enough votes, I win a small sum of money.

Feel free to enter the contest yourself! Or even better, pass my link around and have a million people click on the vote button. :D

[JayVe]

The photo was taken as part of a Pongal festival celebration.

Pongal is a four-days-long harvest festival celebrated in India. For as long as people have been planting and gathering food, there has been some form of harvest festival. This multi-day festival of thanksgiving to nature takes its name from the Tamil word meaning "to boil" and is held in the month of Thai (January-February) during the season when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential ingredient in Tamil cooking) are harvested.

[AntonThaGreat]

Voted, cool pic!

[JayVe]

Voted, cool pic!

Thanks man! :D

[VerseD]

Where did you go in Tamil Nadu? I was there last March, I think: I came from Kerala to Kanyakumari at the tip, then Madurai, Kodaikanal in the hills (where my friend and I caught dysentery and were nursed back to health by a cabin of French-Canadian girls), Trichy and Tanjore, and Chennai. I really wish I had more time there, though. Definitely my favorite state in India, with a lot fewer tourists and really wonderful customs. And the food there is the best.

Also, nice kiss -- I voted.