monolithic monoliths

What is the correct way to engage a monument or historical site? Do you

A)take a picture of it
B)climb it
C)touch it
D)hug it
E)or all of the above?

We've been in Hampi for several days now, due to the massive amounts of ruins that are waiting to be explored (and the very comfortable guest house/hut with mosquito netting we found). Our location is amazing - right on the edge of rice paddy fields - blue sky and green stalks. There are groves of palm trees everywhere. Yesterday we walked from the guest house to the river, took a coracle (basically a very large bamboo bowl with tar on the bottom, steered by a man with an oar) across the river to Hampi Bazaar and headed for one of many temples. In the next hour or two, we saw a temple elephant being fed, some monkeys playing in the ruins of ancient temples, and many signs leading us to the Monolithic Bull. I took pictures of everything as I went, but immediately knew that the pictures weren't going to convey the feeling of standing in the middle of it.

Today was the day that we got smart and rented bikes to cycle around the ruins. Mine was pink, had hearts for decals, and was named the "Monica". Nick's was blue, called the Atlas, and had a badass anarchy symbol on the front. The first monument we stumbled on was the Monolithic Ganesh, which beat the pants off of the Monolithic Bull. Only a few of the ruins have admission fees or much security - the rest are outfitted with an informational sign from the Archaeological Society of India, and one security guard lounging out front. This means we get to climb ancient shrines, look for monkeys in dark rooms of old temples (haven't found one yet - man, would that be scary) and experience the monument at our leisure. This seems to me to be an excellent way to interact with history. Today I ran my hands over 6th c. reliefs of temple elephants and dancing monkey gods - I climbed some old steps, laid down on the top, and watched the rest of the tourists down below. All the pictures in a 128MB memory card couldn't convey that. I kept thinking about how when we went to Mount Rushmore there were people and barriers everywhere - it wasn't like we were hanging from Abe Lincoln's nose. Granted Mount Rushmore is pretty stupid anyway.

The other best part about ancient ruins? Nick J. pretending to be Zelda and making the Nintendo noise while soldiering down the ye olde stairs. Not to be missed - highly recommended.