Today is day 33!

Saturday - Day 29.

Today we went to the market.

We went to India’s largest craft market today, just outside of Ahmedabad. We wandered around for a bit, being shouted out, and pulled towards various stalls.

We bought some gifts for family and friends, and for ourselves!

We headed to a nearby shopping complex for a drink, and something to eat, the complex was fairly new, so there was not a lot there.

We headed back to campus for our last meal with Steve; he was leaving for Delhi to get to his connecting flight home. We went into InfoCity and had dinner at Sankalp followed by ice cream.

We said our good byes to Steve and headed up to our room – Steve was not leaving until 3am

Sunday Day 30.

We didn’t do anything on Sunday really. We started to pack up our stuff, ready for our flight, it was an interesting task.

Monday Day 31.

Went to Paldi to meet Ishaan, in true Ishaan style, he was late, which worked out well for us, as we bumped into Shiho, a fellow UCA graduate who has come back to India (she came on the scholarship last year) to complete some work during Diwali. She put us in touch with some photographers in Delhi, which will be good.

After finally tracking down Ishaan, we headed off for some lunch. We went to a traditional Gujarati restaurant and had thali, a mix of several dishes, which was great as we got to try such a range of food – SO much food! Breads, curries, chutneys, dessert, all on one plate.

We headed into the Old City to see the street market and to shoot a bit. It was so chaotic, and getting dark, so it was a short visit – but an unforgettable one, including Hannah and myself being grabbed by the arm and a lady stamping us with mendhi patterns, which we were not too happy about.

I had not been feeling very well when I got up that morning, and I only got worse throughout the day, by about 7pm I was feeling worse then ever and Hannah hailed us an auto, we said our sad goodbyes to Ishaan and we went back to Gandhinagar.

After a short rest and dosing myself full of whatever I could find we went to InfoCity for drinks and maybe some food. The Kopcha and the mess were shut due to the holidays. We had a drink and bought a present for Nidhi’s family and grab a simple sandwich before finishing our packing.

It was a long wait to leave, our auto was not book until 3am, and neither Hannah nor myself could sleep. We watch some films and spoke to Kad and Sandy whilst waiting to leave.

After saying more goodbyes (we did not like this bit at all) we were off, in the surprisingly cold night, to the airport, again for another wait until our flight.

Day 32.

The only sleep we got was on the 6.15am flight, which was only 1 hour long. So when we reach Delhi it was safe to say Hannah and I were not at our best.

Nidhi and her brother picked us up from the airport, and took us to their home. It was great to see Nidhi again, as she was one of the early people to leave NID. Nidhi’s mum had cooked us breakfast, which was delicious, potatoes wrapped in bread and fried, they were so tastey! After breakfast Hannah and I gratefully accepted the offer to sleep for a couple of hours before heading out.

We went to the Delhi Akshardham. We had visited the Akshardham in Gandinagar – but this one was much bigger. Again, we were not allowed to photograph, but the experience was great. There was a boat ride about the history of India, a film shown on a HUGE screen about the founder of the temple and there was the story shown with mannequins!

The temple had amazing carvings inside, shines to a number of Gods and beautiful art work. We stayed there for about 5 hours, and saw the light show after the sunset.We got the metro back home, which was like London tubes, in rush hour, but with more people! :)

Luckily there are Ladies compartments! Hannah and I enjoyed this, until it was time to get on, I made a fool of myself and got stuck in the doors (in true Clare style - and I have a nice bruise thanks to the asprin I have been taking!) - BUT thank god I did, as Hannah was still not on the train! So really, I was being so super lovely, by not letting the train go!!

When we got back we had dinner, another great meal cooked by Nidhi’s mum – SO tasty, and planned some things for the next few days with Nidhi’s father.  We planned on going to the Taj Mahal today, but switched days to allow us more time to plan.

Day 33

So, today, instead of the Taj, we decided to play tourist for the day, getting the ‘HoHo’ bus around Delhi. The HoHo bus is much like the tourist buses in London, one and you can jump on and off at various sights.  It was an odd sort of day, playing tourist is not really mine or Hannah’s thing, but we did see some great things, and had a giggle along the way, especially at India gate, where I was taking a photo of Hannah, which promted no less than 13 people to take her photo, with friends, so Hannah was soon surrounded by stranges, smiling at different cameras. I hide behind mine and snapped away! The last photos were with 3 young boys, who aske dour names, and where were from, and who then followed us back to the bus, requesting kisses from us! They even got on the bus with us, saying ‘fifty rupees for a kiss! Fifty!’ I could not stop laughing at this point!

We arrived back at Nidhi’s (we got the metro back all by ourselves - we are big girls after all!), and as she was out with her mum, went up to her Aunt’s, where we chatted with her cousin and had juice and pommegrante.

After another fantastic meal, we chilled out with the family :)

Gujarati Thali (I have what each dish is called written down!)

I LOVE the little boys face!

Delhi has a different attitude to A'Bad (see photo above!)

Elephant!!

The Rad Fort

That's right - We are tourists!

Inside part of the fort

India Gate

Hannah is famous :)

These are the school boys who wanted a kiss!

The boys followed us on to the bus!

An old police station!!

The Lotus Temple

 Tomorrow....The Taj Mahal!

I hope everyone is ok back in the UK.

Much love to my family and friends! Miss you guys!

C xxx