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

Today we have no water...but photos for you!

Hannah and I are the only ones left here now, all the boys have gone home. Hannah and I have been trying to sort the next few weeks out, we leave for Delhi on Tuesday at 3am!


C x

Today is day 27

I thought I would put a link up of Hannah's blog here as there are some more photos (some of me!) which people may like :)

www.hannahrosehughes.com

But...you have to still read and see my photos too of course!! :) More tomorrow!

C xxx

Day 24, 25 and 26

Day 24 did not consist of much. We popped into Paldi to get our films processed and were met with more reasons as to why they could not be done. This delays our work; we cannot see what we have done, what is working and what’s not. We chatting and Ishaan again, before shouting at him to get to work, all the students have their jury’s this week!

Today was a brilliant day. We went to Adalaj Wav Step well , and beautifully ornate five storey well built by Queen Rudabai in 1499. It has three entrances, leading to a huge platform, (with holes in the floor) again, decorated with ornate carvings of gods, shrines and the karma sutra.

We walked down the tiny and slightly terrifying spiral staircases to reach some of the lower levels on the opposite side from the main well.  The entire place was brilliant, it was serene and a feast for the eyes (and camera – of course)

The well is slowly drying up and has been for years, leaving the murky, blue water almost down to the coin covered, metal grate.

We left the step well, and headed back toward campus, stopping in InfoCity for a cold drink and an ice cream, to drop our bags and cameras off.

Akshardham, a Swaminarayan Temple does not allow cameras, phones, bags, anything through the gates, so knowing this we took our money belts and nothing else. We got there and cued for security (much like an airport). I have to say that it was much more thorough – the lady in the cubicle made VERY sure I have nothing hidden in my bra or pants – that’s for sure!

It was a beautiful place, and Adam, Hannah and I were all disappointed not to be able to photograph it. I doubt my (lack of) words will be able to do it justice. The temple was a dusky pink, again with carvings (less ornate than the step well but not any less striking!), inside the doorway a large golden god was sat and consumed the entire room. The route around the temple when upstairs and down, with stories about the temple and the various people associated with it. Unfortunately many of the stories were in Hindi, without English translations, so we did not understand a lot of it!

We walked through the gardens and took our places on the large stands for the light and water show. The forty-five minute show consisted of lasers, fire and fountains, telling a story of a young boy. Again, it was in Hindi, so we sat back and watched the beautiful colours, patterns and the droplets of water hitting the lasers, making it look like glitter!

We got back to campus at about nine, and dashed to the mess for some dinner, we were invited to watch the animations that students had made for their recent assessments.

After the animations (which were awesome) I ran a bookbinding workshop. There were twelve students eager to learn, which was great! I have been asked to do another one before we leave.

The night was not over yet – the workshop finished at one in the morning, but we were invited to a party that some of the students were putting on to celebrate the end of the semester.

At five thirty we crawled into bed, slightly worse for wear on the illegal whisky the students had procured for the night.

Day 26.

I slept most the morning, and then heading into Paldi to sort out images for the mini show. We are all putting up a few images that we have taken from the trip for the others to see.

Both Hannah and I are knackered, so are crashing out for the evening with House!

I will post more pictures soon - need to grab workshop ones from Hannah and Sandip. :)

C x

The main well area

Carvings of dancing and the Karma Sutra

Today is day 23 - weekend's events! :)

So! Sorry for the wait! Been a bit busy/knackered so in the evenings blogging takes second place to a cold drink down at the Kopcha and SLEEP!

On Friday (Day 21)

We got the later bus in (at 2pm) to check on films and to get more done. Hannah had taken mine in previously when I was feeling rough, so I got a chance to scan some of the work Hannah and I have been doing together. Hannah was told she could not process her films - AGAIN - so was more than slightly annoyed.

We jumped into an auto and made our way to a book shop that had been recommended to us. It was lovely and cool, although the books, I have to say, we a little bizarre...A Diary of Anne Frank placed next to Mein Kampft. Hmmmmm.

The book shop was next to McDonalds, and the temptation to stray inside for something other than curry was a little too much for Adam, Hannah and I. I can hear Dad now - "You went where?!" I can hear the disgust in his voice all the way from here :)
He will be please to know, it did not sit well with Hannah or myself!

As we were on the other side of the city, the rickshaw ride home was a new route - a welcome change! The chilled and relaxed feeling did not last long. We opened the door to our bedroom to find a pigeon sat on our bed. Great. Feathers and poo everywhere! I refused to touch it (eeeww germs and fleas and god knows what) so Hannah covered it with a T-shirt and carried it down in the lift. We had noticed that it's wing was bleeding (having flown into our ceiling fan we assume) and decided against chucking the bugger out the window!

We washed all our sheets, and I swept the fluffy floor.

We had a relaxed evening in, knowing that the 6.30am start Saturday morning was not going to be a happy one!

Saturday (Day 22)

Up at 6.30am, the sun barely in the sky, we headed into the city for the Heritage walk. Despite the early start, it was great, we got to walk through the maze of the old city, hoping through secret 'pols' or gates, doorways or entrances to the English readers. The walk was mind blowing, seeing the different styles of architecture, the families outside, washing and cooking, going about their day business and seeing all the temples and mosques.

When the 2 hour walk was over we wandered a little further, there were market stalls popping up (it was only 10am) and the streets were already flooded with people. I managed to buy some new flip flops (a men's pair as the ladies sizes do not go big enough for my giant English feet!) as I have worn both the pairs I bought with me out!

Hannah and I were drawn towards the umbrella ceiling we could see across the road, a market, but Adam had a bit of a crazy turn, and screamed at a beggar. So we decided to get him home. Unfortunately this was not the last of his bad mood. We dashed into InfoCity for a cold drink and a few supplies (mainly toilet roll as there is none on campus, or anywhere else for that matter!) and due the the midday heat decided to get a rickshaw the 1.5km back to campus. Lazy, but we were very sweaty and some what sleepy! When the ricksaw wala wanted 20 rupees (about 25p) for the fare Adam decided that was not fair and stormed off. We decided to let him walk and hopefully he could walk off his bad mood.

We crashed out for the afternoon, and I did some work early evening, shooting with the students.

We got a early night again, as we were heading back in early the next day!

Sunday (Day 23)

Hannah and I jumped in a rickshaw at 8am to get to Paldi early. We were meeting Ishaan, who was kind enough to take us to the Sunday Market in the Old City. Before meeting Ishaan, we spotted 2 elephants just outside the NID gates, so we went out to take some photos...we got really close - see the photo below :)

A rickshaw was hailed, and much to Hannah and my shock a motorbike ploughed into the back of it, much to Ishaan's amusement!

It was great! :) The market was filled with everything - old cameras, clothes, books, tools, trinkets, everything! The heat was mounting, so Ishaan hailed another auto (Hannah and I crossed our fingers) and we soon arrived at the coconut stall for cold, fresh coconut water, drunk from the coconut itself. I had pineapple juice - not a great fan of the coconuts, I have to say!

It was a great day, we went back to NID campus and grabbed some lunch, chilled out with Sumit and Ishaan, got more drinks and came back to campus, where Hannah promptly fell asleep!

I will be going down to dinner in a second! :)

Playing catch the pigeon!

I let Ishaan use my hasselblad :)

Fresh coconut water anyone?