Today, Spencer had the day off work.
The pilot plant sucessful ran for 10 hours yesterday. Today, they will cool the system down, then empty the collection drum and clean it out. They don't need Spencer for that part, so he was freed to explore WITH me!!!
We thought Pintu Zala and Siddhraj Jadeja would be at the hotel at 7:30am. So we set our phones for 6:15am. At 6:00am the front desk calls to say the driver has arrived.
YAWN!
We get ready, eat breakfast, and head out into Gujarat.
(India has 25 states. Gujarat is one of them.)
We drive over 2 hours, through the countryside, to the coastal town of Dwarka.
Along the way, we saw lots of windmills and farms ready and waiting the rains to begin.
At Dwarka, we weaved through the narrow streets trying to find parking near the temple.
Cameras are not allowed at the temple, so we left all our bags and headed to the temple.
The Dwarkadhish Temple is one of the four holiest Hindu pilgrimage sites in India. It was built over 2,500 years ago to honor the god Krishna who said to have made Dwarka his capital after fleeing from Mathura.
Before we could enter the temple, we had to register with the administration. They had us fill out a form with our name, address, and passport number. Then we had to select whether we were 1. Born Hindi, 2. Converted to Hindi, or 3. Respect the Hindi religion and will be polite during the visit.
The temple was beautiful. It looked like a sand castle. Every inch of surface was intricately carved with different designs and patterns. Simply stunning.
Once that was done, we entered the temple. Someone had attached themselves to us as a tour guide. He showed us around the temple, lead us to the different shrines, and explained who to different gods/goddesses where. I found it interesting, but Pintu and Siddhraj were very upset and wanted him to leave.
When we were done, I learned why. The guide started pestering us for money. It was a big mess, and kinda funny to watch. In the end, we payed him just so he would leave us alone. That really upset Pintu and Siddhraj, but the guy left. So it was all good.
After we had toured the temple, we walked up and down the coastal shops and were able to take pictures.
Along the way, we got really brave and adventures. We tried some sugar cane juice!
(With no ice, of course.)
They take a few pieces of sugar cane and some limes and run the whole thing through a press/grater several times. Then they pour the juice into cups through a strainer.
Viola...sugar cane juice.
It was think and tasted like sweet grapefruit juice. Very good!
Next, we piled back into the car and headed up the coast to Okha on the very tip of the Kathiawar Peninsula.
On the way, we stopped by a giant statue to Shiva. It was built 10
years ago, is about 3-stories tall, and 40 people died during it's
construction.
Twas a wee bit windy!
There is a temple to Shiva right next to it.
Inside the temple. The animal associated with Shiva is the cow.
Here is a holy cow. (Te he he.)
Cool cobra statue our driver told me to take a picture of.
The gardens around the statue and temple.
While we where there, lots of people asked to take pictures with us. I guess they don't get many white Americans in the middle of the Gujarat Desert!!!
Our interpretor...Siddhraj Jadeja
Our driver...Pintu Zala
Total stranger.
Total stranger.
Total strangers.
From there, we made it to the port at Okha.
They asked if we wanted to take a boat ride. We had already done that in Mumbai, so we said no.
(After looking in the guidebook back at the hotel, I think the boat would have taken us to the island of Bet in the National Marine Sanctuary. Oh well. I guess I'll just have a reason to come back to India!)
We passed through Dwarka to get back to Jamnagar. We stopped for lunch at a nice looking hotel. Siddhraj ordered the food. Yum! Spicy, buy Yum!
Sweet Lassi.
Cashew, tofu, and sauce eaten with butter rotti.
Something over rice.
On the way back, we stopped at one more temple.
I'm pretty sure this one was dedicated to Krishna too.
They were still working on it, so we got to see them chiseling the beautiful designs!
Somehow, I don't see this ever being allowed in America!
Around the courtyard of the temple, they had cartoonish dioramas depicting someone's life. I was too tired (and was developing massive headache) to retain much information.
It was fun.
This is Abraham Lincoln pulling a pig out of the mud.
This is George Bernard Shaw, who was a great writer and liked India.
Did you know, Western food will make you fat?
Finally, we made it home. Driving in India is always full of surprises!
Spencer worked on Xytel stuff and I took a nap. When I woke up my headache was worse. YUCK!
We headed down to dinner and the room was packed. Every table was full! One had just emptied and we sat down and ordered food. But he noise was too much for me so we headed up to the room and had the food delivered. Eating was too much as well, so I just went to bed.
Tomorrow...recovery?!
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