Goodbai Mumbai

Picked up at digs at 5am(in the morning!) and driven out to airport-extra security due to recent unrest with the Pakkies. Walk away from security forgetting my backpack and discover 10 minutes later I also did not pick up laptop-both successfully retrieved. I am now in state of high agitation but am calmed down by a morning dose of dosa.

Picked up at Ahmedabad by our guide for the next 3 days; too early to check in at hotel so we do a tour of the ancient stepwell, a water storage facility.

Then we are taken to the House of MG, our abode for the next 3 nights. Our room is slightly larger than our home and the Memsaab and I communicate via mobile in the bed; we are given a map of the room to avoid getting separated.
We take a walking tour in the afternoon of the local street market; Ahmedabad is a hamlet by Indian standards with a population of a mere 7 million. The market turns out to be a trifle bazaar and we spend our time dodging bicycles, motor scooters and tuk-tuks while inhaling incredibly polluted air in stifling heat. However the tour is interesting enough with many colourful sights, sounds and some noxious smells.

Immaculately maintained vintage motor bike

This evening we are eating at the Ashiye restaurant which specialises in Gujerati cuisine(not surprisingly we are now in Gujerat). Unbeknownst to us Gujerat is a dry state ie. no booze!!!!  Memsaab and I consider cancelling the rest of the holiday but in a few days we are out of this hellhole and back into the land of the living. So dinner is thalli, consisting of 21 dishes which are constantly replenished-very hard to know what goes with what but we are learning-no cutlery so eating is a handjob. No beer but instead buttermmilk-what is wrong with these people.