Ashram

After a long lazy breakfast we headed for the bus to the Isha Yoga Centre.  We had to catch 2 buses and the whole journey took around 2.5 hours with some lovely scenery along the way. 

First stop after the hot journey was a refreshing kulfi which interestingly didn't melt in the heat. 

Next we walked to see the impressive 112m high head.  Sculpture.  Along the way we passed the agricultural areas which are tended by the volunteers.  We also saw bullocks pulling carts of people to and fro the head.  There was a sign board explaining the bullocks have the best and easiest carts to pull, the weight is limited and they are given regular breaks.... which we are sure they would need in the intense heat! 

Then we had to hand in our mobile phones and bags, go through a security check and then we were within the walls of the beautiful ashram.   We had to remove our shoes, which is OK other than some areas we had to walk, the floor was burning hot! 

There were separate bathing pools for the men and women to cleanse  in sacred waters. On the way round we bought a drink, we are not too sure what it was... It was sweet but slightly savoury and had some kind of bean in it.. It was actually very nice.  

Lastly we headed to the meditation  hall.  We had to queue in silence whilst the last group exited  and then went into the domed shaped hall, lit by candies. Everyonr sat cross legged for the 10 minute session before a small bell was rung indicating that session had finished. You could stay for a max of 30 mins or move on when the bell rang

We then headed to the food hall for a cup of chai before catching the bus back to the main town.   On the way we saw a red and blue parrot fly into a tree and a random camel at the side of the road!

We jumped off the bus at the train station as we knew there were plenty of.buses to where we needed to go...... Although today there wasn't!  We waited for nearly an hour and no bus came so we caught a bus to the main bus station and eventually found a bus going the right way.  Having checked with a couple of people and the conductor we felt assured we were on the right bus..... Until the ticket collector.came.and said the bus did not stop where we needed to go.. We established it would go past there but it was an express bus so would not stop, we would have to get off 2km before.  We were rather surprised by this as every bus we have been on seems to stop anywhere and pick people up from anywhere! 

So, we got off where instructed and as we were now running rather late for dinner with our friends... which we were preparing, we thought we would speed up our return by catching a tuk tuk. However, having enquired as to the price, which seemed rather inflated for the short journey (and confirmed our reasoning for never getting tuktuks as the negotiating from the inflated price to something  reasonable is painful and time consuming!),   we decided we would jump in the next bus going in the right direction, which worked well.  Our friend kindly came to collect us from the bus stop, saving us the 2km.walk... He was probably getting rather hungry too!! 

After a quick freshen up dinner was cooked.... Baked eggs in tomato sauce and a veggie noodle stirfry.  Not 2 dishes that would usually go together but our friend likes noodles and had never cooked them. She wanted to see how it was done. 

A feast later plus a test of the military discount drinks and we were done!