Police

Our train left Gondal just after midnight. 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep later and we arrived in Ahmedabad. We ended up being allocated 2 middle bunks opposite each other. The train was on time. In fact slightly early. Our alarm clock ensured we were up and ready to disembark.

We made our way out of the station and searched for an auto. In fact there are millions outside, so it wasn't really a search. In fact the search is to find a driver that offers a reasonable price. The first driver wanted far too much so we walked away after the usual dispute. We were approached further down the auto rank by a driver who was offering half this price. We agreed, he got into his auto and we were off! No arguing or dispute but just an honest, excellent driver. We were up against time (train leaving) and he raced us to a different station!

We jumped out, paid up and joined the massive queue at the ticket office. We only had a short time so it seemed impossible we would be able to get the train in 10 mins. There was a young police officer standing nearby. We explained the problem and he said the queue would go quickly. We waited and the queue moved rather slowly...

The next thing we knew, the policemen was standing next to us with our tickets! We didn't have any small notes to pay, so he even sorted that for us. He then escorted us to the guy in charge of the train and gave us the opportunity to upgrade if we needed to. We said the tickets in general were just fine and he lead us to the front of the train where there were loads of seats. WOW, unbelievable kindness and help once again. Thanks to the policeman we were on the train that we thought impossible to catch!

The train took about 5 hours and passed beautiful scenery. Less farms, more hills and lakes. Arrival came sooner than expected and we sat there while everyone was leaving, until we realised this was the end of the line!


A 30 minute walk to our haveli by the lake, with a quick stop for chai and vada pav! Along the way we noticed most houses had beautiful paintings around the doorways.  We dropped off our bags and went exploring the lake and palaces. Both very beautiful.


We also visited a couple of temples.  One had a group of school children on a visit, all of whom were eager to speak English with us.  Before we knew it we were surrounded, even their teacher joined in.  


The rest of our time was spent wondering the streets. An artist drew us an amazing picture of minature elephants (the smallest being less than half the size of Christine's little finger nail!), with our names.  He explained the brushes he uses for his miniature pictures have only one or two hairs. It is very sweet. We walked to various bathing ghats before food was calling.


We found a stall selling some interesting items we had not tried before (not certain of the names). They tasted good. We also ate ice cream and dahi next before settling down for paneer masala, soaked up with tandoori naan and a special chapati.


We then headed back to the lake for a beautiful sunset.


Earlier we had noticed many of the streets were decorated for the Navratri festival, so we investigated.  The dancing here was different to that which we had seen at previous festivals.  This time everyone lined up, men on one side, ladies the other.  They all had sticks which they hit against each others and then each moved on one place and repeated.


We headed back to the lake again to see it liut up at night, another beautiful view!  There were also lots of girls having their photos taken in their traditional Navratri dresses.  A chai seller came past, so we sat and watched whilst drinking chai and chatting to various people.



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