One Life ...

Another early start. Today we are heading to Maheshwar. First we caught a bus to Chadawad, along with a few goats and half a school. We then caught a bus to Dhamrod, then another to Maheshwar. At each town the connecting bus was waiting and each time the conductor told the next conductor where we needed to go . We arrived on Maheshwar around 10am, had a chai and then went in search of accommodation. When we had checked online there wasn't much showing, so we thought we'd take our chances. We went in separate directions to enquire about rooms. We were quoted prices from £10 to £30. Darryl eventually found a nice little guesthouse with a room above a pharmacy for £6. However there was no sign of Christine. One of the men from the pharmacy took Darryl on his bike to find her and brought her back. We freshened up and went out in search of food. We met the local policeman who said if we needed him he was outside our hotel every day until 6pm.  Another man, who Darryl had me...

The dreaded alarm clock woke us up at 6am. We only had to say goodbye to our friend's mum as everyone else had already left for the office. She very kindly gave Christine a small handbag as a present. We ordered an auto rickshaw using our Uber app for a good price. Far better than we could probably have negotiated ourselves. He whisked us off on the 10km journey to the Gangwal bus station. We had hoped to catch a direct bus to Mareshwar at 8 o'clock. We arrived at 7.30 so caught an early bus to Dhar, an intermediate station. In Dhar we connected with a bus to Mandu. Nice buses and careful drivers! In Mandu we searched for a hotel. Online the prices seemed very high so we searched around to see what we could find. We found a small place for a good price before we explored Mandu. They had a funky old phone on the desk! An historical city spread out along the road which runs through the centre. Fort, temples and palaces drew our attention as we walked from one site to the next. Sn...

It was an early start today to get to the White Church for the Christmas service at 8.30am.   We arrived just in time, only to find the carpark empty and about 6 people in the church. Did we have the wrong 8.30??  Should it be PM? The inside of the church had been beautifully decorated with Christmas trees, coloured hanging decorations and tinsel. We sat and waited.  Slowly more people arrived. Around 9am the priest started the service and gradually the church filled up to the point where more chairs had to be found.  We sang a couple of carols and the choir sang a couple of songs.  Unfortunately the priest taking the service had quite a unique Indian-English accent which we found rather difficult to understand.   People were coming and going throughout the service, so when all the general announcements started we made a quick exit.  Outside a table was being laid out with plates of snacks and we were invited to join, once the service was finished.  We chatted to various people whilst ...

A relaxed start to the day. Breakfast followed by conversation and a spot of training in the kitchen We visited the beautiful Jain temple across the road and the caretaker gave us a mini tour. The building was white marble, with exquisite decoration everywhere. We were driven to our friends new eco village, which is being built on the outskirts of Indore. It is their organic farm and they are developing part of it into an eco resort. 15 rooms, organic restaurant and a swimming pool. It should be completed within the next 6 months.  Much of the furniture, doors frames etc was to be made from beautiful old wood imported from Rajasthan. It looked as though it had come from some old palaces and havelis. We looked around the farm at the organic vegetables and fruit. In India they grow everything. Self sufficient is normal! They also had a number of cows producing their own fresh milk. Back in town we were dropped off in the centre of Indore so we could visit the Ganesh temple. The temperatu...

We said goodbye to our Ujjain friends with a cup of chai. Our friend from across the narrow street kindly gifted us a bottle of perfume each which was a total surprise. We set off on our way to the train station but even before we had reached the end of the road, our friend offered us a lift. But first he took us to a shop and bought us some crisps for our journey.  The station seems much closer when you don't have to walk. We were there in no time. We purchased tickets and waited on platform 6 for the train to arrive. It was later than expected but we were in no rush. We climbed on, found some seats in the fancy air conditioned compartment and relaxed. AC is nowhere near as chaotic or friendly as the sleeper class.  Christine enjoyed a veg biryani and some lemon tea, whilst Darryl had chai.  At one stop along the way we saw camels out of window! Arrival was soon to come. We exited the train, cleared the platform and travelled to the side of the station we thought we needed. We wer...

First thing we met our friend from over the road as she had invited us to join her and her friend for their morning walk.  They took us near the railway line where people were selling bunches of greens to feed to the cows.  We bought a bunch and tried to feed the baby cows but some of the larger ones nudged their way in too. Next we walked under the railway to a road lined with trees.  We then spotted a dinosaur amongst the trees, followed by some giraffe!! The middle of the road was lined with different statues of animals, in amongst the trees.  This seemed to be a 'green area' where people came to exercise away from the traffic. As we walked on we noticed a painted wall and recognised the picture.  It was Mowgli and Bagheera from the Jungle Book.  There were various scenes along the wall, followed by some statues.  The Jungle Book was based on a national park in the center of India. When we arrived back, our friend's father in...

5am the train arrived. We climbed on and battled through the crowds. It was quite dark but we found our reserved sleeper berth. Now we could get some rest! Unfortunately, it wasn't free. There was a huge blanket and a large lump beneath. We gave it a shake and at least 2 ladies and children appeared. We felt guilty that we had woken them up. They moved to try to find another vacant berth. A general ticket means you can ride the train but you will not be allocated a seat. They are all booked. You look for a vacant seat, sit on someone else's bed or stand! We slept reasonably well as we only had one bunk between us.  We had only booked one as last time we booked 2 last minute we were 5 carriages apart. We watched as the train approached Ujjain junction. Counting down the km... As soon as we were off a young man approached us. He spoke great English with a slight speech impediment. He just talked and talked and he knew a lot of interesting things about the UK and to be honest ever...