in bhuj

yo,

i made it to bhuj. it is lovely here in the desert.


they had a major earthquake her in 2001 and many buildings ere damaged beyond repair and also they lost about 10% of the population! it is very obvious that there has been an earthquake. this morning i went to an old palace, the aina mahal, whihc was severely damaged....so very sad. (the 1st pic is before the quake, the 2nd pic is after the earthquake...what it looks like now...) this place was unbelievably beautiful and fancy! they still have many of the original items from the palace, and wow!! i was really glad i paid the rs30 to take pics. i mean, the bed had solid gold legs!!!! (see left) the blue tiles on the floor were amazing and then...there as a handmade tapestry that went all the way around like wainscoting, absolutely gorgeous. the pcs are good.


then i came out and all these little boys begged me to come see their temple, so i went. it was a temple above ground, but you went down these tiny stairs and the god was underground in this cool little room. then we came back up and they took e to another secret underground temple. it was fun! they were really happy to show me!

i made arrangements to go see 5 different native (adivasi) villages tomorrow. i will see block printing, embroidery, shibori (fancy tie dye) and silver working/jewelry! i leave at 8am ad come back at 5pm. i am sooo excited that it was so simple to get this together. plus, i get to go around in an AMBASSADOR!!!!!!

so today i will do some shopping, holy cow, and take it easy as i slept like shit last night on the train. a;ll i can say about that is that 1st class is no different than 3AC...not worth it, and 3AC is not worth is either, so from now on i am going in the Sleeper class. where the windows open.

i feel a little stomach rumbly, so i am outta here. my hotel is kinda far from here and i have to take a rickshaw. so...until tomorrow~!

take care my friends!
jo