Anita Waterman

After an uneventful coach trip from Golders Green to Stansted in the depth of the night we arrived at Stansted to catch a very early flight to Marrakech. I was seated between a gentleman with a bad case of halitosis and a young chap sniffing and sneezing throughout the flight. I had a smoked salmon sandwich that hopefully sent some odours to Mr. Halitosis and finished my breakfast with milchike cake. Then down to reading my book. I always find it a pity that I cannot sleep whilst traveling, but it just doesn’t work for me.

Marrakesh has the same time zone as the UK. It’s 6 degrees here and I am happy that i brought my thick jacket.

Our guide Raphael, driver Mohammed and security guys Abdul and Ahmed have been keeping us busy the whole day. When I think of Morocco I think of warm weather, but today was freezing and it rained – heavy rain – the whole day.

We went to the Atlas mountains to visit a Berber village. Jews lived in this village and in particular in the house we visited prior to the Berbers living there. The dwellings were made of

 

mud. They even had a cow indoors (maybe they felt sorry for her as the ground outside was muddy and red from the melting snow).

The buildings in Marrakesh are rather low as there is a law that forbids them to be higher than the minaret of the main mosque.

We visited the tomb of the tzaddik Rabbi Shlomo Ben Hensh. There were photos on the wall of many Sefardi Ravs including Babi Sala.

We walked through the wet cobblestoned market to get to the shul. The market was fabulous – the colors, the spices, absolutely amazing.

We visited the Bahia Palace which was near the Melah, the Jewish quarter. The Bahia Palace was built in the 19th century by the Sultan for his wives, his harem and his concubines. It was a walled Garden with loads of pavilions and courtyards.

In the evening we went for a meal in a local woman’s home. She catered an amazing meal for 36 people. We had to climb very steep stairs (all mosaic tiled) to reach her home which was like a courtyard opening up to the rooms of her house.

A spice shop in Marrakesh and and a sweet shop in Amsterdam (Jamin)

 

Monday 28th November

This was not the best time to visit India (moneywise), as it is very difficult for tourists to change money.  There are still extremely long queues at the banks and most ATMs are quickly exhausted of money.  I managed to change money only twice during my stay in 2 hotels, but then only for small amounts and at a bad rate, but I was glad to  have some cash.

Unfortunately we did not have authentic Indian food during our trip, but that’s another story.  During the flight from Cochin to Mumbai, when the flight attendant came around dishing out a vegetarian meal, I felt as though I was released from jail and if there was room I would have danced for joy in the aisle to celebrate my first Indian meal in India.  The meal was delicious, and this was only an airline meal!  As I had ordered a vegetarian meal on the return flight to the UK (this evening) the anticipated excitement of eating my second Indian meal is sky high!

We spent the day in Mumbai.  The traffic here was bumper to bumper on all the roads.  We were told by the guide that 500 new cars come onto the roads in Mumbai every day.  Again we saw a demonstration against demonetisation.  Thousands of people demonstrating and the traffic was not moving at all.

What has surprised me throughout this journey is that despite the number of cars on the road, the appearance of the lack of traffic rules, people crossing the road weaving in and out between the cars, I have not seen one, not even one, accident.  The drivers are very tolerant here.

We visited 2 shuls in Mumbai, both built towards the end of the 19th century. There are about 5,000 Jews left in the Mumbai area.  We ended the day by visiting the Chabad house for our last meal in India.  We were given a tour of the Chabad House and told in detail of the atrocity that took place here 8 years ago.  The bullet holes were still visible and the child’s room was left intact.  The building is undergoing a complete refurbishment and security is extremely high.  In fact I noticed that security was high throughout the country.  For example, every hotel had a security port where one had to pass in order to enter.

I had ordered a special vegetarian meal on the return flight to London.  Seeing as we were travelling from India I had expected an Indian vegetarian meal.  It turned out to be an ordinary vegetarian meal.  When the ordinary meals were distributed there was a vegetarian option – this meal was a curry!  You win some, you lose some.

In conclusion:  The trip was amazing – we saw so much.   It was well organised.  The group was great – nice people, and everyone was on time all of the time – we hardly had to wait ages for people to gather, which I imagine could be frustrating.  The only downside was the lack of authentic Indian food.

Wednesday 30th November

I’m delighted that I took another day off work as I slept 14 hours last night.

 

Friday 25th November

I had expected Cochin to be a small village, but I was very much mistaken. Cochin, known as the “Land of the Spices” is made up of 24 islands connected by bridges. The Portugese explorer, Vasco de Gama, arrived in Cochin in 1502. He brought Catholicism to India. The Portugese ruled Cochin from 1500 – 1663, followed by the Dutch from 1663 – 1795 (they brought Protestantism) and then the British from 1795 until 1947 (who brought Anglicism) when India gained Independence from British Colonial Rule. For the last 40 years the state of Kerala (in which Cochin is situated) has their own language – Malayalam! Of the 1.5 million people living in Cochin today, 50% are Christian, 20% Muslim and 30% Hindu. Of the many Jews that lived in Cochin very few remain today. I have been told that there are only 5 Jews left in Cochin – 4 female and 1 male. We visited 2 shuls (Chendamangalam and the Paradesi) and recognised a lot from the book I recently read: “The Last Jews of Kerala” by Edna Fernandez in which she described the two main Jewish communities within the state of Kerala – the “Black Jews”/”Malabar Jews” who are said to have arrived at the time of King Solomon, and the “White Jews”/”Paradesi Jews” who settled in Kerala in the 16th Century after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal.

Saturday 26th November

Shabbat in Cochin was lovely and restful. I sat outside and lapped up some warmth from the sun, holding on to that as my thoughts wandered to my return to cold London, when I realised we would be returning in another couple of days.

Saturday evening when there was a visit arranged to yet another shul, a group of us played truant and took a taxi to visit a mall – Lulu – the biggest mall in India. What we had calculated to be at least 2 hours in the mall turned out to be much less as it took us over an hour to get there (a journey that should have taken less than an hour). Traffic was bumper to bumper all the way.

Even the rather short visit was worthwhile as it was definitely an experience. Firstly the number of people! It was packed – and this was 9 p.m.!!! We were the only non-native people there. We really only had time to get a feel of the place. We entered one shop where we were hit by an array of colour. Racks of materials for sarees and shelves of bales of cottons to be made into the tops that are worn under the saris. The fabrics were amazing. It was like looking at a colour wheel. Customers would choose a shade from their sari and choose a material to have a top made – this was done on the premises.

We entered a hypermarket to purchase a birthday card, baloons and a bottle of something for one of the girls who was celebrating her 60th birthday. Unfortunately, we had to rush as we had arranged to meet our taxi driver at a certain time. How I would have loved to have had time to walk through the aisles of the hypermarket. Alas, there was no time. But it was worth the visit, even though it was short.

Sunday 27th November

On Sunday we took the coach to Alleppey (also known as Alappuzha). We made a 4-hour trip on a houseboat through the backwaters of Kerala. An amazing experience! I found it so relaxing but the flow of whiskey could have attributed to that! Sitting on either the outer deck or inside, we saw how the people lived on these backwaters (which are made up of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets): how they grew rice, how they washed their clothes and themselves. I couldn’t see any roads inland, so have deduced that to travel, they have to go by boat. I understood from Rona, the tour Madricha, that these people are moved inland for the duration of the monsoon season. This was a fantastic way to end an amazing 2 week stay in India. It is not completely over as we have to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning to catch a plan to Mumbai in order to fly home at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

We had an evening programme on Sunday. We went to a Kathakali show. We arrived shortly after 5 p.m. and watched the actors putting on their own make-up – an array of greens, reds and yellow were painted on. A make-up artist came to apply pastes (made from rice) and paper cut-outs onto one artist’s face. This was an elaborate make-up session which the audience was allowed to watch.

The colours of the make-up were derived from various natural stone, and when ground and mixed with coconut oil they turn into a fine paste. Over the years, these natural stones have been replaced by chemical alternatives. I read an article in Saturday’s paper in which it stated that some Kathakali actors have developed skin ailments as a result of the frequent use of these chemicals. The artists are very stoic, not wanting to abandon this ancient art form and either revert to natural stones or consider the allergies and ailments a professional hazard.

The performance was done in mime and dance with an abundance of facial expressions, made more pronounced because of the make-up. At one point one of the actors performed an eye dance. It was a unique experience.

Having been in India for 2 weeks, I couldn’t help notice that Kerala was different from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. I didn’t notice many cows in Kerala and the drivers seemed to drive in a more orderly fashion than the 3 other states visited, i.e. they overtook on the correct side of the road. Neither did I see any beggars. Kerala is fertile, green and lush. There is loads of water available.

An early night for an earlier than planned start to catch a flight from Cochin to Mumbai. Why get up at 4 a.m. when our flight is at 9 a.m.? It seems that Kerala is holding a state-wide strike (because of the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes) and the road are going to be closed between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., so we need to arrive at the airport before then – otherwise we’ll be stranded!!!!

23rd November

The hotel we stayed in in Agra was gigantic – divided into so many wings. I felt as though I needed a GPS to get to my room. I have never been in Dubai but I felt last night as if I was there.

We visited the Red Fort in Agra. You might think: another Fort, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.  But no!  They are all so different.  This one was made of red sandstone surrounded by not one, but two moats.  The British army were stationed here.  The amount of gems embedded in the marble here is called Pietra Dura = marble inlay, the same art as used in the Taj Mahal.  If I have understood correctly, the Koh-I-Nor diamond was kept here (before moving to England and is now on display in the Tower of London together with the Crown Jewels), though don’t hold me to that.

After the Red Fort we visited a marble inlay place where we saw this Pietra Dura in action.  There were artists sitting on the floor cutting and polishing the gems, and embedding them into hollowed out marble.  This is a precision art carried out by artists (this art is handed down from father to son).  It was pointed out that these men lose their fingerprints after so many years carrying out this art.

We travelled on good roads to Delhi, and stopped at a lovely motorway services – the first one that I had seen.  I sat outside drinking Costa coffee – very civilised. Will Delhi be different to what I have seen so far?

Delhi is known as the ‘Green City’.  Although I was told that it was green (read: trees and grass) as well as being environmentally friendly, I don’t quite understand this, as when we approached Delhi we were greeted with smog and pollution.  In Delhi it was much worse.  Entering Delhi we saw high-rise buildings which our guide told us were housed by an abundance of call centres.  Factories are banned in Delhi because of the smog.

Unlike what I have so far seen in India, the traffic rules are strict.  Commercial vehicles cannot drive in Delhi before 10 p.m.  Busses have to drive on the left-hand side of the road.  It looks to me like any modern capital city.  If you thought the traffic in London is bad, you should see it in Delhi.  It is more than 10 times worse than Hyde Park Corner on the busiest day.  No wonder Delhi is highly polluted.

We visited the Judah Haim Shul.  It is a lovely small Shul – it reminded me of the small community in Groningen.  Mr. Ezekiel, who works as a lawyer but keeps the Shul going, told us that he did a lot of interfaith work including officiating at interfaith weddings.  After leaving the Shul travelling to the hotel, the bus was crawling – actually it was more stationary than moving.  Whether this was normal, or because there was a protest because of demonetision I am not so sure.  We couldn’t go to India Gate because of this.  My great disappointment today was that we did not get to Rajghat, the site of Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation and memorial.  I would have thought that this was the reason for visiting Delhi.

There are approx 14 million people and 7 million cars in Delhi.  I think that I have seen all of them.

I don’t think that I had mentioned but every time we book into a hotel we are greeted with a garland necklace.

Thursday 24th November

We were in heavy traffic to the airport which is just a few km away from the hotel, but it took us an hour to get there.  The flight to Cochin took 3 hours which gave me time to read my book “India with Sanjeev Bhaskar” by Sanjeev Bhaskar, a British-Indian comedian and actor.  It is a very easy and amusing read.  The book is about a trip that he made to India to see where his father lived before emigrating to the U.K.  He writes about things that I have seen on this trip or what our amazing guide has told us.  He writes about the innovation that exists in the villages (something the guide didn’t mention).  Two examples:

1. a contraption of a bicycle connected to a metal box which, when one pedals the chair activates the drum of a washing machine, and
2. saline added to cow dung can generate energy to old, used batteries.

Talk about green energy!

Arrived in Cochin.  Just enough time to get to the hotel.  The only thing that I have learned today about Cochin is that Hindi is not spoken there, but a language called Malayalam which uses very different characters.

Sunday 20th November

We started the day with a camel ride in the desert of Pushkar. Some people climbed onto the camel’s back, but I wasn’t so brave – I sat in the cart.  I was sitting near the camel’s rear.  That wasn’t so fortunate for me. The camel did its business, quite neatly might I say, but that wasn’t the surprise.  All of a sudden the camel’s tail rose and whoosh, a gush of air greeted me.  Despite that, I got the giggles and that together with the a bumpy ride added to the experience.

We alighted from the camel ride, and had a chance to browse and stroll along the bazaar. Wow!  As I love markets, this experience was just for me.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time here as we needed to continue on our journey.

We left Pushkar and drove to Jaipur – the Pink City.  It’s known as the Pink City because the  buildings are built with pink-coloured sandstone.  Jaipur is named after Maharaja Jai Singh II (more about him tomorrow).  The roads in Jaipur were wider than what I had seen up until now.

We took a rickshaw ride through Jaipur through the narrow dusty streets (actually everywhere we have been has been dusty).  In the evening we went to see a Bollywood film at Raj Mandir, a very famous and impressive cinema – impressive as the architecture  inside is so beautiful, nicer than any theatre I have visited.  The film was a Bollywood action film.  I found it comical as we saw uber-Bond type stunts, the dialogue was interspersed with English words and the occasional English sentence.  It was a theatre experience as the Hindi audience would cheer out loud at various points during the film. An unforgettable experience.

Monday 21st November

An early start again as we went to the Amber Fort.  It is such a pity that I cannot upload images onto this blog (possibly some glitch between WordPress and the server!?!?).  The Fort is high on a hill.  How did we get there?  On elephants!!!

Not only the experience of the elephant ride, but the view was unbelievable.  Hawkers wouldn’t leave us alone.  All along the journey up to the Fort they tried to sell their wares.

The Fort.  So much history – as well as at the City Palace and Museum which we visited during the afternoon.  The architecture here was both Rajasthani and Mughal, Indo-Islamic.

Especially interesting for me was the stone observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II.  This Maharaja must have been an amazing person as not only was he an architect and town planner but also an astronomer.  The “tools” that he built at this observatory are unbelievable. They can tell the time of day to within 20 seconds.  I had to buy a book about this as is found it fascinating.  Sam will enjoy it too as there were so many mathematical equations involved in working out the various results.

On our way back from the Fort, we stopped at a gem and jewellery centre where we saw people cutting and polishing the gems.

There was an opportunity after this to go to a block printing factory, but everyone was too tired for this.  Another opportunity was to go to the bazaar but I gave this a miss and went back to the hotel, only to find that there was a mall across the road.  Well, that was an experience in itself!  How does one cross a busy road in Jaipur at rush hour?  Luckily a policeman was directing the traffic and he stopped the traffic for us to cross.  Without him it would have been almost impossible to cross the road.

Tuesday 22nd

Again an early start, but this is the norm now.

We drove from Rajasthan to Uttar Pradesh.  This is the most populated state in India. We drove through the mountains via a tunnel, but the tunnel didn’t look real – it looked more like paper mache.

We stopped at a village, Abhaneri, where we saw an amazing stepwell – a Boali. I had never seen a stepwell before, but it was enormous.  These wells were used as hiding places many years ago when the Muslims attacked the Hindu kingdom.  They destroyed the temples and broke the statues of the gods.

Along the way we saw cow dung cakes.  These are used as fuel and I believe that they do not smell.

As I wrote earlier, the Indians use the car horn a lot.  I have noticed that it is used to warn other drivers that you are there, as there is no rule to overtake on the outside so people overtake on both sides, weaving in and out of the traffic.  The horns have various sounds, so one could compose a song.

Some trucks have a sign “horn please” emblazoned across the back.  They say here that by honking the horn is to express one’s existence and to share the joy with everyone around you.  Our driver must be very happy!!!!

We continued to one of the most beautiful architectural masterpieces on earth – the Taj Mahal.  This mausoleum was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife who died in childbirth and it took 23 years to complete.  Walking to the Taj you walk through various arches.  All of a sudden you are greeted by this majestic, beautiful, peaceful sight.  Getting closer to it one can see and admire the white marble building embedded with gems.  We stayed until sunset in the hope that we would see the colour changes, but unfortunately the sunset this day was not the clearest.  We were lucky we didn’t visit it at sunrise on Wednesday, which was the original plan, because as we looked at the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort (which I shall write about in the next blog) it was quite misty.

Friday 18th November

We had an early start today from Jodhpur as we needed to get to Pushkar before Shabbat. It was a long journey and depending on traffic (read: cows) it could take us in excess of 5 hours to reach the town.

A “spice boy” joined our coach and  explained the different spices to us in the hope of selling some, explaining that saffron is the king of the spices followed by the queen which was cardamom.

We travelled through the desert to reach Pushkar.  We stopped at a government school where children from surrounding villages attend, some of them walking for miles to reach the school. When we entered they were attending an assembly. There were a couple of hundred children all sitting cross-legged on the ground looking spruced and clean in their school uniforms. The boys were sitting on one side, the girls on the other. The government give free education for children  from 5 to 10 years, after which they can continue for a nominal fee.

What struck me at the school was the discipline.  There were 3 prefects facing the rest of the children, also cross-legged on the floor. A leader shouted out a word, the whole assembly responded. They recited a prayer which was a pledge to India.  This went on for a while after which a boy prefect got up and asked general knowledge questions to the assembly. I couldn’t help notice that it was the boys that answered (after of course raising their hand).  One could hear a pin drop the whole time we were there.  At the end, they left the room in a very orderly fashion.

However, some parents who are illiterate but carry out certain arts such as a potter or a weaver don’t understand the importance of education and want their children to follow in their footsteps.  These people do not send their children to school.

We couldn’t understand how these children were wearing what looked to us like clean, starched uniforms. Our guide explained that the children have to wash their own uniforms and that they put them under their pillows to press them.

The education in India is secular. In the school we visited, the children receive a meal which is also an incentive for the parents to send the children to school.

We travelled along the Aravali mountains on our way to Pushkar.  Pushkar is a completely vegetarian town.  No meat, fish or alcohol is allowed to be consumed there.

On arrival at our hotel in Pushkar we were in for a surprise. The hotel looked as though it was a remnant from colonial times. It reminded me of 2 BBC series: “It ain’t half hot Mum” and the more recent “Indian Summers”.  The workers in the hotel were all dressed accordingly.

The room in the hotel was a step back in time. Once we reached the outside corridor we saw that there was a padlock on the bedroom door.  Once opened (with a key of course) it could be locked from the inside with a bolt.  There were mothballs in the cupboard and the beds had wooden canopies.

The atmosphere in Pushkar was just as I had imagined India to be. There were cows on the road, wild boars, monkeys.  Besides the amazing market/bazaar people were selling wares on the side of the road.  Umpteen motorcycles were racing through the market. The roads and the traffic here – that’s another story.

There are so many Israelis in Pushkar that signs on shops and restaurants are in Hebrew.  Not only that but the vendors could all speak some Hebrew.

All the time I was in Pushkar I could hear chanting and drumming coming from the various temples.

On Saturday afternoon we walked to the bottom of the Aravali mountain.  We passed many Sadus on the way.  Sadus are men who, at around 65 years old, decide to give up their material life. They get up and leave their family. The family accept this and don’t go looking for them. The Sadus walk around barefoot. When they feel that they have had enough of life they go to Varanasi to die.

Walking back from Chabad house on Saturday evening there were truckloads of Sikhs entering the Gudwara for a festival, followed by evening fireworks.

Saturday night we had a  performance of Gypsy dancers on the hotel roof.

I didn’t get to write anything yesterday as I was exhausted when we got into the hotel in Jodhpur, also known as “the Blue city” because many of the houses are painted blue. We had travelled from Udaipur by coach,  but we had a few stops on the way.

Wednesday 16th November

We had an early start travelling in the direction of Ranakpur. We saw many things on the way including a couple of weddings. I have never seen so many beautiful vibrant colours of the dresses and saris that the women were wearing. Many of the dresses were red – for energy. The groom arrived on a white horse which was covered with red glitter decorations.

There was so much to see on the way: people cooking by the side of the road, cows walking on the road, sheep and goats crossing the road and to be up to date with Indian day-to-day goings-on, queues and queues (and I mean long queues) of people outside banks waiting their turn to withdraw money. This monetary situation is a real problem here. The people need money so have to queue for hours – hours that they should be working.  They are missing all these hours work resulting in not getting paid. The situation will probably get worse before it gets better.

We visited the Jain Temple in Ranakpur. The architecture is so exquisite – for example there are 1,444 carved pillars in the temple, no two of them alike.

Thursday 17th November

Again an early start.

We visited a textile company where they made tablecloths and duvet covers etc. for export. They also made scarves from cashmere and bamboo and others from yaks’ wool. They supply Hermes and other designers.

From there we visited the Mehrangarh Fort, also known as “The Royal Fortress”, one of the largest forts in Rajasthan.

In the afternoon we took a jeep ride to the Bishnoi village.  We visited the home of a 3-generation family where the elderly prepared opium tea for us.  This was a ceremony in which he ground some opium in water and filtered it twice before drinking.  We then visited a potter and a weaver. I find it fascinating learning how people live. I think that we in the West can learn a lot from this tribe – that they are so content with the simple and unmaterialistic life they live.

Eureka moment today. I was able to obtain rupees – the hotel changed some money for me. Now I don’t feel so bare.

Tuesday 15th November

Last night we arrived in Udaipur, also known as the city of the lakes. Our hotel is situated on Lake Pichola, one of these lakes. Udaipur is also known for its beautiful gardens which we visited today followed by a boat trip on the lakes. We also visited the City Palace, a conglomerate of 11 palaces all overlooking the lakes. I took photos but again am unable to upload them.

We visited an art studio where they made historical and cultural drawings using camel eyelashes as bristles for the brushes. The backings were made from various materials such as silk, arabic gum and ground camel bones.  We were given a talk about the method of the paintings and they plied us with rum and coke in the hope that we would actually buy the wares. What the rum actually did was turn the adults into naughty school kids. We couldn’t stop laughing.

Tomorrow we’ll be visiting Ranakpur and Jodhpur.

Monday 14th November

Reading yesterday’s blog I encountered a few typos. Please bear with me as I am typing (and partly dictating) this on my phone and for those who know me typing on a phone doesn’t come as easy  as typing on a typwriter or normal keyboard.

Met up today with the Israeli group. We still can’t obtain any money but the guide told us that we won’t need any today or tomorrow and that the situation should ease after that. This is the only way that the prime minister, Modi, can get everyone to pay their taxes as well as putting a stop to money laundering. The guide told us that the fact that Pakistan has been printing Indian currency notes in their endeavour to destroy the Indian economy was another reason for demonitisation.

Again a tour of Mumbai. The guide explained a lot about the history of India. Although we saw a lot, there’s not too much to write about.

We did however go over a 5.6 km bridge (Rajiv Ghandi Sea link) which links the western suburbs of Mumbai to South Mumbai.  The pollution here is excessive one can hardly see from one side of the bay to the other.

We visited Chatrapati Terminus Railway Station, also known as  Victoria Terminus which is a replica of Kings Cross/St. Pancras station in London. I so much wanted to upload a photo only I am having problems uploading photos onto the blog.

I also have a photo of an outdoor laundry which again I am unable to upload.

We took a flight to Udaipur which we hope to tour tomorrow.

After an uneventful flight watching a bit of Dublin’s Singh Street in the film ‘Sing Street’ and flying over Dubai’s Palm Island we landed in an almost empty Mumbai airport where they immigration spent about 20 minutes trying to take our fingerprints.

Traffic here is crazy. They drive by using their horns as much as they do the accelerator. That’s all you hear – honk honk!  Loads of people and cars on the road. if you think that the M25 is busy – that’s nothing compared to the traffic here. Mind you there are 23 million people in Mumbai!!! and loads of smog.

Security is high here too. Entering hotels one has to go through security screens and they check cars with explosives detectors.

I have been here 10 hours already and still haven’t been able to get any money. That is quite frustrating. We were told we could change money in the hotel but when we tried we learned that  they was none left.  In the last week India has recalled and stopped issuing 500 and 1000 rupee bills resulting in extremely long queues appearing outside banks everywhere throughout the country. We are going back to the airport tomorrow to meet up with the rest of the group, and I’m only hoping that we’ll be able to change some money then.

I’ve had a first sighting of cows by the side of the road.

There are so many people here that many are living in shanty towns and under tarpaulin. A small sukkah as we know it is bigger than the homes that some of these people live in.

We were meant to go to 2 museums today but somehow we only got to the flower market and spice market which in itself were amazing.