Day... we may have lost count somewhere !

Good Morning from a very sunny India ! Yesterday’s blog will be up later today; we had a very busy day yesterday with an early start so were too tired to write. Just know you are in for a treat - hills, swimming, markets, bangles, fruits, restaurants, buses, rickshaws, Saris and Punjabis !

Ok here we go ...

To start off the morning we all had to wake up at 6:30. For some of us it was our first experience on a public bus while others have become professional at blending in with the locals. As we made our way to Dighi Hill we found slums, cows, horse and more. After 20 minutes we finally arrived and off the bus we got.

When we got off many off us questioned why it was called a hill and not a mountain but Mina explained that in Hindi they only have one word for it. We started to climb; once we reached the top of the gravel hill, many thought that was it but NO! That just got us to the start of the hill.

The walk up was long but I will keep the paragraph short. Most of us carried breakfast so our bags were heavier than normal, walking up was much harder. It was a combination of slopes and steps, most of us preferred walking up the slopes. It took about 45 minutes to an hour and once we got up the top we sat down ready for breakfast. For breakfast we had loads of delicious foods like grapes, bananas, bread and mango jam and a rice dish.

After breakfast, we put our shoes on and looked at all the beautiful views.We also got creative with our cameras and took pictures with the lovely scenery from above.

The walk down was very easy but slippery so some people slipped although there is nothing to worry about. Once at the bottom we waited a while for the bus and carried on taking in the Indian culture which we are all getting more used to. The second bus was much more busy and we needed to squish on.

We got back to Sangam and we signed ourselves in, most people went in the swimming pool but some people went to have a nap. Our day continued with lunch and Arram before our briefing for visiting Laxmi Road.

We all gathered in the hall and watched a video called Rickshaw 101 which prepared us for our experience later on. Mina then spoke to us about her sari and the prices we should be paying. She also showed us a Punjabi and how to wear the sari. We all felt excited to try and buy Punjabis and saris so we got into our rickshaw groups and headed for the bridge.

Our Rickshaw group was Group 5 and it was the best group. It took about 20 minutes to get to Lamxi Road; in that time our group made up a song to the tune of Mamma Mia and we saw other rickshaws and managed to take some pictures of them. We had such fun in such little time!

By the amazing Lily and Katherine

We then split into two groups to do the tour of Laxmi road market, we walked around looking at all the different variety of fruit, vegetables and herbs we hadn’t seen before. Here, our guides gave us a challenge to find a veg/fruit that was written on a piece of card and see how much we could get for 10 rupees; that wasn’t the whole part of the challenge though; the food we had to buy was written in Hindi which made it twice as hard to buy the right food and get as much of it as possible. Of course our group didn’t manage to buy the right food, we were supposed to buy onions yet we bought “Ladies’ fingers” but it’s the thought of trying that counts 😂😂.

We carried on to another market area where all we could see were bangles and bangles and bangles, everywhere we looked. This was a very different experience for many of us because as we walked past the stalls we were being summoned to try on buy some in “big size” which meant UK size as our wrist are naturally wider then theirs and of course they did manage to persuade some of us.

From the food and vegetable market we went to a Hindi temple where a celebration was going on, this area was known to be very safe for children as it was away from the main roads and the hustle and bustle of people trying to sell products.

Written by Maddy

Following on from the temple, we zigzagged through the town centre, passing a huge variety of stalls and shops. We had the opportunity to buy bindis and were astounded by the low price. Next, we headed through a narrow alleyway which suddenly opened up to a packed market. Here, we had the opportunity to do some shopping for everything from souvenirs to sunglasses. The market was, we quickly found, to be an intense experience. The sellers went to great lengths to entice us to buy from their stalls - some of us were asked whether we wanted to buy jeans over 10 times! After, we headed off to dinner at a traditional Indian restaurant. Here we enjoyed an assortment of vegetarian dishes, accompanied by a traditional sweet lime soda (which had been highly recommended by the Sangam staff) which we particularly enjoyed. A standout moment of the restaurant had to be the starter - large chunks of raw onion, topped with mango pickle, lime juice and salt and pepper. Eating these was an overwhelming taste experience to say the least, and some of the faces pulled will definitely be remembered!

Additionally, we all tried to eat our meals traditionally with just our right hand, which we quickly found was more difficult than expected - ripping naan one-handed requires serious concentration! To top off our meals we had the most delicious ice cream, which was much needed after the spice of the curry.

Written by Ellie

After dinner, we were all flagging a little and the prospect of going shopping late in the evening wasn’t thrilling most of us. We may have not been all for the idea to start, but boy was it worth it. There was a quick five minute walk to the sari shop (we had split into groups again, and mine went sari shopping first whereas the other went to the punjabi shop first) upon entering it, all our faces lit up! Rows and rows of bright colours, golds, slivers and intricate patterns were stuffed into the smallest of spaces on shelves. I was in heaven. We all ran to the shelves, pulling out the colours and patterns that looked pretty enough for us to wear ;))

Once they had gotten over our stampede, the people who worked in the shop, started to help us get all dressed up in our chosen saris, staying patient when we insisted on trying on multiple different ones. To our surprise they even started to suggest we try on other types of saris! They were extremely helpful towards our bunch of novices and we were all very grateful  Alice and Annabel even decided to buy matching saris, only shades apart in colour; they both looked lovely if not a little like sisters. Once we had all chosen our ‘souvenirs’ and paid up, our last stop was the punjabi shop! Despite it being gone 9pm, there were a few of us who wanted to go, so we did! It was only a five/six minute walk in the very much appreciated cool breeze after a sweltering day of heat. The punjabi shop gave off nice “calming vibes” and the men who worked there were kind enough to give some of us chairs so we weren’t standing for the whole time.

To our surprise, some of the leaders took a step out of their comfort zone and bought brightly coloured punjabis (we’re looking at you Helen 😉). Once finishing up there, we all decided to get the rickshaws back, after our thrilling and a little scary bus experience earlier in the day.