Sunday Adventures Around Kodai

After a Saturday filled with running errands and working on my project proposal, we finally had time for some fun on Sunday. First, we headed to town for lunch and to go shopping at the Sunday market. We ate at one of the Tibetan restaurants, which is very delicious. Arun and I ordered so much food that the waitress asked us if more people were joining us... After finishing off all the food including delicious veg egg chowmein and veg wantan soup, we headed down to the market. The market was crowded and full of energy. All the vendors are sitting on the street trying to tempt you with there goods. After browsing for a little while, we went to town and seriously loaded up on fruits and veggies. I think the final loot included plums, a watermelon, mangoes, bananas, a papaya, carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, a coconut, chick peas and a huge bag of pasta. When we were buying the mangoes, the man selling them gave us samples and it was so delicious. I was looking forward all Sunday to eating one for breakfast this morning! 

The market!

Men selling flowers to decorate your hair.

Weighing out our kilo of carrots.

English alphabet pasta all the way in Kodai!

A man selling a kinds of grains and beans.

After deciding we could not possibly carry anything else, we headed home. After unloading all of our purchases, Arun asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. What started out as a quick walk to show me a running route, ended as a muddy multi-hour adventure around a reservoir near the volunteer house. We saw a ton of beautiful flowers and even spotted some real wildlife (not the usual cows)!

Tiny wildflowers.

If I asked you to guess what country this is, I bet none of you would say India!

More flowers.

Bison casually grazing in the woods.

A tiny frog I caught!

All of this adventuring was not enough for Arun who decided we should try and cross the mud to get to the main part of the reservoir to talk to some people who were fishing. The mud closer to the water was basically the consistency of quicksand and after attempting to cross a small stream of water, Arun was covered in mud. Of course he managed to convince me I should also try to cross the stream and I finally obliged even though I knew it would end badly. My attempt to cross was largely a failure and I was practically covered in mud up to my knees. 

Definitely gonna need new running shoes after this one.

After washing off in the water as much as possible, we headed towards home. On the way we stopped to buy some eggs for breakfast and to grab a cup of hot coffee and a snack. My first two weeks in India have been full of adventure and I am looking forward to seeing what the next seven weeks bring! I submitted my project proposal earlier tonight, so soon I will get to work putting my plan into action!

That's all for now!

Liz