Gujarat.

We have arrived in Ahmedabad and it's a little less busy then Mumbai, but when you're downtown you wouldn't know it. Though the streets are wider, they are just as crazy with a few added things sharing the road. You have cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, cows, camels, dogs, monkeys and elephants!! It's pretty much a gong show. I love it and hate it. We have met a friend of a friend and he has been kind enough to drive us around and show us the place! We went to the Ashram where Ghandi spent many years. Here is a photo of me trying to spin wool as he did.

He was the most disciplined man to ever walk to this earth and I don't know how he did it?!
We had the best day ever yesterday when he took us to a small town named Sarsa where there is a friends farm and they grow mangoes, potatoes, tobacco, wheat and bananas. It was beautiful and a WONDERFUL change of pace from the city. I actually don't understand why anyone would live in the chaos when you could live in a village away from it all. Our friend from home has a family that runs the farm out there and they were kind enough to show us around.


They took us to a small village of 1000 people where they were preparing for a wedding celebration which would be happening today! The children were so incredible! Here is a photo below of Julian and I with some of the children who were just as interested in us as we were of them.

Aren't they CUTE!? They showed us around their houses, showed us how they cook and what they cook and how they are preparing for the huge wedding celebration. Everyone from the village helps prepare and it was such a wonderful thing to see! They also showed us how they milk the cows. We drank some chai tea and then they took us to the place they bring their milk and get cash in hand for it, the photo is just below.

We are now back in the city and patiently waiting to see the last of the Asian Lions on Monday. Oh I can't wait!! We are hoping to see the last of the wild asses this weekend too. After seeing the country, I would like to spend as little time in the cities as possible. No matter where we go we seem to be an attraction all on our own. People constantly gawking and pointing and blowing kisses. People even come up all the time and ask if they can have a photo with us, lol. Check out Julian's photo below.

Though the cities are exhausting, the restaurants are well worth the business. It's always a mystery when it comes to ordering, but we have yet to be disappointed. Here's Julian below with some kind of HUGE dosa, lol.

If only the garbage and pollution wasn't SUCH a problem. It breaks my heart. All the animals in the street live off garbage, so I suppose India has a system, but it's a terrible one. The cows literally eat the plastic. The amount of plastic we've created being here its sickening and it's out of our control.
We have been reading the newspaper daily and yesterday we read that since the end of 2008, the amount of people living in poverty has grown 34 million!!! Crazy! Working class Indians encourage you not to give beggers candy or money as it encourages begging...but what else are they to do? Instead, you can donate money to an organization, but do your research and make sure it's all going to the right place. Like, 'Kids with Cameras'!! If you haven't seen the documentary 'Born into Brothels', you SHOULD! It's amazing, and not only because I am a photographer.

Below are some videos we have taken. There is one of a monkey trying to open a plastic bottle of water so he can drink it and one of the potato farm. The others wouldn't upload, sorry.

Mumbai.

After spending a week in London we have arrived in Mumbai. We have been here for 2 days now and all I can say is WHOA! I can't believe I survived the taxi ride to the hotel, lol. Lanes and traffic lights mean nothing here. There are far more people then cars and they all mix together down streets just trying to get to their destinations.
The garbage here is pretty crazy, it really makes me feel like no matter how much I try to recycle and stay away from plastic at home, it makes no difference. We took a boat from The Gateway of India to Elephant Island today, and the garbage in the water was unbelievable. I watched parents teach their children to throw their chip wrappers and plastic bottles in the water! I wonder where the closest Gyre is to here and how big it is?!
Anyway...Elephant Island was wonderful! Tons of monkeys!! They are super aggressive though. I watched a monkey attack a women for her water bottle, and then he took the water bottle, twisted off the cap and drank it! I also saw one do that with Coke! Any food that was available was for either a stray dog or a wild monkey, and they would fight over it. There were also cave temples, and Elephanta Caves, that have been carved out of rock, they were magnificent!
So far may favourite things about India are the children, the animals, and the food. The young boys feel the need to blow kisses at me, lol. Julian and I also seem to be an attraction on our own. People running up to photograph us and to have pictures taken with us as if we're some kind of movie stars, lol.
Tomorrow we leave this very stinky over-populated place for Gujarat, where Ghandi lived! Hopefully I can post photos soon. By the way...apparently Mumbai is supposed to double in population by 2050!! Where will everyone go!? lol.