Thurs 20 Nov On the Road . . .
We set our alarm for 530, but are up at 515. Showers and final packing. At 615 we are out on the street. We take an auto-rickshaw to the bus station for 50 R. We arrive there at 635 and sit. Someone points out our bus - it is not yet in position.
About 705 it pulls into position. We load our bags and squeeze them into the rack above the seats.. Good to have our packs close.
At 715 we are off. We cross Ahmedabad to the west, picking up as we pass into the suburbs. We are soon out into the country on a 4 lane divided road, with a toll charged.
We see goats and cows, but no sheep. Carol pulls out a guidebook and points to a sentence that most "mutton" in India is really "goat." Baa humbug.
What else can one say about a ride 210 km west to Rajkot and then 200+ km south to Veravel? The trip was non A/C the whole way. The bus was not very full until mid afternoon, when it was close to full. We stopped twice for driver and passenger breaks and were in Veravel about 1650 (9 1/2 hours). At the mid afternoon break, we saw "Bristly" water, again packaged exactly as "Bisleri" water.
Our driver was passing other like crazy, and passed a Diu-bound bus along the way. We talked to almost no one. Vegging, reading, looking out the window, s-l-e-e-p-i-n-g.
At 1700 the Diu bus we had passed came in to the station. A stroke of luck. We boarded. The last 90 km was scheduled to take 3 hours. We arrived in Diu at 2030, and took a 50 R rickshaw to the hotel. There was a recommended restaurant a block away called O Coquiero. We had prawns in coconut sauce with rice (170 R) and fish masala (145 R). Add in our first beer in days, a 650ml Kingfisher for 80 R (24 oz). The tension of our travel melted away, and we had a fine finish to a very difficult day.
Ahmedabad postscript: Several days after we leave Ahmedabad, a newspaper reports a neighborhood with a small malaria outbreak attributed to suspect water.
We set our alarm for 530, but are up at 515. Showers and final packing. At 615 we are out on the street. We take an auto-rickshaw to the bus station for 50 R. We arrive there at 635 and sit. Someone points out our bus - it is not yet in position.
About 705 it pulls into position. We load our bags and squeeze them into the rack above the seats.. Good to have our packs close.
At 715 we are off. We cross Ahmedabad to the west, picking up as we pass into the suburbs. We are soon out into the country on a 4 lane divided road, with a toll charged.
We see goats and cows, but no sheep. Carol pulls out a guidebook and points to a sentence that most "mutton" in India is really "goat." Baa humbug.
What else can one say about a ride 210 km west to Rajkot and then 200+ km south to Veravel? The trip was non A/C the whole way. The bus was not very full until mid afternoon, when it was close to full. We stopped twice for driver and passenger breaks and were in Veravel about 1650 (9 1/2 hours). At the mid afternoon break, we saw "Bristly" water, again packaged exactly as "Bisleri" water.
Our driver was passing other like crazy, and passed a Diu-bound bus along the way. We talked to almost no one. Vegging, reading, looking out the window, s-l-e-e-p-i-n-g.
At 1700 the Diu bus we had passed came in to the station. A stroke of luck. We boarded. The last 90 km was scheduled to take 3 hours. We arrived in Diu at 2030, and took a 50 R rickshaw to the hotel. There was a recommended restaurant a block away called O Coquiero. We had prawns in coconut sauce with rice (170 R) and fish masala (145 R). Add in our first beer in days, a 650ml Kingfisher for 80 R (24 oz). The tension of our travel melted away, and we had a fine finish to a very difficult day.
Ahmedabad postscript: Several days after we leave Ahmedabad, a newspaper reports a neighborhood with a small malaria outbreak attributed to suspect water.
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