Bhopal

I spent the last week in the capital city of M.P., Bhopal.

I wish I could have stayed there for the rest of the year! It seemed much nicer than Indore. The city felt cleaner, and had more greenery, there was less chaos. Overall, Bhopal was a beautiful city. 

All six of the exchange students were hosted my Amanda's host parents. Amanda's family is Sikh, there were two kids, a boy of 11(Karan) and a girl of 7 (Jeannie). The parent Johnny and Minnie were really cool, especially Minnie who Amanda considers like an older sister. 

The three girls shared Amanda's room and the boys got to stay in a guest house. 

We did so much in a week that I can't keep the days straight!

The bus ride from Indore to Bhopal takes a little less than three hours, just enough time to sleep well, if you're not looking at the scenery. 

We went to the movies, out to dinner with the family, and just with the exchange students. We went to two Rotary meetings that revolved around food of course. One of the Rotary clubs also took us out to lunch one day. Another invited to visit a local school. At the school we attended an assembly that was unlike any I've ever seen, the students did exercises, stood at attention, and at ease, saluted, sang the national anthem all on the command of an 11th grader with a microphone. Then they sat and selected students read the news, poems, and sang songs. Then, for our benefit, there was a dance and we got up on stage and asked questions. After a breakfast put on by the school, we went with 4 of the 11th graders to some of the local sites. We started with an ancient temple that was constructed in one night. Next we walked to a Jain temple, and from there we went to ancient caves where people had done cave drawings. We also white people for the first time! There was a group of Russian tourists at the place where we stopped for lunch. 

Bhopal is known as the city of lakes, there are two big lakes in the city. One evening we went on a boat ride to an island for the sunset. It was really beautiful.

During the week we also visited the zoo, and history of man in Indore museum/ park, and an other historical museum. 

We stayed up late talking a lot and joking around. I like all of the exchange students but it was really nice to have another American girl around. The three Americans have what you could call an American sense of humor, and we get some of the same inside jokes. 

We also did a lot of shopping. Friday, there was supposed to be a curfew because of a court decision that was supposed to be made that was predicted to cause turmoil. The court's only decision though was to post pone the decision for seven more years. It was nice though, because we had planned on spending the morning shopping but instead we got to spend the whole day! The boys got bored really quickly but I had lots of fun. We went to two of the main markets in Bhopal. We started with Old City Market which is a typical old market with all the vendors and little shops with bargaining and a totally maze of streets. It's a good thing we had Minnie with us to lead the way and fix the prices. We bought fabric from one vendor, leggings from another, shoes, scarves, and jewelry were all from separate shops. We also went to New Market to get the scarves. Our final stop was a boutique to get measured and fit for our Kurtis. They were done by Saturday when we left!
There were some places in Bhopal that reminded me to the Kite Runner because the sky was filled with kite and we passed tons of shops selling them! At one of the Rotary meetings the was a balcony that looked out on an area where there was hundreds of kites we watched as two boys chased one of the fallen kites down.
There was so much that I'm sure in a little bit I'll think of something else to add...
As much as I liked Bhopal I also enjoy being back in Indore in my own family and home.

The pictures below are very much not in order! (sorry)

A statue of Buddha whose face was carved off by invaders.

Part of the old Buddhist monastery (imagine living in one of those tiny, plain rooms!) Next to it is an old man made pond.

A gate way to one of the stupas at the Buddhist temple. 

Sunset on the lake.

The cave where we saw the cave drawings.

Many of the cave drawing looked very similar to the ones you see in the US except the depicted different animals, like this elephant for example.

Sunset on the lake.

The Jain temple.

This temple was built in one night thousands of years ago on the request of a king. We said they had to stop building no matter where they were and the temple has remained that way for centuries.

A white tiger at the zoo.

Amanda looking out the window of a traditional Rajasthani hut.

A typical Rajasthani house.