Our First Morning

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Bill fell asleep instantly, but I only slept intermittently...I listed to the cacophony of 4-5 dogs barking, snarling, and howling. It got very quiet, and then the loud speaker for the Moslem morning prayers started, then quiet. Someone REVVED up his mortocycle and took off. Quiet. Then, a most familiar ritual...someone coughing up phlegm, gagging, etc. Another motorcycle revving, then a rickshaw horn, and then, someone did their laundry, which consists of beating the dirt out of the clothes. THRAWK, THUMP, THRAWK...Bill slept through it all and I will no doubt crash in a few hours of pure jet lag.

About 8:30 a.m., the chowkidar (night watchman) and his daughter pounded on the door to ask if we were ready for a bucket of hot water for bath...you know, there is the plastic cup, a bar of soap, and the bucket of lukewarm water...we were pretty efficient at making the entire bucket last for both of us, and then air drying, even in the cool morning air.

I ventured forth with my Melitta filter (you KNOW that I had to bring my Starbucks coffee with me), and without any Gujarati on my part or English on their part, I made REAL coffee! and they were kind enough to make some wonderful garum masala chai (hot spiced tea) for Bill. That, along with an apple from home, mango juice box from the airline, and one of my English muffins toasted over an open flame made for a fantastic breakfast.

We did go for a walk, but the teen-age girls are pretty aggressive (touching and hassling), so we retreated behind the AWAG gate to await the next stage of our adventure!

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