Pilani

Mike, Melissa and I went into town today. The town of Pilani is considered very rural here, but they have 35000 people. So, not so rural by our standards. Pilani is a relatively nice town. There was a big pretty park that we drove by. They use camels here as pack animals. It is fun to see a cart being hauled around by something as exotic as a camel.

We took a rickshaw because the heat index today is supposed to be 132. We drove around in circles quite a lot because the driver didn't seem to know the shop we were trying to find. At one point he had to get out and dig out part of the road so we could go through. They were digging some hole on one side for some reason and had put the dirt beside the hole rather than in front or behind the hole - so the whole road was blocked. They are also very fanatical about avoiding speed bumps here. There are speed bumps in all the roads, but they never go over them. They swerve off the road to go around them. But since everyone does this- there are huge ruts beside the road where the speed bumps are and there is more of a bump getting off and on the road than there would be to go over the speed bump.

We finally found the shop- it was a dress shop called Maheswari and I got tons of stuff for about $50: sari, dress fabric, bed sheets, blanket, wall hanging, several purses and a little girls outfit. Don't ask me why I got the kid's outfit. Melissa had them out to get something for her daughter. It was just soooo cute and I figure I'll have a daughter or niece someday.

I hope you are all well. I'm hoping to be able to load pictures soon.

- Vicki