Today's destination was the Rann of Kutch and the White Desert... evidently 10,000 sq km of the largest salt desert in the world.
As usual, the journey was as interesting as the final destination. Today we encountered several hundred Muslim people walking along the road. We haven't quite worked out where they were going, but obviously some sort of pilgrimage. It was a long long walk for them and there were several large tented areas along the way for them to eat,drink and rest. Many were carrying bags and I loved how the women carried backpacks on their heads rather than on their backs.
We drove about 80 kms passing very little except primitive villages and several mini tornados which we could see in the distance.
There was a stop on the way to get our permits as this is all a military area and we needed these to get into it. We were only about 80kms from the border of Pakistan here.
The salt desert itself was amazing... as far as the eye could see. It was very hard to imagine that this is only dry for about four months of the year as it fills with water when the monsoons come .
It was hot, but nothing like I imagined it would be thank goodness.. there was also a very welcome light wind. It made me realise just how harsh our NZ sun is because there is no way I could have been out in the sun all day in desert country if at home.
Of course Tarun had to do his trademark headstand. I took my time taking the photo so he'd have to hold the pose for ages!
A late lunch in town the back to the hotel for a much needed swim.
Towards sunset we headed back to the temple we visited last night. This is a real spectacule with all the people in their brightly coloured clothes walking around the white marble building, and the sunset reminds me of those we saw in the Himalayas last time I was here. Funny though, I'm looking at all the people here and they're staring at me... Not too many white faces in this area !
Back to the hotel for dinner. This is a nice place and even has a bar.... But no alcohol. It's the first time I've seen non-alcoholic champagne ... I'm giving it a miss!!
While Gujarat is a dry state, evidently foreigners can buy alcohol with a permit. The allowance is the equivalent of 20 bottles of beer a month which they must consume in private :-)
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