Meeting in Kashipur and RamNagar

An early start got the travellers on the road to meet up with Jeff and Chris in Kashipur. We stopped for breakfast at a wayside stop called The Rajasthan Resort and picked up some souvenirs from the well-stocked shop. Then on with the long drive on good and bad roads, meeting up with the guys at EJ Bakery that served surprisingly good pizza. Tori and Jaime had their first Indian style bathroom experience (how do you do it?), then we went on to Ramnagar, staying at the state-run tourist guest house. Our spartan rooms looked out over a courtyard already filled with wedding guests -- the men awaiting the arrival of the groom, and the women applying mehendi to the hands and feet of the bride. Mr. Singh took us to the nearby state-run EcoCamp for a bonfire and dinner out of doors.

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We toured the camp, noting the comfortable looking tents and bathrooms –- perhaps a good location for a Woodstock School Activity Week group some year. We relaxed by the glow of the fire, then returned back to the guest house in time to hear the wedding groom being serenaded by a singer and a ravi band: a one man band kind of contraption with speakers, as well as some trumpet players and drummers. After a few LOUD songs, they moved up the street – their way lit by fluorescent tubes being carried by uniformed boys. Only in India!

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