Giant Vegetables and Super Slides

This weekend was a busy one. We took a school trip to Deva Sharif (I posted about it earlier) and unfortunately, were running late (as always). When we got there, the main shrine was closed, but we had a nice chat with the people at the shrine.

After the shrine, we went to a model village that was created by the Indian government - I think as a way of promoting cultural tourism. At the "village" there were plastic people doing everyday things of the village (like drawing water from a fake well), along side real people who were performing. Above is a picture of a woman creating music and some voices for a puppet show. The act was fun and raunchy, and I enjoyed it. The "village" itself was a little disturbing and it seemed ironic that we had to drive through many villages to get to the sanitized, clean "village" where we could wander around.

I think my favorite part of the village was a giant collection of vegetables made of plastic (picture below). Inside the vegetables were stairs leading up to a slide and the slide must have been the fastest slide in the world. It was almost like an amusement park ride.

On Sunday, I went shopping to pick up the last of my Christmas gifts. We went to the old city (called Chauk) and enjoyed looking at the old streets and buildings. Some of the buildings must be at least 150 years old. I also bargained with the street vendors. I love bargaining, I think its great language practice and pretty fun to see what kind of deal I can get. Sundays are busy shopping days (as you can see from the picture below of one of the main roads). I also find it quite enjoyable to wander in the crowd, to explore the alleys, and to see all the different things people buy.