New year, new country.

I'd actually intended to write an entry dated 1 Jan, but Kash and I were ambushed at the gym earlier today (haha, no curry belly thank goodness!) and having spent the day out sightseeing, the first day of 2008 is officially over. Nevertheless, it's always better late than never, so here's the lowdown on how we ushered in the new year in Ahmedabad.


Mucking around with my shawl outside our old dilpidated hostel, so Erwin could get a good shot of it in the sunlight.


Amit and Sumit first took us out to this residential site where Egyptian, Chinese and Roman sculptures were built, for theme ambience, I assume.


First, the Buddha in China...


Then the pharoahs..


and the pyramids of Egypt.


Carvings inside a pyramid.


Village women rushing home to their families.




And that's me running after them for a shot, haha! This picture is hilarious.


Sunset silhouette.


A shot with Amit.


See how close I am to the dog?


MICA's Roxy has cured me of my dog-phobia!


Reflected sunset in the window.


Erwin's constrained smile.


Last up was the Roman district.




And a final sunset shot before we headed out of the village peace and into the crazy Indian traffic.


The streets of India.


A chaotic riot of colors.


The ethnic Gujarati village we went to for our last dinner of 2007.


Where buffets are served on leaf plates by servers.




All vegetarian.




Nuria likes the unflavored lassi. She's the only one who does. Haha.


Kash has adventurous tastebuds and weird concoction tastes.


Not my cup of tea.


Joining in the dancing after dinner.




My constipated/embarrassed face.


Sumit getting his groove on.


The performer/story-teller


Left these people enraptured.

After a scoop of buffalo milk ice cream, we headed back and reached MICA 10 minutes before midnight. Ushering in 2008 was done at Chota - the 24-hour chai tea place on campus. Simple, cozy, and nice. And our first hours of 2008 were spent moving from the old, dilapidated hostel to our current comfortable quarters.

New year, new country, new accomodation. Happy 2008 everybody. :)