Tithal Beach and Camel Rides - May 15th

I got up at 10:30 this morning and it felt glorious! Definitely needed that sleep after all the traveling yesterday. It's nice staying at a hotel but it's also weird having someone come in to make your bed everyday. For some reason, I don't know if I slept on my hand weird or not but my right hand is really bothering me. I can't put any weight on my right hand without cringing. I'm hoping it'll stop hurting on it's own but I have no idea what the problem is. It even hurts to type which does not seem good but we'll see. I spend most of the day in the hotel relaxing and watching movies. I had a Salman Khan movie called Dabaang on my computer and decided to watch that and it was actually really well done. Two of the girls that I had met yesterday, Ushma and Ridhima came to take me out and show me around Valsad. They took me to Tithal Beach along the coast which overlooks the Arabian Sea. They explained that on Sundays it is always packed with people and even more so in May since all the kids are on vacation and boy were they right. There were sooo many people that it kind of felt like beaches in Miami during Spring Break. But since we went later in the evening the weather was nice and cool and we got to watch the sunset on the beach. We also had some coconut water which I like but I prefer chilled which is usually hard to get unless you buy the coconut and keep it in your fridge at home for a little bit.

Cutting the coconut so we can get the fruit inside

As we continued to walk along the beach Ridhima asked me if I had ever riden a camel before and I had not so she suggested that we go on a camel ride. I was a little apprehensive at first, but then decided that I couldn't pass up this chance so I went along for the ride. Getting on and off the camel wasn't so bad. It was when the camel got up and got back down that was somewhat terrifying. I had a death grip on the bar in front of me when the camel sat down. But I am very very glad that I went on the camel ride. It was a great experience. 

The group before us getting on the camel

 

 Ushma (far right) Ridhima (middle) and Me

After the camel ride we decided that it was time for dinner so we walked back up the beach to where we had parked the scooters. We went to a restaurant called Foodland which was relatively tiny but had a great menu. They had a variety of choices from pizzas and sandwiches to pav bhaji and rice pilaf. The food was amazing and very filling. Since I am going to be here for two weeks the girls told me about the different places that we could go to and that tomorrow we would make plans for the rest of my stay so that I can see everything and make the most of my stay. They dropped me back off at the hotel and said that they would be by to pick me up tomorrow morning to take me to the Bloodbank. I am now comfortably sitting in bed in my PJs watching Aladdin as I write this. I don't know how many times I've seen this movie but I'm hoping I'll be able to stay awake until A Whole New World comes on. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and meeting everyone else. It looks like there are a lot of people that work at the blood bank so I am going to have to try my best to keep everyone's names straight. 

The pretty view as we were leaving the beach