Fun on a bus

Ok so off we set this morning at 7.30 for a long drive to Dasada and the promise of an amazing night in an eco resort before we begin the trek tomorrow.

We broke up the trip with stops at block printers and weavers and lunch. 

The hand work and time taken to weave is incredible and the block printing was also amazing. The owner took us through their technique including the use of eco friendly dyes which are almost all vegetable or natural dyes. He explained that indigo plant is used but it is hard to grow here as it requires water (who knew indigo comes from a plant?!) And so he also uses man made indigo dye - he said with the natural indigo he can make 20 litres a day but with the synthetic one he can make 200 litres a day. He said the market demands work fast so he is under increasing pressure to use the synthetic dye. 

It really makes me appreciate the work that goes into the things we consume - watching the weaver also made me reflect on whether we pay enough for some of the things we buy, the hand made labor intensive pieces of art that we wear as shawls and scarves and too much for other things like factory made consumables that break after a couple of years. It also made me reflect on the instant gratification culture we have - we want something hand made and unique but we want it fast and we don't  really want to pay for it - the theme from all the artisans we have met is that this push from the consumer means they are cutting corners in terms of the integrity of their work. While in the past a piece of embroidery may have taken 9 months to complete and even the mirrors were hand made locally and the entire cloth would have been filled with embroidery today they  need to make them in days or even hours so they use pre-made elements such as manufactured ribbon and mirrors and space is found on the cloth. Seems sad to me that we are losing some of this wonderful skill and knowledge as it wont be passed down. 

The first weaver we  visited managed to talk us into taking us to see his brand new resort hotel only 2 mins away - Indian minutes that is! he was very proud and insistent on us seeing his place and on us telling people in Australia about it. I also had my first experience of the inability to say the word no. I asked if they took cards and he said yes so when i came to pay he told me they had to get the machine from the other room than 15 mins passed so asked again and he told me the machine was being charged and another 15 mins or so passed and i asked again and he said "money no problem you pay me when you get back to your country" ummm not sure about that so finally our guide explained to me they did not in fact have a machine and could i pay cash! 

We then set off on the long bus trip with a great lunch at a road side dinner - beat our roadside diners hands down. 

Along the way we saw camel trains and lots of colourful trucks and cows and even a herd of sheep walking in the middle of the highway with their shepherd.

We finally  arrived at the Rann Riders eco lodge in Dasada.  It is absolutely gorgeous and so lush here with lots of wildlife. It looks so posh I feel I need to dress up for dinner!

Rann Riders safari lodge

Our room

Cant wait for tomorrow and the start of the trek!