Our neighborhood

Here are a few pictures from around our neighborhood. We are 2 blocks away from a major arterial where there are an endless number of little shops, but our area is all residential, mostly apartments and large houses behind concrete walls. It is a very convenient place to live, with most everything you need close at hand.



You can find these streetside tailors on every other block with their treadle sewing machines. There are also Ironing carts on every block. These guys use the big old irons that you see in antique stores, which are loaded with coal.

And morning coffee is brought to our door step by a vendor on a bicycle. (I have not gotten up the nerve to try it on the street yet)

And here is our local market which is just around the corner. It's a great little grocery & misc. goods on one side and a wonderful vegetable stand on the other. We are able to buy most of our food here, and it is much less expensive than the stores that specialize in western products. It is also easier for us to shop here than from the streetside vendors because they tend to rip off westerners who don't know what the prices should be. We fell prey to a banana cart man our second day who charged us about 5 times the going rate.

And not a very good picture, but yes there is an occasional cow in our neighborhood.

There are also several temples in the area, the largest one is just a block away, and another smaller temple is just down the street. Actually, I should say in the street because the road has to go around both sides.

These temples are extremely ornate, with many carvings of the Hindu gods in their various forms. It's not unusual to walk by and hear chanting or songs coming from the larger temple.

That is a quick snapshot from a walk around the block. Next time, I'll get some more pics. from some other areas close by.