October 9, 2010

Saturday October 9, we had a busy but fun day. We visited 6 places today. First we went to a Catholic Church, which was really interesting seeing one in India. There were prayers outside of the church. Our tour guide was the owner of the Orchid Nursery where we were staying. After the church we went to a cactus nursery. The cactus were being grown to be sold in Australia and New Zealand. After seeing many different cacti went went to a Buddhist monastery. It was the first historical sect. We learned more about Buddhism from our tour guide. We even saw Buddhist monks playing soccer.

After the monastery we went to a paper making factory. We saw how paper was being made which they used a local bush/shrub. The woman who gave us a tour said her maternal uncle saw a documentary how the Japanese made paper and he tried some ways and came up with his own way of making paper. It became a family business. After the tour we bought a lot of things from their store. I bought a lamp shade, a journal, post cards, and gift bags. After the paper making factory we went to another Buddhist monastery. This monastery belonged to the same sect as the present Dali Lama. Our tour guide's wife's great uncle was the mentor of the previous Dali Lama. Finally, we went to a school for Anglo Indians that prepares them to live abroad. After all of that we went back to have a late lunch and went shopping since we had to leave early the next morning.