A Sunday Adventure in Vapi

On Sundays we take long walks through the Vapi environs. Today we walked a total of about 12 km (7.5 miles). It's hot, but flat. People find it strange that we actually want to walk -- we are offered numerous opportunities to get on a scooter, in a car, or take a tuk-tuk.

We started with a round-trip to our Hindi lessons. After that, we took a tuk-tuk up to Morai (near Ruby Macons' second paper mill), and took a mostly pleasant walk through the countryside back to Vapi. It's absolutely amazing how fast the landscape can change in just a few hundred meters.

The first kilometer-or-so was through an area of textile mills and sewing factories. But once we left the industrial area, it was rice paddies, ponds, and villages. People in the village areas are friendly, but surprised to see us walking along the road. In particular, my short gray hair, which actually looks more blond than gray, and my "stunning" sun hat really draw the stares and smiles.

This bird is some sort of dometicated fowl. There were lots of hens and roosters along the road as well.

We saw storks, egrets, and herons in the ponds, but I didn't bring my good camera with me today, and they were too far away to get good pictures with the iPhone. (No, an iPhone can't do everything!)

Half-way between Morai and Vapi is the Micro Ink campus. You can't see much behind the walls, but it includes a cricket stadium, a stunning guest house, and two modern office buildings. It's hard to believe that such luxury exists in Vapi.

The cricket stadium is behind the wall on the right. On the left are the gates into the Micro Ink campus.

Most of the houses along the road are typical Indian brick huts (one or two rooms), but there are a few nice bungalows, and one rather out-of-place large bungalow just outside of town:

A mural (frieze?) on a bungalow wall in Vapi:

Each segment of the wall had different art work. I really like the modern interpretation of classic themes.

Our final adventure of the day was to cross the railroad tracks under the "flyover" rather than take the official sidewalk on the flyover. Vapi is bisected by the Western Railroad that connects Mumbai and Delhi. There's only one way to get a vehicle across the tracks -- the two-lane "flyover" that is one of the most congested streets in Vapi.

The amazing thing is that the "bazaar" goes right up to the tracks on both sides. On previous trips, we had noticed lots of people ducking behind the first row of booths that line the street, but we didn't realize that it was really easy to cross the tracks here. It's mostly clothes for sale in these booths. Street food is available in more permanent sheds on the roads that lead up to the tracks.

Looking at the west side of the tracks.

"Shops" on the east side of the tracks.

Finally, I've been waiting for this plant to bloom so that I could identify it. The leaves looked like a milkweed to me, but the plant and the flowers are huge. My botanical instincts were correct, though. It's "Giant Milkweed" (Calotropis gigantea) and can grow up to 3 m (10 ft) tall.