Massage, Yoga, and Shopping

We didn’t want to stay at our expensive hotel any longer, so we packed our things and crossed the dried-up lake to the other side of town, where there were supposed to be more hostels and backpackers. It didn’t take us long to find a place – Ajinai Guesthouse. A large room with a private toilet/shower and hot water cost us only 400 rs. City Palace wasn’t far from where we were staying, so we decided to walk there. It’s a really beautiful place with a great view of the city. Everywhere you go, there are little stalls selling everything you need and everything you don’t really need, but can’t help but buy :) We stumbled upon a tiny spot offering massages. Men and women weren’t allowed in the same area, so we had to split up – 30 minutes cost 150 rs. We had heard about a good yoga center in town, so after our relaxing massages, we headed over to check when they had yoga classes. We were lucky because there was a session later that same evening. The price was pretty much up to you since the yoga center was nonprofit. The money went towards saving animals, so they preferred that you at least paid 50 rs per person for an hour and a half of yoga. We had just enough time to get back and change before the yoga class started at 5 PM. There were about eight people in the class, mostly Israelis, but also an American and a Canadian. The class was a beginner session since most of the participants hadn’t practiced much yoga before. After an hour and a half of yoga, we went with four others from the class to a rooftop restaurant where we had dinner and enjoyed some beers. We were the last ones to leave the restaurant after a really lovely evening. The couple from Israel had been in the Nicobar Islands when the tsunami hit. Their families had been told that everyone was dead because the island had been hit hard by the waves, so they had even put out pictures of them in the newspaper to try to find them. It took two days before the Israeli couple could let their families know they were okay. It must have been terrifying for their families in the meantime. It turned out that the Nicobar Islands were sheltered by the other islands, so they only experienced a significant rise in water levels, and everyone managed to escape further inland. The media had made it sound much worse than it actually was, but it’s hard to assess the extent of a disaster in the beginning.