Mandvi

We decided to escape the tourists and touts in Rajasthan, by heading south to a remote beach in rural Gujurat (still in NW India, near Pakistan). We basically spent two nights and a day on the train to get there, but it was worth it.

We stayed in a small town called Mandvi, whose economy is based on ship building and windmills (kinda like Denmark...). The harbour was filled with beautiful (and huge) wooden ships being constructed by hand. We lazily walked around (and biked - just like Denmark...), talking to the ship builders and lumber yard workers. Enormous logs are imported from Malaysia, and manhandled onto sawmills. Then, the huge boards are carted to the ships and carried up rickety scaffolding. It was all very impressive. One ship takes two years to complete.

We spent the rest of our time relaxing on the local "Windfarm" beach. It was a perfect 'vacation' from the rest of India.