The weekends in Surat are usually pretty quiet, any given weekend there are teachers headed in various directions but I have found that there is still plenty of exploring to be done in and around town. My favorite weekly events are the two weekend markets that seem to consistently draw crowds of locals. Every Saturday evening on “Walking Street” vendors and individuals set up next to the water selling everything from clothes, small electronics, dishes, bedding, jewelry, sunglasses, watches, and crafts. Every Sunday evening on the opposite end of the river front is the “floating market” full of a huge array of food carts, stalls, & vendors. Both markets have a great community atmosphere and seated next to the river offer a great view of the sunset!
Koh Lampu is a small island in the river that is easily accessible by motorbike, only about a 5 minute drive from my house over the two bridges, and is also known as “exercise island”. It has at least 4 or 5 outdoor areas with exercise equipment, plus several different tennis courts, a jogging path, and a variety of trees and rocks that are begging to be climbed! There are also meeting areas, picnic tables, a playground, a swimming pool (without any water in it), long tail boats, canoes, small piers, pagodas, and of course a Buddha and several small shrines!
But what has really made the last two weekends in town great has been P'Noi's new Sunday morning yoga gathering!! Normally she only teaches 4 days during the week, but she has started hosting a Sunday morning pranayama class at the outdoor football stadium. 6am sounds like an insane idea, until you remember that by 7:30am the sun is going to be out and blazing! So I have been happy to get up early and beat the heat!! It's also just been really cool to get to practice with a group of 20+ yogis in the park!
~ Namaste ~
