Kamal preparing veg to make achar

Kamal made achar today. I found him sitting on the floor in the kitchen with a newspaper spread out over the marble covered with peeled and unpeeled vegetables – carrots, turnips, cauliflower – that he was patiently cutting up and getting ready for blanching. Once this was done and they were drained he put them out on a table cloth under a fan to dry (no sun today) then he peeled loads of ginger and garlic and made them into a paste. About 4 hours after the vegetable pieces were dry they were packed into a jar with the paste, some salt, sugar and water topped up with some vinegar. Now it sits for 5 days to mature. While this was going on Yelena, Urgyen and I took ourselves off to see the Hobbit and came away very shell shocked by the violence and length of the film - 3 hours with the interval. The cinema was only half full which was strange as it is only the second day of its release here. Afterwards we had an excellent lunch in an Italian restaurant and they left me to go round the the shopping malls. Except for the clientele and shopkeepers I could have been in uk for there were loads of shops like Zara, Raymonds, Hamleys, M&S, United Colours of....and it was a crying shame that they all used western models in their advertising. The malls were beautifully decorated for Christmas but there were masses of people and at the entry points we were body searched and our bags had to go through a scanner. The car was checked with mirrors and the engine and boot opened when we arrived. Everyone is always checked going into the metro – a line for the ladies and one for the men. Most shops required you to hand over your shopping bags at the entrance in return for a numbered disc and in some shops you were followed around to see if you wanted any help but mainly I felt to see you didn't try and steal something – no, that's mean. Perhaps they got commission for every sale.
This place surprises at every turn. I am living in an 'enclave' – a housing estate amongst lots of trees with a gated entry. Next door is another huge estate with park attached but on the other side is a 'village' with a terrible narrow pot holed road and a rubbish dump running alongside it that must be 7 foot high up the tree trunks. Beyond the village over a major road are the three swanky and glitzy malls.

the vegetables drying under the fan

Am having dreadful trouble posting blips - the blipfolio ones are much easier - does anybody know what I'm dong wrong?