10 long days

There's not going to be many posts from India this week. On Thursday evening I put Leanne and Daisy on a plane to Brisbane. They are now safely in Toowoomba with John and Betty getting things ready or Nic's wedding.
Whilst we were trying to get into Bangalore airport, we had to make our way through some heavy crowds. We burst through them and were just about to get to the terminal door when we noticed what the crowds were for: the Indian cricket team had been in town and were heading off to their next destination. We stood at the front of the crowd we'd just pushed our way through as they walked past and into the terminal.
Inside, the building was fairly empty. Because of the scares that had taken place at London Heathrow that day they were only letting through people with valid air tickets although I managed to get through without one, so it was probably more show than anything else; or maybe they just didn't put a white man with a wife and baby as a high-risk visitor. I've certainly noticed that where locals get stopped at doors, in general I can waltz on through.

So, that was Thursday night. Since then I've been kicking around the house by myself. We've spoken every day and they're settling in well, although Daisy's been a bit clingy so far. It's odd having the place to myself for such a long period, and it probably won't happen again for a very long time. I'm making the most of it and have now watched 2 movies without interruption. It would have been 3, but a powercut put an hour intermission in that one.

I fly out on Monday which is now only a week away. Work will keep me busy in the evenings and I'm using the mornings to get things ready for the company we're starting in Oz. The website's starting to look pretty good and if I can get some stock bought and the required paperwork completed then I hope to start selling in time for the new school year in January.

Daisy's first dip!

There were smiles all around as Daisy had her first swim in the sea. At first she was a little in awe of it all but then soon got into jumping over the waves or feeling them receed around her ankles. The water was lovley and warm. I learn't later that nothing dries in the monsoon, even things that were no where near the water are damp. It was lovely to have heat and humidity and rain and sea though, quite the weather experience. 

Wet and Wild!

Saturday afternoon saw us heading off to Goa. This is about half way up the west coast toward Bombay and takes aobut an hour and a half. We flew Kingfisher airlines, in a turbo prop and had one of the best flights that we have had in years. Before take off we all got a little zip up bag of goodies, pens included. Flying over Bangalore was a little precarious as the monsoon winds manifest themselves as turbulance here so while I was white knuckle gripping the arm rests, Chris had his head to the window and giving a running commentary of what he could see! It wasn't long before we were fed and watered and the coast was coming into view. We wanted to catch a government taxi as we had to travel over an hour down the coast and wanted to be safe. There was some mix up and so the taxi people outsourced to the neighbouring vehicle hire company or something like that. We were soon issued with our driver and found ourselves hurtling down the highway. There was obviously a fire somewhere or the driver thought we were in a hurry. It has to be by far the most harrowing drive we have had yet in India. Conversation dwindled to nothing within minutes as we realised that we faced potential death. Requests to slow down didn't seem to make any difference. We were overtaking on blind bends and screeching the tired around corners. We braced ourselves as best we could and held onto Daisy tightly as we flew over potholes. After an hour of this we reached our destination quite exhausted. We were staying in an ashram in a small fishing village. If you visit the website then you will see why on earth we chose to stay here www.bhaktikutir.com.
We had a lovely stone cottage surrounded by lush tropical foliage. We even had a solid floor, electricity, a ceiling fan and a western sit down toilet. At the front was this verandah that you could sit out on and gaze at the palm trees. Because of the overgrowth everything dripped either from the humidity or the rain. Our cottage was lovely and cool. It had a big double bed with a hessian mattress and an old mosquito net. The room was lovely but one downside was that the bathroom was separated from the bed by a small partition wall. Unfortuately Chris chose this weekend to succumb to dribbly bottom syndrome. I think that this is the 'for better or for worse' part of the marriage vows! (note: Chris is up to day five now of his 'condition' so we have started him on antibiotics. I am not sure if it is bacterial or protazoal so will just keep trialing drugs until something works!) Another thing that amazed us was the size of the ants, or small wildebeast would be a more apt description. After settling in and unpacking scrabble we headed off to find a resturant. The caretaker said to walk along the beach to the main village and we would be right. So following her instructions we found ourselves climbing down a small cliff, skirting around a swamp, backtracking because of the the incoming tide and climbing over rocks. Still now sign of resturants or anything. We were in the heart of our little village which consisted of houses made from woven grasses and boats and nets. We found our way back to the ashram and ordered a rickshaw. We headed to Palolem beach as described by the lonely planet ' a sweeping crescent of white sand fringed by a shady rim of coconut palms is postcard perfect'. This isn't exactly what we found.
We know that this is monsoon season and not the tourist hub but the beach was really dirty. it wasn't german tourists that you had to fight with to get spot but cow pats!! There was dog poo and cow poo for as far as the eye could see. The beach was als very littered with all manner of general rubbish. We had trouble seeing beyond this to the magical place we were led to believe existed. Daisy did manage to dip her toes, and then her legs and then her bottom in the sea. She absolutely loved it after the first bit of trepidation. Then nothing would abate her hunger so we headed off to eat. Not much was open but we did find a nice little italian resturant and ordered pizza. Our fellow travellers consisted of what looked like 12 year olds, all in tie dye and having a joint before dinner. By the time our dinner arrived Daisy was beyond hunger and pizza wasn't the anwser. Luckily I had an old banana left over and some dried fruit and she ate this. We chose to head back just as the heavens opened. We were thankful to find that the tuk tuks are more like black cabs and have a lot more protection around you from the elements. It even had a little windscreen wiper! Our cottage was lovley but sleep didn't come easy. The temperature steamed and dropped with wild abandon so I was up to DAisy covering her and uncovering her. She was in her cot on the floor so I also kept vigil unless an ant carried her off! With getting in and out of the mosquito net, I inadvertently left it exposed to the cockroach that later made its appearance in my hair! For those that live in Australia you will understand the size of cockroach that I am talking about. I settled into a fitful sleep around 5am once Chris and I had decided that this really wasn't for us at this stage in our lives and made plans to up sticks. We all slept then til 8am and wandered up to the kitchen and had some lovely toast and jam surrounded by quite the menagerie of cats and dogs, much to Daisy's absolute delight. We then headed off to another beach. 

Banglaore Transport Part Two: 3 Wheels

This is our fifth post today so be sure to scroll down. There's some good articles involving monkeys and families on mopeds that you don't want to miss!

Bangalore would grind to a [more permanent] halt if the taxis were the four-wheeled yellow or black varieties favoured by New York and London respectively.
Instead you have the marvellous Auto Rickshaws which are manufactured by Bajaj here in India.


They fly through the traffic taking the citizens of this city from point a to point b for a very reasonable charge. They don't just cater for the two legged inhabitants. There's even Small Animals Ambulances for our four legged friends:


The majority of three-wheelers are auto-rickshaws and many owners love them dearly. Karsten's been in one that featured three speakers on the rear shelf, a CD system and neon lighting. Leanne and I recently saw one that was a mobile Christian shrine with quotations from the Bible and images of Christ all over it.
They're all different in one way or another, but there's two rules for picking a good one:
1. Insist they use the meter. Many will try to agree an inflated price up-front so if they won't use the meter (or won't offer a reasonable price) then you just wait 30 seconds for another to come along.
2. Don't choose a young one. The older ones have clearly lasted longer and so you stand a chance of doing the same!

Banglaore Transport Part One: 2 Wheels

I've been meaning for a while to start a series of blog entries showing the cars, bikes and busses of Bangalore. In this first entry I'm focussing on the two wheeled vehicles. This is probably the most common style of pedal bike on the streets of Bangalore.


It has rod brakes, a beautifully sprung saddle and that's about it. This is a deluxe model with a light and a bell.I'm thinking of buying one as even the best ones cost little more than £25 new. People riding them look very elegant, even when there's someone riding pillion!

Of course, if you want to carry more than two people on a bike, you have to have a motor to pull them along. Credit for this next photo must go to my colleague Karsten.


We've not yet seen more than four people on a bike. Each time it's been four adults and four children, often with the lady riding side-saddle. We once saw three adults on a bike and the jury is still out deciding whether that beats the classic two adults/two kids combo. Whatever the decision, the Bangalore Motorcycle Display Team must be an awesome sight!

Finally, here's a photo that Lea took especially for Colin, but which I know will interest a few other readers:


It's a Royal Enfield, the famous marque that started life in Britain before migrating to India. I'm not the best person to tell you the full story, so if you want to know more you should visit the Royal Enfield website. 

Our photo shoot traumas

The musical gardens that we went to on the way home from Mysore are very popular with local tourists. I think we were the only caucasians in a sea of locals. We definitely stood out. As we walked around one of us would fend off people trying to touch Daisy. Some people understood when we objected but mostly they got offended when you gently guide their hands away from her. Sometimes they ask if they can take a picture and we usually say no but mostly we hear the sound of the shutter or the mobile phone to realise that someone, usually always a male, is taking her photo. It is a sad state of contemporary society that I get anxious when strange men take photos of my baby girl. If they are obviously tourists and it is quiet and they ask nicely then we do say yes, especially if they all want to be in the photo as well. I think back to all the wonderful children that I have photographed in Nepal and Mexico. At the time I thought nothing of what their mothers thought!It all seems so different now to have someone photograph Daisy. Above is a photo of when we stopped to feed her some dinner. Within minutes we were surrounded by people who were snapping away left, right and centre. We felt like they were paparazzi! She of course loved it and there would be smiles all round from Daisy. Eventually it got too much and Christopher rose up and ordered everyone to leave us alone. At one stage they were two and three people deep, all in a semi-circle around us, well around Daisy. We try and be friendly and understanding about it but we both find it very unsettling so not only do we keep our guard up for people pinching Daisy's cheeks but also for people taking her photo. I quite often get asked in the grocery store. I have to be careful as a couple of times in the store I have looked around to find someone trying to take her out of the trolley to show her off or something. Then I freak out and start screaming like a banshee to leave my baby alone!! It is something that we have to deal with everyday and we haven't found a solution to yet.

Mysore (Part 4)

This is the parade ground. (I am not srue who this guy is that seems to be parading!) The maharajah would sit under the main arch, aboutthree storeys up and survey all that he owned. The grounds were huge and held this area and also two hindu temples. At the entrances to this area were large bronze tiger/leopard/big cat things. They were very impressive. Two similar ones to these were in the courtyard inside the palace. Daisy liked them especially.
She drew quite a crowd who all wanted to photograph her. You would be watching her and then from behind here the sounds of shutteres going off. We coudlnt' get her down as she just wanted to pat and hug the big pussy cat. We headed off back out into the streets in search of Raj our driver. At the entrance were sellars and beggars. It was our first sight of the snake charmers and their dancing cobras. In the service station the other day we were waiting and an old woman came up with her hand out. Christopher thought she was asking for money and it took a little while to realise that she had a snake in a basket and was saying...'here look at my snake and now give me money'. Christopher let her kow that he wasn't too impressed with ehr snake and soon caught up to Daisy and I who at run off at the sight of the snake. I am not sure if Daisy wanted to watch but as I was carrying her, her only option was with me! We were accosted by sellers of braclets and jewellery and noise makers and wooden boxes. one seller nearly had his arm taken off as I was closing the car door and he insisted on thrusting his carved box into the car and saying, 'bargain only 500 rupees, bargain, you buy?? Okay okay, only 400 for you!' he kept saying this as I closed the door much to everyone elses amusement. Next stop was to some famous 'musical' gardens. We weren't sure what they entailed but they were certianly popular! Once again we threw ourselves into the throng. Someone always walks to the back of Daisy and fends off people trying to touch her. Even up high on Christophers back they can suddenly reach in and pinch her cheeks or touch her and then kiss their fingers. We wanered around and found a place free of dog poo and ants nests to feed Daisy. She had the last of her jars of baby food. It will come a time soon that I will have to buy her food when we are out. I have nothing to store home cooked meals in for a days travel. Our meals wasn't very peaceful as I shall write later. It soon became dark and the fountains where lit up with different coloured lights. At the top of the terrace was a big fountian that sprayed water to the sound of rock music. Everyone, and I mean close to 2000 people all stood around and cheered. It was nice but we couldn't really see the attraction. By 7.30 we headed back over a walkway on the water and to the car. It was a huge commerical place adn there were sellers and littel carts selling all types of food from deep fried things to cobs of corn to heavily spice whole fish!
We all climbed back into our car and headed for Bangalore. Raj our driver was excellent and managed to dodge the traffic that came in our direction and at night!! We felt very safe and Daisy slept the whole way home. We got home about midnight and all round we felt that we had had a lovely lovely day. 

Still at the Palace

(I have written this blog entry three times, each time taking about 40 mins and then it all disappears so sorry for the delay in finishing our visit.)After Christopher had finished galavanting around on elephants, we headed toward the museum which was housed in the older part of the palace. While we were waiting we were
entertained by this fella. He was sitting on the balastrading right above our heads. It was soon joined by a baby monkey that was very cute. Apparently there has been
monkeys in our apartment complex but we haven't seen nay yet. Other friends from baby group who live in houses say they have trouble with monkeys stealing fruit off the
trees and often see them running along the high wall fencing around their houses. We watched as this guy clambered down the drainpipe and headed toward us! Daisy was thrilled as I was back her away rather rapidly. All I could think of after a
particular nasty episode with a monkey in Indonesai years ago, was her getting biten and catching rabies and worms and mites and all sorts of unimaginable diseases!
(Actually I can imagine most diseases here and some that don't even exist!!) This monkey came quite close and then headed to the garbage bin where a juice container proved
to be far more interesting. So with screams and shouts form the locals he was chased off.
We headed into the museum. The first room we came to was like an interior
courtyard that was open to the sky. It wasn't very big and held lots of tropical plants in the cnetre. Around the edges were display cabinets filled with possessions from
the maharajah. Things like, combs and brushes and shoe horns and clothing, and shoes and turbans. In the centre near the plants were differing types of transport vehicles.
There were elaborate seats that wre carried by elephants all covered with faded brocade and small boxes that would have been carried by people, all heavily carved. There was
a little wagon that would hve been pulled either by a donkey or a goat. The 'piece de resistance' was a fabulous tin peddle car. It would have been a childrens toy.
Christopher was capivated! There were three of them and one looked as though it held a small motor. They were early 1920's and though faded, they were in perfect condition.
Next time we go I shall take a photo. We moved through the remaining rooms which held more 'things'. One room had at least 12 grammaphones and old record players. You
could imagine people draped around the room all listening to 'The charleston' and smoking cigars or cigarettes out of long holders. The place had a real roaring 20's feel to
it. This is one of the rooms that had been set up.
This one has more of an Indian influence than british. The pictures and photos on the wall reminded us that this is
relatively recent history, not even one hundred years ago. It feels quite strange after having lived in England for so long and even our house was older than this. We were
quite taken with the museum. We wandered aroudn and then headed back out into the sunshine. We made our way back to our shoes, which always surprises me that they are still
there. I must buy some really cheap shoes and wear to these places where I know we have to leave them outside. We walked around the edge of the palace to the front where
there was a massive parade ground hwere the processions of elephants all highly deocrated buse to be presented to the Maharajah that sat on his thorne inside the palace. 

Our Mysore Trip (part 2)

Our first stop in Mysore was a spot of lunch. Daisy liked her noodles but mango dessert is always the winner! The waiters all loved her and bought her a 'side order of fries' for her mango! When we eat in a resturant we always get a lot of attention from the staff. We like the think it is because Chris and I are special but we know that it is all about Daisy. After lunch, I did manage a quick look in a silk emporium. Mysore is famous for it's silk, sandalwood and incense. It was all a bit expensive and I had Chris, Karsten, Daisy and even our driver all tapping their feet! Next stop...the palace.
This is the palace of the Wodeyar family of maharajahs that have ruled this area since 1565 until 1947 and Indian Independence. I think the family now lives out its days in the Bangalore palace. This palace was completed in 1912 after an earlier wooden palace burnt down in 1897. It was designed by English architect Henry Irwin. We weren't allowed to take photos in the main section of the palace which has a most magnificent wedding chamber. It must be nearly four stories high inside and has cast iron filigree buttresses and a gorgeous stained glass roof. Maybe Chris can find a link to show an existing photo of this room. The palace is very grand inside, almost over the top with carved pillars in each room and inlaid marble floors. Along a main corridoor are painting depicting life in Mysore during the edwardian raj. Included in these paintings were portraits of actual people, a lot of British officers and the like. There were a couple of portraits of King Edward and Queen Alexandria. The place had quite a roaring 20's feel to it. There was only a section of the palace opened, mainly around a stone courtyard which had two most magnificent bronze tigers standing guard. There were very similar to the one in the photo with Dais coming up. We soon found ourselves outside and herded into another area around behind the palace. This looked more like the original buildings as they were much older, or at least in a more dilapedated state. We had to take our shoes off to enter the palace and so we are now roaming the backyard of the palace without our shoes. In this area is where we found some camels and absolutely huge elephants! this was an opportunity not to be missed.
This is Chris and Karsten riding the elephant. Daisy and I are keeping a safe distance. We were not sure if you could take photos but the elephant man didn't seem to mind and even posed for some shots! Daisy was very quiet but eyes wide open and she didn't miss a thing.
The elephant ride was around the garden and through some of the buildings. In this photo the main palace to the the right of the elephant and the older palace where we were next heading is to the left. It was a lovely place and even though it was quite busy we were having a lovely time.

Our trip to Mysore begins

Our estimated time of departure was 7am, bright and early. We nearly made this too! We fed Daisy and threw her in the car only to discover about 100 metres down the road that she really doesn't like to travel on a full stomach so back to the apartment for a costume change for Daisy and Chris and hose out the back of the car and we were off again. Daisy fell asleep in my arms and stayed this way for the next few hours. We picked up a work mate of Chris's and headed out of town. It took us over an hour to reach the outskirts of Bangalore. The first change to the landscape were the appearance of these mountains. They were huge masses of rock. Chris and i argued over whether they were volancanic plugs left after erosion or huge rocks pushed up through the earths surface during a particularly violent earthquake or the such. The jury is still out! Though since Chris studied geography at uni he is probably right! More coconut palms started to appear and soon we found ourselves surrounded by them and rice paddies and watched as fields were ploughed by oxen and men walking behind them. The road was a lovely four lane highway, two lanes in each direction. This though didn't stop the occasional motorbike or rickshaw being on your side but heading in the opposite direction!! We are very pleased with our driver and felt that this wasn't his first trip to Mysore. He handled the traffic masterfully! We drove through villages and over huge bridges and ohhed and ahhed at the countryside. It was soo lovely to be out of the city. Our first stop, beside the coffee day coffee stop, was at a place called Srirangapatnam. This is the ruined capital of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan's capital from where they ruled much of southern India during the 18th century. In 1799 the british conquered them with the help of disgruntled local leaders. Tipu's defeat marked the real kick-off of bristish expansion in southern India. Our first stop in this village was to the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple. This was quite an impressive hindu temple. We have more video footage than photos of this place. It was quite a sight, not only the temple but the food stalls and 'carnival' that went with it. It is quite a tourist sight for Indians as well and again we stood olut like boils being the only white people. Our car was accosted by people volunteering to be our guides. One man was quite persistent and spoke good english so he was the chosen one. The road leading to the temple is filled with beggars, street sellers plying their wares, animals, the ever present dung and tourists. Inside the temple was cool and quiet. Our guide showed us around and again we got our foreheads hindi-ed. We departed with 300 rupees after refusing to pay his requested price and wandered back to the car. It was an ordeal to retrive our shoes as being white and tourists they want heaps of money for looking after our shoes at the entrance to the temples. We were also accosted by boys selling pencils and men selling necklaces. From the sidelines, men and women shouted for our attention to buy there things. One day I will buy a coconut drink where they chop off the top while you stand there and put in a straw for you to drink straight out of the coconut. It looks delicious. (I have just had my first bout of food poisoning so I am very wary again of all things)
Below is a picture of a typical food stall that lined the road side. I am not sure of what was battered and deep fried. I thought it might be pineapple but it wasn't this so I am not sure what is was. They would prepare food here and then beside this they had a bench wth seating that you ate at. All the places were quite busy with the locals. We didn't eat here!
Below is a picture of Raj our driver. Daisy thinks he is great because he plays teletubby videos in the car. Her face jsut lights up when she sees him and he thinks this is very cool. He is a very careful and competent driver and we are very pleased with him.
We visited another couple of sites in this village which is about 16 km's outside of Mysore. We went to the Gumbaz, which is a Taj looking building holding the tomb of Hyder Ali, Tipu's father. Then we drove to the summer palace of Tipu. After Tipu's death his wealth was redistributed around, though most of it went to the British. A lot of his treasures are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The palace has been restored and there is a bit of a museum inside. Most of the rooms in the house only have one or two walls with rooms open onto other rooms or walkways. This makes for a very breezy and cool building. I can see why it was his summer palace. I stopped to feed Daisy in the cool some fruit and we were swarmed by well wishers wanting to touch her and take her photo so as soon as she finished we were on the move again. 

Leanne's Birthday Outing

Leanne's Birthday fell on a Tuesday and as I was owed some time off work we decided to spend the day sightseeing. Our first stop was lunch at a popular Chinese Restaurant in the city centre. We ate until we could eat no more and although Daisy managed to eat an enormous amount, she managed to get a far larger amount of food on the floor. You can see in the photo above that the high-chairs in the restaurant were simply chairs that are high. It's a sign that she's growing up that she can sit in a chair like that for a long period without toppling out.


After lunch we headed out to Bangalore Palace. It's said to be modelled on Windsor Castle and once inside it has a real sense of faded glory. We weren't sure at first whether we could look around as our trusty Lonely Planet guide said it was closed to visitors. This seems to be a bit out of date however as we were quickly issued with a guide and given a tour. Our reciept was made out to "Two Foreigners" which is probably the first time we've not had our names misspelt on a reciept so far!!



We're supposed to pay 500RS to take photos but our guide was happy for us to take one or two as we went around. When we get visitors we'll visit again and take more. The one below is a ballroom and it's one of the best preserved parts of the building. Just outside this room was a stuffed elephant head mounted on the wall; one of the maharajah's hunting trophies.


Later on in the tour we went into the Queen's quarters (that's the maharajah's wife; not Queen Victoria) which was acting as a store room whilst renovations are taking place. In there were a number of elephant feet which had been turned onto foot stools and a stuffed elephant's trunk!

At one time the palace would have been a very grand venue, but now the walls are faded and some wings need complete renovation. One day it will be restored to it's former glory, but strangely it's now that is the best time to visit. The current renovations will turn this palace into a museum and some of the charm will be lost in the process.


This large white building is the Vidhana Soudha. You can read more about it here. I liked the part in that article that reads "It is therefore one of the largest of the Legislative buildings and impresses many visitors as larger as and more beautiful than similar buildings in Australia, the United States and even Canada." Why 'even Canada'? Are they famed for legislative buildings of particular grandeur? Perhaps that's an angle that the Canadian tourist board needs to work on..?

The photo above was taken whilst en-route to the next palace on our journey, one of the summer palaces of Tipu Sultan.

This was a small palace, mostly open to the outside with modest but attractive gardens. This was located quite close to the city centre and was more geared towards tourists.


The final stop on our journey was the Lal Bagh. This is another of Bangalore's parks and contains a glasshouse modelled on London's Crystal Palace. The park is the prettiest we've seen so far and we'll have to return sometime and spend a bit more time there. Daisy fell asleep on the drive here and woke up as we were leaving so Leanne carried her around on her shoulder. Next time we'll bring a ball and a blanket and maybe have a picnic under one of the many trees.

Another week in Bangalore

This is a photo taken a while ago from the balcony of our apartment. As you can see we overlook the pool. I've only been swimming once but do intend to make more use of it once the weather heats up a bit.
We can once again see blogspot again. Seems that whatever prevented us viewing it has passed on and normal service has been resumed. Daisy's walking has come on in leaps and bounds. She loves to walk everywhere with her arms outstretched. Today we were at a late lunch with Leanne's expat group and there were kids everywhere. Not many were Daisy's age but she loved toddling in amongst them all the same.
I'll stop here for now. Next blog will be all about Leanne's birthday. I took the day off work and we went and saw the sights of Bangalore. Seems that there's more to the city than just office blocks. Perhaps it's not an Indian Bracknell after all... 

Daisy Walking

I don't think we can upload a video to the blog, so here's the next best thing. Daisy can walk for about three metres now before grabbing onto something or dropping to a crawl. It's very impressive and she knows how clever she is! 

Are we being censored?

There's something strange going on here. We can't see any of the blogs on blogspot.com. At first I read a notice on blogspot.com saying that there would be some routine maintentance and that the site would be unavailable for a short period. Then I read this article on the BBC news website.
So I've just connected through an a computer in America and I can see the blog fine. Yet if I use our home computer or my computer at work I get a "Page cannot be displayed" error.

This seems to affect all blogs on blogspot.com; not just ours. Let's hope that it's a glitch and that normal service will be resumed soon. If not, you can find your local Indian Embassy here!

Happy Birthday Leanne!

Happy Birthday To You!
Happy Birthday To You!
Happy Birthday Dear Leanne!
Happy Birthday To You!

 

Monsoon!

The last two afternoon have seen us with torrential rains! The monsoon has finally arrived, well it does for about half an hour and then back to cloudy days. There hasn't been thunder and lightening yet as when we first arrived but I am sure it will come. We want the rains now mainly to flush the little river that runs along the back of our apartment building. I am not sure if it is a natural river or an open sewer but if it doesn't rain and the water doesn't flow then it gets quite aromatic! More like the smells that physically reach up your nose and pull the hairs! Being on the 7th floor we seem to be above it most of the day. Anyway, the rains were lovely and it washed the streets and settled the dust and pollution. We were nice and dry in our car but there were lots of people, especially women on the backs of motorbikes that were drenched. The roads also flooded so getting home took a little longer than usual. Hopefully it will rain again and I will get some more photos. I am not sure if you can see detail on the blog but if you look closely at the front of the building you can see pale white stripes and this is the rain coming straight down. 

Photos from Daisy's Birthday

This was Daisy's morning birthday cake: a banana and chocolate chip muffin cooked by her mum. Suitable candles were in short supply so the closest we could get was a zero. Still, from the side it look like a 1...

Daisy loved her new teddy...

...and her new hat!

In the afternoon she went to a baby group in a very nice part of town. She had her second cake of the day there. She was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but she loved the toy kitchen in the background so we'll probably have to get her one for Christmas!

She has had some lovely cards and presents from around the world and had a wonderful day. This week she really seemed to grow up and is less a little baby and more a little girl. Happy first birthday Daisy Grace!