Still here

Still around, but I have put the blog (and everything else) on the back burner for a while. After coming back from India the whole family got sick, so we are now trying to recover from a very nasty cough and cold.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur, but we will survive :) thanks to everyone for the get well wishes and for all offers of food, meds etc. 

Here's a funny pic for your Saturday night. Have a great weekend everyone!

Our Indian Adventure - Day14

Another day spent at home. The trip ended on a slightly negative note because me and the young one fell sick. Rather than going anywhere, we concentrated on spending our time with our family. Our daughter has a bunch of lovely and doting cousins. It was just amazing to see how well the older cousins took care of her and how the younger cousins adapted their play to suit her. These are the things you miss when you leave away from family.

I just thought I'd share a photo that I took one day while driving through the neighboring township. I just thought that the name was hilarious!

Our Indian Adventure - Day 13

Are we on day 13? I really have lost track over the last few days.

I'm making a slow recovery, yesterday's achievement was a walk around the residential area where my in-laws live. It is a gated community in what can only be called the countryside, about one hours drive south of Bangalore CBD.

Before we arrived I asked my niece what to expect of the area they live in, as I had no clue. I did ask her if we would be woken to the sound of roosters every morning, to which she said no. While there may not be any roosters around we do see cows and sheep grazing the empty plots of land right opposite their house :)

Having said that, there are more and more houses popping up and the area is filled with new development of similar communities. The road sides are filled with the developers signs and one intersection has about 20-30 signs to show the direction to different communities that are being developed!

It will be very interesting to see how this area transforms over the coming years.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 11 &12

Woman down. Food poisoning. Not really sure what it was that I ate/drank to bring this on. Today has been spent mostly in a horizontal position. Thank God for my in-laws and my hubby for taking care of the little one.

Tonight we got to enjoy an evening snack by candle light as the power went out just often sunset.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 10

Indian Independence Day. All kids were off from school so it was time to take them all out for a little excursion.

So we take a Maruti Suzuki Wagon R (pictured above), a car that is comfortable for four people at best. And what do we do? We squeeze 6 adults, four kids and one infant in there!

A normal feat for anyone in India. I have also see. 2 adults + 2 kids on a moped, four adults at the back of a rickshaw and 6 adults and three kids in a Maruti Suzuki Zen. Combine that with pothole filled roads, a crazy amount of honking and you're ready for another adventure in Incredible India.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 9

A fairwell to Bombay. From everything that people told me about it before my visit, I was sure I would not like it. Not really sure why though, it is dirty, smelly, busy and chaotic.

Most of my photos aren't of very good quality as they were taken while riding in the car through the monsoon rain.

Marine Drive and Chowpatty Beach, the high end area of town. Hence very clean.

Blue tarp everywhere. A good way to cope with the monsoon rain, it seems.

Even these guys living at the top of a fancier apartment building  decided to decorate their balcony with a blue sheet of plastic. 

 

But nowhere will you see more blue than in the slums of Bombay. This one is right next to the runway of the domestic airport.

And then there's the billion dollar "mansion" which they say the owner is not even living in as an astrologer forecasted great room for the family if the stayed there. Not sure if that story is true though...

That's Bombay in a nutshell; a stark contrast between high and low.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 8

Our Bombay trip has been a food feast, to say the least. After several years' absence my husband is now shoving down all his favourite Bombay specialities; pau bhaji,pani puris, faluda, dahi puris... The list goes on. We will both be leaving India looking a bit "healthier" than when we arrived :) The little miss is surprising us every day by being equally adventurous in her taste for food!

Saw this on the restaurant menu today. Not sure what its all about, but maybe people would be willing to pay for fresh air in a polluted city like Bombay?! 250 rupees only (approx 3 euros).

Our Indian Adventure - Day 7

Our second day exploring Bombay. It's great to have friends who are locals, that say you get to see and experience places that might otherwise pass you by. Like the restaurant where we had dinner tonight. Their decor was definitely 99% shabby and maybe one percent chic, but the food was out of this world!

Very modest wall "treatment" at Bademiyan (meaning Big Brother).

Our Indian Adventure - Day 6

Go fancy or go home, is what my husband must have been thinking when booking the hotel for our Bombay stay.

The service and the facilities are impeccable! But the highlight of the day was to meet all my husband's friends and relatives here in Bombay. They were delighted to meet my husband after such a long time, but the star of the show was our little girl, as per usual. We are blessed to have so many warm, kind and generous people in our lives.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 5

Not much to share today, other than this picture of a sign that made me smile.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 4

Eid Day. We wake early, everyone's dressed up in their best, there is plenty of sweet, the kids are hyper and waiting for a gift. My husband always said Eid would be best spent in India and he was absolutely right!

Cricket with the kids, hubby (the one in white) looks like he's bossing everyone around, as usual.

And there's my outfit! I love it, although wearing white when there's a toddler in the house is a bit if a challenge :)

Our Indian Adventure - Day 3

This could also be called the day of true Indian experiences. Both me and my husband were not feeling a 100% (that sort of started on the night of Day 2).

When we were getting ready for today's outing there was a power outage, it makes you realise how dependent we are on electricity.

Later in the day we got stuck in the afternoon rush hour, for a good 15 minutes the car did not move even an inch! 

We did get to enjoy some really good street food in Frazer town, although fasting meant that we got it as takeaway rather than eating it there. I wish a photo could give you an idea of the  smell from all the food, check out the heavy smoke from the barbecue!

Today the moon was sighted in India, that means the end of Ramadan, Eid Mubarak everyone!

Our Indian Adventure - Day 2

I would say that our shopping trip was successful. We did not come home eith a massive haul, but I managed to find an outfit for Eid, which is only a few days away. Here's a little teaser, I will try to remember to post a pic of me wearing it later on.

At the end of the day our daughter sported a slightly different skin colour. We are not quite sure if it is a tan or dirt (yes,we did bathe her)... Here she is helping her cousin study for her physics exam :)

Our Indian Adventure - Day 1

Our first day in India draws to a close. Our daughter has spent plenty of quality time with her aunties,uncle, grandparents and cousins.

We have also been reunited with the piece of luggage that strayed on our way to Bangalore. It would have been a different type of holiday with no extra pants (for me) and no diapers...

Today we spent recovering from a sleepless night, although I did doze of for a while in the car on our way from the airport. I fell asleep when we were driving through all the shiny buildings that are Electronic City. I woke up to a view of farming fields and cows on the side of the road. India is indeed incredible!

Tomorrow: shopping!