My trip to Kerala? ... FANTASTIC!!! Lonely Planet says riding a houseboat through Kerala's backwaters is one of the top ten things to do before you die and I heartily agree with them. And I saw elephants! I'm headed to the airport in a few hours and will blog about it when I am back in Houston. Two weeks went waaay too fast. I am bummed to be leaving, but excited to see my family in AZ for my brother's graduation.
Today we went to Lal Bagh Botanical Garden. This place was amazing! They had such different looking trees and flowers than I have seen before. There was a lot of shade too, so it wasn't hot (well too hot :) ) walking around.
Here are a few pictures:
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| Lal Bagh Botanical Garden |
Driving down Hoysur Road
I've seen a family of three on on a motorcycle and a man riding a bicycle so loaded with palm fronds that I have no idea how he was able to see where he was going!
I found this sign funny...it really isn't the speed that kills because the traffic is so bad you can't go very fast, but not looking when you pull into someone else's lane!
Cows wander the street
I'm really enjoying my stay here, despite the bout of sickness. It is so very different from any culture I've ever been in and is turning out to be a great experience. I have lots more words to write down, but Druvika is coming to babysit and Colette and I are going shopping for a couple of hours.On Friday night we went to small group (Bible study). Ansu and Lambert are the couple who hosts the meeting and Lambert leads. They have three daughters who are a lot of fun, we talked soccer and school and they tried to tell me about cricket :). We had dinner there and I must of ate something bad because that night and the next day and half...whoo-ee...not fun let me tell you. I didn't want to take the anitbiotics or anything else that "keeps it in" because I wanted it OUT, so I stayed in bed all day Saturday and was able to keep some juice down by the afternoon. Thankfully Colette also had handy packets of electrolytes as well. On Sunday I was feeling better to go to church. They have such a great church. Awesome teaching and really friendly people. Then we hung out at the house, since 1) everyone wanted to rest and 2) I wasn't feeling up to walking around just yet.
Today I am feeling MUCH BETTER! Yay! Thanks to everyone who prayed.
I made it! After sitting next to stinky, sweaty, snoring man from Houston to Newark, I was blessed with an entire ROW of seats on the flight from Newark to Delhi, so that meant I caught some major zzz's on the flight- about 6 or 7 hours worth (yay for Ambien!). I did get motion sick on the descent (I really need to kick this problem) and was able to make it to the bathroom on the plane in time- I don't recommend trying an Indian breakfast in reverse...
I made two friends in the Delhi airport, Mo and Vsha. They helped me navigate to the inter-airport bus and we hung out for 10 hours at the domestic terminal waiting for our flights. I didn't get pictures, but they were really nice people. I highly recommend Jet Airways for flying in India- the food was AMAZING and the aircraft was super nice and clean.
Brian, Colette and the kids picked me up at the crazy chaotic (the start of the Bangalore theme). I couldn't believe the crazy traffic- I thought Moscow was bad. Rickshaws, motorcycles, people walking in the middle of the lane, bicycles loaded down with wares, no street lines, and no right of way rules (so it seemed to me) - I am one very impressed person at the courage Brian and Colette have to drive around the city.
I managed to make it until about 4pm that afternoon (after an fantastic lunch at a new restaurant-I seriously love Indian food) before pretty much falling asleep mid-sentence talking with Colette :). After a short nap, we picked Brian up from work and went to a Biriyani restaurant (The Hyderbaad House). Biriyani is a popular dish in the city (region?) of Hyderbaad, rice seasoned with saffron (I think- it was yellow and didn't taste like tumeric) and spicy meats. Yum!
Today, Colette and the kids and I braved traffic (well, I braved it- Colette was a master at not freaking out every time we had a close call- and there were many- crazy truck and bus drivers!). We went to the Bangalore Fort and the Tunni (I think I am calling it the wrong thing) Palace. And then strolled some in the city market. It was pretty hot, but the kids were really good sports about it. Everyone was staring at us (we stood out quite a bit). Colette says she is used it now, but it was really unnerving for me. I'm glad she was with me. Here are a few pictures from today. We're going to small group tonight and I am really looking forward to meeting some of their church family.
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| Bangalore Day 2 |
What better excuse than a 20 hour plane ride to make a trip to Half Price books? I am an avid reader and, unfortunately, a fast reader. I say unfortunately because that means I always tote a lot of books with me when I travel. I usually stick to classics since I feel that most bestsellers are disappointing (to be fair, I have found a few good ones). I vacillated over an Amy Tan and a Leon Uris (Leon Uris is a FANTASTIC author by the way, I've read most of his stuff), but alas, I had a budget to stick to.
For my trip to India, here is my book list:
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan (no I haven't seen the movie)
"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg (yes I have seen the movie and read another of Fannie's books- she's a fun author)
"Howard's End" by E.M. Forster
"Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen (I've heard nothing but good things about this one)
"When We Were Orphans" by Kazuo Ishiguro (he also wrote "The Remains of the Day"- good book)
"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Now the key is not to start reading them until I leave! Shouldn't be a problem- my friend Moose loaned me two J.D Salinger books ("The Catcher in the Rye" and "Franny and Zooey")
Ah, books are great :)
Just some random pictures from the last couple of weeks...
