Christmas in California

It is kind of strange to go back to someplace you grew up, but haven't been to in a while. We were back in the SF Bay area for the first time in a year. The weather was lovely, though a bit colder than we're used to in Bangalore by now. But fortunately the weather cooperated mostly and we didn't end up with much rain.

It was a bitter-sweet visit. It was really wonderful to see my sister, my mother and my nephews, as well as our children who don't live with us. It was also great to just get to slow down and relax (well as much as one can during christmas time). But it was also the beginning of Smitty's chemo treatment, and that put a real damper on the festivities. Her health really suffered from the treatment and she's still dealing with it.

I was struck by the colors though. Somehow you get used to the colors where you are living and don't really realize how they may be so different from somewhere else. What I really noticed was the difference in shades of Green. Somehow in Bangalore though there's a lot of dust and smog, the greens are still brighter and fuller. Those in northern California are much greyer. As you can see in this photo taken while I was on a walk at "the ponds" near San Rafael with my mother and sister remembering my Father. He used to lead bird walks here every Thursday morning. And there is still a group of people who go every week and they call themselves the Bruce memorial Thursday walkers or something like that. They get to see birds like this Great Blue Heron every week. We didn't see any white pelicans this week, but we did see the river otters who have moved in to the ponds and a variety of water birds that seem to be there year round.

I guess this is one of the biggest things I miss not living in the Bay Area. It is so easy to get out into the open and see the beauty of nature.



I like this photo despite the power lines in the back, because it shows the old and new power generation (yes those are solar panels at the bottom), and yet is beautiful in its own way.



And finally, yet another example of the local green color in the wonderful winter sunlight.



Happy New Year!

Giving Thanks

In my memories, Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of getting together with family and friends, eating too much, telling stories, laughing a lot and playing games like ping pong, board games, and of course the "blackboard game". This year was very different, but better than last year. Last year, I think we just stayed home and it was pretty much like any other day. This year we went out to dinner at Sunny's with some friends here in Bangalore. It was a very nice celebration and we did have some good laughs, but still not the same as getting together with family.

But Thanksgiving is also about giving thanks. And I have a lot to give thanks for. The whole family is healthy, and doing relatively well. Those of us in India have a tremendous opportunity to see things we otherwise wouldn't. And those 'at home' in CA can come to visit us here if they wish. As frustrated and sometimes homesick as I get around holidays etc, I still really love being here in India. And I love the new experiences all the time.

The last couple of weekends have offered a couple of new experiences. First we went to a village about 100K outside of Bangalore. It took several hours to get there, partially because we had to cross through Bangalore before exiting the city.

It was organized by Rachel-the wife of someone I work with. She's very interested in animals, and supporting good animal care. The reason we went to this village, Mittur, is because one of the families that lives there is supporting a charity which promotes good animal care, adopting stray dogs, etc. This village has done a lot for the local dogs, and we went to show appreciation and to see a bit of village life. When we arrived, we were immediately welcomed by the local children with a welcoming ceremony. Then we traipsed up to the local high school. We got to sit through the standard welcome at the school, where we saw the local officials speaking (this same family had donated the school building a couple of years ago), and then some of the children did various skits, dances, or music. This was the most fun part for me during this part of the day.

Then we got a tour of the village. This included a visit inside a local farmer's house. He raises silkworms. The house has to be kept dry, the mulberry leaves must be dry, and the sound of the worms munching is audible as soon as you walk into the rooms. They have two methods, one is large stacked trays, the other is more like large racks.

We also got a musical performance, as well as wandering through the rice paddies. Then we finished it all off with a rest period. During this time some of the local girls were wanting to see their photos on Cindy's camera, then she got them to sing a song for her, and she sang one for them. They sang a couple more after this. It was very interesting to see that when they were singing in English, then they were very animated and smiling. When they were singing in Kannada (or some other local language), they were almost droning, and their faces were almost blank. Odd, somehow, but interesting. The children were lovely and very friendly. And I got a lot more fun pictures.



Soma Vinyards:



The next weekend, we were invited with the OWC Wine Club to visit Soma Vineyards. We went for an evening barbecue-- some of the best steaks I've had here in India, and potluck salads and desserts. The Vineyard was absolutely beautiful in the late afternoon sun. We arrived a bit late as I had to go downtown to pick up plane tickets to the US. But we did get there around 5pm. When we arrived, we were served a welcome drink-fresh tender coconut juice-straight from the 'can'. We got a vineyard tour. They use an interesting way of managing the bugs, they have a lake with a bright light in it. The bugs are attracted to the light, which is by a sort of fountain, or spray of water, so the bugs get knocked into the water, and the fish eat them. Then the workers get to eat the fish, and the leftovers go to fertilize the vines again. There were very few mosquitoes during the evening, so I guess it works fairly well.

As it got dark, a bonfire was lit for us in the middle of the tables. We didn't need it for warmth as it was just the right temperature out to be out in shirtsleeves without getting cold, but it added a nice atmosphere. The best part was that we could see the stars, and there was no noise. The vineyards are about 1.5 hours drive outside of Bangalore. We also had a lovely chat, and lots of information from our host Raju. All in all, I think I have a lot to be thankful, and certainly enjoy being here in India--though I am missing my family now on the Thanksgiving weekend when I see the photos of them all around the table.

Vikings Ho

As an antidote to the warm balmy, slightly humid, sunny and slow paced Thai holiday, I went where it is just above freezing, dark, and rainy. Yes to Scandinavia. I spent a week in Finland (for work) and had to stay over a weekend. The only bonus was that there was a lot of color in the trees. This was in a park close to the office I walked through every day on the way to and from the train station. Most days it was wet and cold, although the day before I left it turned downright freezing.

Oh yes, the vikings--well since I was there for the weekend, I thought I should make something out of it. The weather forecast was for no rain, and even possible sun, on Saturday. So I decided friday to catch the boat to Sweden. It goes overnight--leaving at 5:30, and arriving about 9:30am in Stockholm. The boat ride wasn't much to speak of. The rooms are small, and I had decided to take a shared room to keep the cost down. There are 4 bunks with just enough room to walk between them, and a little toilet w/ shower. Not exciting. I had dinner and then went to the party lounge. There were a couple of acts, neither exceptionally good, but lots of alcohol being consumed by the passengers probably made them seem better than they were. Eventually I got tired of it and went to bed. Arriving in Stockholm was beautiful, but cold enough not to want to be on the outer deck. So some of the pictures are through the window.

I took a bus tour around the city. We stopped at the palace, the city hall, a couple of nice viewpoints, and the penultimate stop was at the historical museum. There was a line out the door when we arrived. The exhibit was fabulous, though much of it was not very well lit, and therefore hard to see. But it was pretty much empty of people. The line was for a local festival of bread. You gotta love a place that has a bread festival and allows selling lots of yummy bread in a museum. I would have bought some, except I had no real need for any and most of it would have gone bad. So I just tasted from the samples available.

Then we drove around an island which is mostly museums--6 or 7 if I remember right. The guide told us that Stockholm is about 1/3 built up, 1/3 parks, and 1/3 water. That seemed to be true and it was a nice light airy and green city. There is also art everywhere, indoors and out. In the old town there are many art galleries, and outside, sculptures and beautifully built buildings and gates and... I also happened on a market with stalls and stalls of mushrooms. I recognized the chanterelles, but not the others. I also think I found the narrowest street in town-not sure though. And I enjoyed the odd displays I came across during my wanderings around town. I would like to go back when the weather is better. Although it didn't rain on me the whole day, for which I was really happy. It was cold and somewhat bleak. I would love to explore the city more and visit the museums with more time.

More Thailand

I want to share a few more of my photos of Phuket. Not much to say about them.

First A couple of the temple we saw. It was a large area and had several buildings including a crematorium.


And there inside the temple there were many statues. They were gold in color, but Cindy and I couldn't tell if they were gold leaf, or actually plastic. We didn't touch one to find out.


Most buildings had a small building outside, almost like a doll house. I think they are actually small temples or places to worship. Here is the one outside our hotel room. If you look closely (click on the photo), you can see a drink with a straw in it, left for the gods. At first I though, oh, someone left some trash outside our door, and then realized, 'no actually it belongs there'.

As with any tropical country, there are some interesting plants and trees. Roots from a tree by our hotel.


There was a festival starting up the day we were leaving. Here you see colored sweets being sold by the roadside.


And finally back to the temple, a vendor playing a Thai version of hackey sack with a ball that seems to have a bamboo basket woven around it. I didn't examine closely, but from a distance that is what it looked and sounded like.

Phuket

I won't say much about the whole stay in Phuket. It was very pleasant, though we stayed at a resort which was a bit out of the way. So, though from time to time it felt isolated, that was also nice as we sometimes need to escape to the quiet from Bangalore.

We arrived Thursday morning after a 3.5 hour flight from Bangalore to Bangkok, a short layover, and a one hour flight to Phuket. I guess it is telling that the plane from Blr to Bangkok was an airbus A330 and the flight to Phuket was a 747. We were pretty tired from the flight, due to short sleeping times. We left at 00:30 and arrived in Phuket by 9am, with a 1.5 hour time difference. So when we arrived at the resort, we mostly just lounged around the pool. Cindy and I went for a short walk down to and along the beach around sunset. Some beautiful sunsets while we were there.

Friday Ari was sick. Maya, Cindy and I went to Phuket town to see the old town, and just get our bearings. We did a little shopping, but overall not too much exciting. We did then go to a buddhist temple and have a looksee. Pretty awesome.

Saturday was set aside for Maya and Ari to choose an activity. We went into the little town just north of where we were staying. We were going to go shopping and have lunch, which we did, but the shopping was limited. Only Cindy and I found an interesting bit of art. We also had lunch which took forever, but was very good. After this we went back to the resort as we had arranged a horseback ride (Ari's choice). We went to the stables, and they saddled us up, complete with helmets. Then there were four young men who led our horses to the beach, and then along the beach. When the horses started to go faster, the men had to run to keep up. This is the first time in my life where I have ridden a horse and been led around for the full trip. I must say, I'm not much of a horseman. I'm just not that comfortable up there. Maybe with more practice I would be more comfortable, but I just am not that interested in that. Then we went back to the resort to change clothes, and out for dinner. The first restaurant we went to, White Box, was fully booked for a private party, so we drove further into Patong, and went to the 9th Floor Restaurant. Food was pretty good, atmosphere was sort of odd.

Sunday was to be my excursion day. I had chosen before we left to either go snorkeling or kayaking. I had decided on Kayaking and on Saturday we had booked a trip on Sunday to go kayaking on the Andman Sea. It was either this or go to Phi Phi islands. The snorkeling wasn't too good as the monsoon season was just over and so the water was fairly murky. We arranged the 'sea canoe' trip, and were all set to go. Sunday morning I woke up at about 6 am (as I had done on Saturday and Friday as well). As it had done on Saturday, it was raining. I was hoping for a thunder shower like the one we had on Saturday. No such luck. By breakfast it was really pouring. We were supposed to be picked up at 8:45. At 8:30, I was staring at 3 very long faces, and wondering what to do. It was really looking like I was going to have to cancel the one activity I really wanted to do in Thailand. The water was coming down, the skies were grey to the horizon (when you could see that far between downpours). It had been raining straight for close to 3 hours now. I was willing to go, but not looking forward to sitting in an open boat in the rain for hours, if it was really going to keep up. We didn’t know what kind of a boat it was to be, so we weren’t really up for a big risk. I called the hotel concierge who had arranged the trip. She told me that she would check and call back. About 5 mins later, after we were informed the car from the canoe place was already there, she called back, saying. The tour company will cancel if we so wish, but the sun is shining on the other side of the island, and only thundershowers were predicted. I could hardly believe this and was pretty down at this point. I suggested to the family that we would go to the boat at least and see what it looked like there. I said we would cancel out and come home if it really was raining on the trip. As it turned out, contrary to what were led to believe, the boat was big enough that we couldn’t have canceled and come home mid trip if we wanted to, but it also wasn’t necessary. The boat was covered and had 2 decks, and better yet, it didn’t rain the whole day.


We visited several islands that day. The first one didn’t have a real cave, but definitely had an interior to it, and an exterior part. The ‘canoes’ were actually sit on top inflatable kayaks. They were incredibly stable. We had a dry bag for our cameras, but didn’t really need it. The boat stayed pretty dry, and didn’t move around a lot. We explored the island, each boat had one guide with a paddle, and then two passengers, except for one. One man had to go it alone with his guide. We paddled around the inside with its steep sides, and could see out through the spots where the water had worn through. We could also see where the water had been about 3 meters higher for around 6-8 thousand years and had worn away the side of the island.

Next we went to an island with a true cave in it. This was an amazing experience. The water level was such that the cave roof at it’s lowest was only inches above the top of the kayak. We had to lie flat. I was in the center position, holding the flashlight. It was really dark in there otherwise. I had to take my hand off of my belly and hold the flashlight inside the boat, next to my legs, otherwise would have gotten cut by the sharp mollusk shells on the roof of the cave. We came out into this little lagoon inside the island (imagine a donut with a bite out of the bottom, sitting in a bowl of water). There was a whole ecosystem inside the island here. Of course it was normal sea water, but there were birds, monkeys (though I didn’t see any), mud skippers and banyan trees in the water. It was really quite and calm. In at least one or two of these lagoons, the water would drain out completely at low tide. When we were there the water was only about 2 feet deep. We had to leave again before the water got too low (and when then noisy tour group arrived with another boat).

We went to another cave which was similar, but it started out much bigger, and was much longer. It was filled with bats closer to the entrance. They would squeak and complain if you shone the flashlight on them too long. They really didn’t like the light. And of course it smelled like guano. I think this was actually the lowest cave. I did get a couple of pictures of the next group coming into this lagoon, and oh, you remember the guy who was by himself in the boat. He is a rather large fellow, and due to there being one less person, and his girth, they actually had to let air out of the boat so they could get into the lagoon.

After all of this wonderful exploring, we had a delicious lunch on the main boat. Got to go swimming, and try out the kayaks ourselves. Then some of the guides set up a series of four kayaks, upside down tied end to end. The youngsters then tried balance games on the kayaks. First it was who could cause the other to fall off first. Next was a chase game, running from one end to the other along the 4 boats. Many made it all the way, many fell off half way. Really a good time.

We got back to port around 4:30, totally exhausted, exhilarated, and very happy that we had braved the rain on the other side of the island. To imagine we might have missed the best experience of the weekend due to the weather we saw out our window is almost heart-stopping. I highly recommend the original sea canoe company on Phuket. They did a great job and we all had a blast.