Langkawi & Fathers Day

After traipsing around Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we needed a break and a rest. So off to Langkawi for 2 days. This is definitely not enough time. If I go back to peninsular Malaysia again, I'd skip KL, maybe see Malacca, and then spend more time in a place like Langkawi. Mostly we lazed around on the beach (our villa opened onto the beach). We could see the sunsets from our lanai. Somehow we also managed to become members of their club, so we could walk down to the clubhouse and sit for cocktails and hors d'oevres and watch the sunset. We went for walks on the beach. You could have gone hunting varieties of sea shells for hours. Cindy and I spotted these funny little crabs which seemed to make sand balls for some reaon, just above the tide line, but where the sand was still wet.

On the second day there, Cindy and I went for a walk down the main road outside the hotel towards "Water World" the local aquarium. It really felt like a cross between India and Singapore. Cleaner than India, but still piles of stuff in some places, and there was definitely still evidence of the Tsunami having damaged some of the structures. We thought about buying some duty-free items here in Langkawi, but then realized we stopping in Singapore for a day and might have to pay duty there, so we just enjoyed the walk, and came back along the beach to the hotel. Along the way we spotted this group of kids swimming in the ocean. You could definitely tell it is a largely Muslim country, and pretty conservative. The only people who were in skimpy bathing suits were the westerners. All though the locals didn't seem too conservative in dress, many of the ladies did wear the head scarf. Also we saw a significant number of visitors from the middle east where the women were fully covered. We see that occasionally in India, but somehow it still stood out more there than it does here in Bangalore for some reason. Maybe it was because they were usually accompanied by a man in jeans and a t-shirt, which makes a real odd combination.

Our last evening in Langkawi, we ate at a restaurant called Bon Ton. It is part of a small resort near where we were staying. The owner also runs the local animal shelter, and has multitudes of cats and a dog running around the place. It is excellent food, with an upper class atmosphere juxtaposed with a homey reception and animals. Somehow it all works and makes for a great time. I really would have liked to do a bit more on the island, see some of the historical sites, go up the mountain on the cable car... But maybe next time.

Singapore/Fathers Day

Saturday afternoon we flew back to Singapore. That evening we tried to get the tour to the Night Safari, but it was sold out. Instead we just took a taxi to the zoo, and bought tickets there for the night safari. It was pretty cool. No pictures because they ask you not to use flash, and I could not hold the camera still enough in the dark. Some of the animals were definitely more active than they are during the day. We took the safari bus tour first, then we went for a short walk, after a while the ladies went to stand in line for the animal show and I went on walking a bit. The animal show was fun, and Cindy was sitting right on top of a large python they had stashed in a box under the audience. It even touched her when they took it out, and she jumped big time. We say otters, wolves, a civet cat which could jump six feet in the air, and many others. All in all, I would say it was a bit too crowded for my taste, but definitely fun to do.

Father's day we went down to the waterfront, took care of some last minute shopping. We stopped for a nice lunch in a Thai restaurant which I chose as I was feeling like I might be coming down with the cold which had plagued Anna for most of the trip. The soup cleared my head right up. Then we took the cable car up the mountain (well I guess you'd call it a hill really, but it is the highest spot in Singapore), and took photos with the Merlion.

By then it was time to head back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head home on Lovely Tiger Air. All in all it was a nice trip, if short.
Bryan

Malaysia

I feel a bit like I'm in wonderland. The more I try to post, the behinder I get. Isha's been here in India more than a week, and it has been almost two weeks since we returned from Malaysia, but I'll try to remember faithfully what we did.

First day there we arrived, and checked into the hotel, had breakfast and then decided to go out for a walking tour. We thought that along the way, we could find the tourist information center and get more info about what to do and see while there. Well we started out on our walk by taking a taxi to our jumpoff point. So far so good. Then I managed to figure out which streets to take to get started, ok so far so good. The street signs are better than in India, but not as good as in Singapore.

We skipped little India, figured we'd seen enough of that by now. Off towards Chinatown. After a couple of blocks, when I'm looking at the map, trying to figure out where the tourist info center is, this nice older guy stops and asks what we're looking for. I tell him and he thinks about it for a minute, then says-'yes I know where it is, I'm going just by it'. Ok we'll follow him. He has two large plastic bags, obviously very heavy. I wasn't sure if they were collected recycling, or his shopping-- I couldn't really tell, but he takes off at a good clip, and I'm trying to keep up with him and still not lose Maya and Cindy trailing behind me. He stops every so far to change hands as they are obviously unbalanced. We go a couple of blocks, and then according to the map, we should turn left, but he says to turn right. Cindy and I confer and decide to go left. He goes off with his bags to the right. Well we wander around a bit, see a mosque and some other nice architecture, but no tourist office. We ask a bus tour operator-not a clue. So we head back the way we came to get back to our walking tour. Then we see City Hall. Ok, we'll ask there. We go in, and the first person at the info counter doesn't know. But the second does. She says to go out, across the street a bit to the left ( which is where the old man went on his way right).

So then we are crossing the street, and there he is, with a very small pamphlet about KL. We thank him, and go on towards the tourist info center, thinking we'll find out more, like we did in Singapore. No such luck, we get there and it is a bit dilapidated looking, and has only 1 pamphlet, and the lady at the counter doesn't seem to be interested or able to suggest much more. So back to the guidebook we were using. That was our key to the city.

Ok back on our walking tour, we saw some more, not much exciting really, and get to the central market which is on the edge of Chinatown. We went in. Fortunately it had air conditioning because we were all beginning to feel the effects of the heat. I was getting grumpy. This place was large, and they had just about everything from antiques which were beautiful, to plastic toys, to saris, to batik, to toiletries. We picked up some gifts for people here, and then had noodles for lunch. Very nice, and relatively cheap compared to Singapore.

By now we were pretty well shopped out, but needed a couple more items which had been requested of us by people in India. So on to Chinatown. Here there were a couple of main streets lined with shops, which then had stalls set up in front of them. So we were ducking in and out of stalls, avoiding the hawkers of fake purses and watches, looking for rain jackets for Manju. Why he wanted them from KL or Singapore I don't know, but he did, so we were on a quest. The colors were fun. There were some interesting fruit--which we saw more of during our stay later in Langkawi. The dragon Fruit, here the ones cut open with the pink centers, we ate in Langkawi, but they must have been a different variety as they were white in the center with black seeds. Nice- not too sweet. The hairy looking things are a varity of Lychee, we have some in India too, but they are not quite so Sea Urchiny looking here. They were really good. This is the first time I've had fresh lychee. I've only had canned inthe past. What a difference.

Well we did find the jackets, and then I decided I'd get a fake rolex, just for the fun of it. We found a vendor, and I picked one out. So far so good. Then he proposes one for Anna. So we agree and she gets one too. Well we weren't back at the hotel that evening or it stops running. I managed to get it to wind again, but still 10 mins later, it has stopped again. So much for fake rolexes--they were only about 15-20, I guess you get what you pay for-- at least mine is still running. We figured they were a gamble. The taxi driver the next day just laughed when we told him about Maya's watch.

Ok now it is getting time for us to get back to the hotel. We go to the main street and are asked if we want a taxi--sure, how much? He wants 20 Ringit. We had paid about 8 to get to the start of our walk. So I said, no--put it on the meter. He refused--afterall we were tourists weren't we. So we said no, and walked back to the other end of the shopping street. Again found a taxi, same story. Then there was a taxi letting someone off. We grabbed that one, and he was willing to put it on the meter. He was an older Indian, and drove like he learned to drive in Bangalore, using all of the road. He also wasn't quite sure how to get to our hotel, but found it in the end. Price--4.5 Ringit. He got a decent tip. I don't mind paying a little extra, but I do mind being taken for a ride, so to speak.

Next day, we decided to go 3 places-- Batu Caves, FRIM (Forest Reasearch Institute of Malaysia), and to see the Fireflies. So we negotiated a taxi for the day, hourly rate, nice driver. He asks if we want to go to FRIM first, and we had figured that Batu caves were closer so we would go there first--mistake, but I'll get to that later. We drove to the Batu Caves, probably about 20 mins max. They are these large limestone caves, in which there are Hindu temples. It is magnificent to see. You arrive and there is this very tall statue out front. and you immediately also see the long staircase going up to the caves. We started climbing up. About half way up, we ran into these macaque monkeys. They have figured out that many people, mostly the Hindus, carry these bags of fruit up for offerings in the temples. The monkeys are very fast, and will steal the bag when someone sets one down for a photo, or sometimes even taking the bag from someone's hand. But they are very camera shy. I only got this one in the shot because he had turned away from Cindy who was trying to take his picture.

I think for many people the monkeys were more interesting than the caves and temples, but anyways. We continued on to climb the remainder of the 272 steps to the caves. They are huge inside, like a natural cathedral. My camera didn't really capture the inside very well, except for the furthest parts where the cave is again open to the sky. Inside it is too dark, and the flash on the point& shoot is too weak to get a good photo. If we had a better camera with us at that time it might have been possible. You can get a sense of the scale a bit better, and the absolute beauty of the caves themselves from this. For more pictures, you can peruse my Flickr or google Batu Caves and find many better photos.

The temples themselves inside are interesting, but not remembering my Hindu gods, I don't know which was for whom. About 20% seemed to be manned by a priest. Many people were going in and making offerings and prayers. After we came down, Cindy and I went into the gift shop while Maya got an ice cream. We were tempted to get a miniature of the statue out front, but decided we have enough nick nacks. Then we wandered around the outside and found more temples, and what looked like an entrance to another cave, but it was locked up. One interesting thing we found was the statue of Hanuman who was keeping his parents in his heart.

From the Batu Caves, we went to FRIM to go on the canopy walk. Unfortunately we arrived at 1:00 on a day when they were having some sort of training for the employees, so we couldn't get into the info center to buy tickets till after 2 and they only sell tickets till 1:30. So that was off, now I understood why the driver suggested to go there first, but since he didn't explain, we didn't know. Ok so we had lunch at their cafeteria which was sort of fun. It was buffet, and then they charged by what you took. It had been sort of picked over by the time we got there, but still good. The one thing of interest that I noticed was that everyone left their shoes off outside the buildings before going in (except the cafeteria for some reason).

We then had to decide what to do next. We opted to not go to the fireflies as they don't come out when it is raining, and it was threatening pretty much, also it was an hour's drive and we weren't sure we wanted to go that far with a risk of not seeing them, so we'll have to save that for another time. That afternoon it poured steadily for about 1/2 hour in KL, but I don't know about where the fireflies are--it is closer to the ocean there.

We went back into KL, and went to the shopping center under the Petronas Towers, to look for some books Anna wanted, and some clothing for Cindy. She has trouble finding western clothes that fit her here in India. Better luck there. Oh, and thought that the shopping malls in Singapore were large, this was enormous. For those who know it, I think you could have fit Valley Fair inside at least 3 or 4 times. We enjoyed a nice dinner there and made it an early night.

The next day, I was determined to go on the canopy walk, but Maya wasn't feeling too well, so I went back by myself to FRIM. The walk through the rainforest (after getting tickets) took about an hour to get to the canopy walk structure. Beautiful, wet, green, dense forest, and did I say wet. My shirt was totally soaked by the time I got to the top. I read the brochure on the way up, and they said to bring a small towel and a clean shirt. Now I know why. I met a nice British couple on the way up the hill, and we had a nice chat about how different the forests are etc. The canopy walk is 5 walkways and 3 stations. The couple I met took a picture of me on one of the bridges. They were built of aluminum ladders, tied firmly together, and then supported by the cables/ropes you can see in the picture. It was fairly sturdy, but would bounce when you were walking. There was a limit to the number of people allowed on the bridges and platforms at any time, 2 per bridge, and 3-5 per platform depending on the size. The canopy walk was originally built for a research study, and when the research was done, they opened it to the public. Unfortunately I found out when I got there, that if you want to see the animals, you have to come very early in the morning (probably even before they open), but if you get there when they open at 9:30, you have a better chance than at 11 like I did. I did see a few birds and squirrels though.

That afternoon while Anna stayed back at the hotel (she was really feeling sick by now), Cindy and I went to the world famous bird park. The park was about 50% open aviary--large areas with netting, but the birds were free to wander and fly, and about 50% caged, particularly the raptors who probably would have cut down on the rest of the population very quickly. I think my favorite part was feeding the lories. Someone from the park came in with a bucket of fruit, and we were allowed to feed them bananas. The interesting part was that there were two men and two women, aside from the park worker. The birds would flock to us men, and the women were left with just one or none, despite the fact that they had as many bananas as we did. But I must say, they had a lot of different kinds of birds. They had many very colorful birds, and from all continents. The only ones I don't remember seeing is Penguins. Oh well, we dis see birds doing Yoga. and They also had very colorful water birds. It was just fun to wander around and see them all without having to figure out what each one is. We could have spent many more hours wandering around there.

That evening we went to a dinner/show. They had traditional Malay dancing, and a huge buffet. We really enjoyed the food, and we enjoyed the show when the other audience members were not standing in front of us. I had to get up 3 or 4 times to ask people to sit down or move so we could see too.


Well that was KL. Next I'll describe Langkawi.

MerLionLand

Finally getting a chance to describe our vacation. It was pretty busy from one end to the other. We had a week, well actually 9 days, but we also had 3 destinations, plus a return to Singapore at the end before coming home. The trip started with, well, how shall I put it, I guess you could say it was a pain in the a%%. We went with Tiger Airlines. They are a discount airline flying out of Singapore and Australia. They started coming to Bangalore recently so they had a sale and we bought it. The seats were EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Basically I felt like I was sitting on a toilet seat at a 15 degree angle leaning into the aisle. All of the seats in the plane seemed to be similarly old and worn out.

We were trying to sleep as the flight left at 11 am, was 4.5 hours long and we would arrive in Singapore at 6 in the morning. Tiger "doesn't serve anything" on the flight--ok, we wanted to sleep-- except that they sell drinks and food. And the stewardesses are on commission, so they kept going back and forth up the aisle (bumping into me as I was leaning due to the seat) and yelling out 'who wants more drinks?' all night. Not only that, but because there wasn't enough leg room for me to have my knees in front of me when the seat in front of me was leaning back, they complained that I was blocking the aisle for their cart. I snarled at them about the lack of space for my knees and they backed off. Oh well, lesson learned-- NEVER NEVER NEVER fly Tiger Air again except for really short or necessarily cheap flights where you don't care about food or space, or comfort.

Enough bitching Bryan. We arrived in Singapore. It is spotlessly clean, an extreme contrast with India. There are signs which point out everything from directions to what is and is not allowed. They say Singapore is a Fine City-- Spitting $ 200 fine, Littering $400 fine, etc. But this does make it clean and feel safe. To me it feels like Disneyland where people actually live, and yes they even have rides on Sentosa Island. (We didn't go there.)

We spent the first day going around on our own (after checking into the hotel and having a short snooze and late breakfast). We did some shopping for Anna and Cindy. We went to Orchard road. The shopping opportunities are amazing. The road is lined with large buildings (not quite sky scrapers, but tall big enough), and the bottom several floors of each was a shopping mall. I mean it went on and on. Most of these would dwarf any mall I've seen in the US. We saw a couple of groups performing on the street. One of them was a drumming/percussion--Samba Masala group of about 30 youngsters who were trying to raise money to go to Ireland. They were awesome. We watched for about 1/2 hour.

The next day we took a bus tour in the morning to get a bit of the history and decide where to go. At the end of the tour, we skipped out and continued to visit the orchid garden for longer, and have lunch. The orchid Garden was beautiful again, but obviously this was not the optimal time of year. Many of them were not flowering or had few flowers. Bollywood made it there though. SRK has his own flower . You cannot read the sign, but if you click on the earlier link, you can read the sign there.

Then in the afternoon we went down to Clark Quay, traipsed around, had ice cream, took a boat tour. On the tour we saw some boys frolicking on the riverbank , and took in the Merlion by the waterfront . Singapore has done a nice job of retaining the old architecture in spots, keeping the cultural and historical heritage alive, while allowing the new to come in and support a growing economy which provides for housing and other benefits for Singaporeans. You can see an example of it here along the waterfront where the older architecture is in front of the financial district in the background.
And then they have things which I just cannot explain. Like the hOOters Restaurant with one of the biGGest signs along the waterfront. Something really Singaporean for all...

Sunday night (we arrived on Saturday morning), we took the train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. I must say this was one of the more interesting parts of the trip for me. We had first class Sleeper berths. Here is Cindy looking out of her window from her berth. And here you can see the whole cabin a little better. We left at 21:15, we arrived at the train station at quarter to nine as Cindy had, admittedly in a sleepless daze the morning before, read it as 11pm. I checked with the ticket office as we had pre-purchased tickets over the internet, and they sent me right to the train. Fortunately we arrived at the station early as the guide book had told us to, or we would have missed the train altogether. Fortunately we didn't. At about midnight the train stopped somewhere in Malaysia, and a young man joined me in my cabin on the top berth. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur without a hitch, got to the hotel by about 8am, and had to wait for a room to be ready. They served us breakfast as we waited. We were just about to give up when they had a room ready, so we checked in and then went out to see the city. More about that next time.

Been a while coming

So it has been a few weeks since I last posted, here it is almost June, 5 months in India have gone by... It has been a busy couple of weeks, and that's why I haven't posted till now. Two weekends ago, I decided on Sunday afternoon to go looking for the lake which is supposed to be near our house. I left mid-late afternoon. Cindy asked if I wanted an umbrella as it had been threatening rain. Who-me? No, I don't need one, if it starts raining I'll just stand under an overhang. Well no sooner than I was across the street and heading through the vacant lot next to the neighbors, than I start to feel the pitter patter (more splat splat) of rain. So what--it isn't cold, I may just get a little wet...

Well I didn't get far before it started to pour, but I just found an overhang, and less than 5 mins later it was not coming down too hard so I set off again. The maps I had consulted were wrong. Supposedly I could exit our layout, turn left, go 2 blocks, turn right at the 5 way intersection and walk all the way through to the main road... oops, it only went half way, so I turn left and walk down to another main(cross) road. It is obviously a very mixed income neighborhood, but at no time did I feel unsafe. Great shopping I discovered, lots of carts with food, cows walking in the streets (watch out for the poop), and many people looking at me, but everyone very friendly. Turn right at the big gate, and take the thoroughfare down a few blocks, then it starts to rain again. I stood at the big corner for about 15 minutes, watching it come down. Here you see a bunch of people huddling under the bus stop waiting for the ubiquitous blue and white buses of Bangalore.

After the wait, the rain subsided a bit, so I head off, down the main road for a few blocks to this great park. It is located where the lake should be. The lake seems to be much smaller, but the park is delightful. I wonder why there are not so many people, then I figure it out. No it is not the lions. Although this park seems to have many displays (slightly larger than life size) of wildlife from India, Domesticated animals, and various peoples from India. There are no signs that I could see which describe what one is seeing. But there is a map at the entrance with a legend of sorts. I started walking through the park, and guess what, it started raining again. I took refuge in one of the many pagodas they have in the park, and by now I figured out why it was empty-- the weather.

The park is obviously new, the trees are vary short, and the only refuge from the sun or rain is the pagodas. As I was standing there, I saw one couple out in the rain. I thought 'they're brave.' Then I noticed 5 minutes later, they were still standing there. So after it stopped raining, I wandered around the park and went to meet them. Here you see them, still standing there, with the pagoda in the background... There is also a nice playground.

Remember when I was in Goa, I remarked on the colorful houses, well, I noticed, while wandering around, that there is also a lot of color in Bengaluru, just as in Goa, I is somehow lost in the urban setting a bit. The colorful houses are everywhere, even in our own neighborhood. This one I noticed through the short trees, next to the park. The other thing I noticed in the park, while I didn't get a picture, is that there are a large number of birds, both land and water. The lake is fenced off, presumably to stop people from swimming, and one is not supposed to walk on the grass either. But one can get close enough at points to see the birds, and the various plants growing around the lake.
All in all it is very nice. I did get a picture of a crane while walking around, but although it isn't the flying kind, it is fairly rare here in Bengaluru. Eventually I made it home, and had to listen to the laughter for not accepting the umbrella ;-)

The next day I went to Finland for 3 days. My what a difference. Hardly any people around. The air is fresh and cool in the mornings (yes it was between 5 and 10 degrees C in the morning). And, since it is spring there, everything was GREEN. It was beautiful. And did I mention that there are hardly any people around, there seemed to be so many open spaces. The trip was a bit of a bust from a work perspective and I didn't have time to take photos, but I did enjoy my morning quick walk to the train station, and from the train up the hill to the office.

Now I'm back home again. This last week, I got sick. Still recovering. I blame the trip to Finland, where I didn't sleep well for some reason, but the bug has been going around here.

Gardening & Food

Maya asked about the possibilities of gardening. I do a little bit. But there really is not much chance. We have a roofgarden, with flowers--I have been weeding some here, but only every couple of weeks. The owners had this planted before we moved in.
There is also a bit of grass up there. Fortunately it only takes watering. And we picked up 4 palms. They came in nice earthenware pots, but unfortunately the wind kept blowing them over. The pots broke, and I had to re-pot them in much larger cement pots--they'll be much happier though.

We also have a couple of other areas where there are plants, outside of one of the bedrooms on the 1st floor, and outside the living area upstairs. You can actually see the upstairs railing, the balcony, and the ground floor grass a bit in this shot. As I mentioned, we got some bougainvillea. This is one of the white ones, with a visitor, we added a bit of red to one, and yellow to the other. The bougainvilleas are now set up one downstairs to go up the outside wall between us and the construction. Manju strung some wire for us so there is somehting for it to grow up. The other is upstairs on the patio where it can provide shade over the door out some time soon...

On another note, I think I may burst from eating this weekend. Cindy went out Saturday morning, so the two of us were left to eat the Saturday breakfast. On someone's request--not mine--we had pooris again. There was a pile of them to start, I didn't get a picture of that, should have, but here is a few on my plate. Second helping, can't say no to Lahlita--she just waits till your hands are out of the way and you get more. This seems to be an Indian Mother thing.

Saturday evening we went to a co-worker's house for dinner. Very nice evening. Met her husband, and his parents. They live more in the south--Koramangala. It took us about an hour to get there and Manju only had to ask for directions and backtrack a bit once. Anyways we were fed there, and brought seconds, and thirds and there was no saying no. So we ate.

Then there was this morning. At the request of our landlords we went to a special kickoff for something sponsored by the Sankey Park Walkers Association. It is a program to improve traffic in Bangalore. There were many speaches by the commissioner of police, the Commissioner of the bus service, a manager from the Bank of India and others. But before all this started we were fed. Not everyone, but the honored guests--ourselves included. Again we tried to say no, but couldn't. Fortunately there was only time for one course...

Then finally we went to Brunch at the Leela Palace for Mother's day with some friends here in Bangalore. Brunch started at Noon, and we wrapped up around 5pm. No need for dinner tonight. And I think I'll have to not eat for a few days this week to make up for all the food over the weekend. All in all the weekend was fun, filled with activities, and the food was delicious, but enough is enough. NO MORE!!

Update: There are some photos on Flickr (for family and friends only) which show some of the things we ate, and some of the people at the brunch, including a couple of pictures of Anna.

My-sore Ears

Last weekend we went to Mysore--most of you probably know that from Cindy's post. I'd had an ear infection the week before. I went to the Dr, and got a prescription for antibiotics. It had pretty much gone away, but I still went to the ENT. He said everything was ok, and the fluid should be gone by June. So off to Mysore. Manju had put a couple of garlands of flowers hanging from the rear-view mirror. They smelled lovely, but by the time we were in Mysore, my ears were totally stuffed up. I could barely hear the guide as he took us around the palace. I didn't get any pictures as they said you could not take your camera inside--so I left it in the car. I could have taken some nice ones of the grounds, but oh well--next time. We'll be back with visitors I am sure.
My lack of hearing, and general lack of feeling well therefrom cut our trip short. We did manage to see St. Philomena's church. Made me think of europe. It is traditional gothic design. It also has the ubiquitous bee hive. Seems these are all over. There have been several on my building at work. There was one in a tree down from the house-now gone. They do seem to move from time to time.

So anyways, before we went to the church we went to the market. The square was relatively open and mostly had fruit vendors. But behind that there was the permanent market. The aisles were about 3-4 feet wide, and often filled with fruit piled up here and there, mostly bannanas. Lots of different things were available. One young man started following us and trying to get us to go to his incense "factory". I am sure it was nothing more than a stall, as I saw several people engaged in manufacturing wares on the spot. We didn't go, but I did see others with incense.

I am still having trouble with my sore ears. My left ear is clogged up again, so I guess it is back to the ENT this week. At least it is only Rs300 to see the Dr.

Flowers (and greenery)

We went to the Nursery in Lal Bagh park last weekend and ordered some plant for the house. We got 2 dwarf Plumeria, with different color flowers. We have one downstairs on the side of the house, and the other upstairs on the patio(Yellow). Unfortunately the yellow one doesn't have flowers yet so I cannot provide a nice photo. The downstairs one was added to a collection of creepers we got a couple of weeks ago at the local "flower shop". It is really a site alongside the main road just outside our gate on New B.E.L. Road. They mostly make flower pots there I believe, but they have some plants there as well. We got this plant with beautiful Purple Flowers, and a couple of ones with different white flowers-- I have no idea what they are called. Two of the white creapers are downstairs along the wall, we hope they will grow up, and we have to get something to string up for them to climb on above the wall. We also got one for the patio,which will be joined by the 2 sets of white bougainvillea, which should climb up and over the doorway out to the patio. Unfortunately the white flowers aren't recognized well by the camera and they are not in good focus, sorry.

We also picked up a ficus for indoors, on the second floor. It really brightens up the room. We sat up there most of the day today and read/knitted. Well I read and Cindy knitted on her latest socks.

Yesterday as we were driving to work, I noticed that Manju had taken two of the flowers from the purple creaper and put them in the car, on the dash next to his little Ganesh. You can see it here. You cannot really see the Ganesh, the yellow thing is a yellow bunny rabbit which hangs from the mirror. Manju picked it up a while ago. I'm not sure if it has a purpose (i.e. Ganesha), or is just for fun.

Tomorrow we go to Mysore, I hope to get some good photos there. Let's see. We have a long weekend, but unfortunately found out that Maya also had 4 days off too late to get a booking at a hotel out of town, so instead we're taking a couple of day trips.