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.

A Little Time Out

I had been a little out of sorts this last week, though it was a short work week, it was a bit frustrating and stressful. On Friday I wasn't too keen on being in and around the house, but not feeling up to venturing out either. In any case, my lovely wife suggested that we should get out of the house on Saturday morning for a few hours. So we decided to go to Lalbagh. Now we had been there before, but it was a long time ago. It was really nice to get out to a park which was clean (mostly) and had few people in it. I don't know why there weren't more. Mostly it seemed to be young couples enjoying a bit of privacy in the open. The trees are beautiful and some of them are very large. Much of the gardens are manicured, but some of the park is more wild looking. I don't know if it is completely wild or not.

We walked up and around the lake. Last time I was there, Cindy and I had seen the lake, but approached it from below and didn't realize it was quite as large as it is. The part we had seen was mostly covered in lilies and was rather small. There is a bridge crossing it which had obscured the rest of the lake for us at the time. This time we walked all the way around it, at a leisurely pace, and it took us almost an hour--well we did stop to take a picture or two. And as it is a botanical garden, they have some wonderful plants too, including lots of Bamboo. and some really pretty flowers, even those not necessarily in places like the rose garden. All in all I have to say it was delightful, and just the thing I needed to pick up my mood. It is so nice to get out to a natural space, even if it does take almost an hour to get there and another to get home again...

Dasara Followup

Today I went to the grocery store. Along the way I spotted a couple of items which had had a pooja and were still garlanded. Over the last years I've seen a lot of things--all mechanical in some way. I have seen trucks, cars, motor bikes, gates, buses, but till now, never a petrol pump...


I also spotted one of the small garbage trucks which roam our neighborhood collecting the trash almost every day...

Dasara trip

Typical Indian Style, I got invited to go on an expedition on Friday, leaving Saturday morning at 6:30 from downtown Bangalore. A friend at work had a trip to Mysore, there were extra seats on the trip available so I was offered one. Since I didn't have any big plans for the weekend, I decided to go along. Dasara is a 10 day festival celebrated in South India (maybe elsewhere, I'm not sure). There is a lot going on in Mysore for the whole 10 days, culminating on the last day which is Monday this year. Apparently it is divided into 9 days of Puja, 3 each to Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Durga, followed by one day of celebration. It is a time when there are poojas for tools and other implements of work. This came originally from blessings of weapons, but got widened to everything. For example Manju took our car today (sunday) for pooja and it will come back to the house with garlands and other indications of the blessing. We see lots of buses, trucks and other vehicles with garlands and banana leaves attached.

Anyways back to the Mysore trip. We left at about 6:30, in 2 Inovas. Someone from the German Consulate was one of the guests, my co-worker and his wife and several other Germans. Also a couple of Indian ladies. First off we went to breakfast in Mysore, a nice spread typical of any hotel restaurant. After this we were given turbans (sort of helmets with gold material on them) for the men, and shawls for the women. We had to take pictures out front of the hotel. I got a paper copy, but not an electronic one. I hope to get one yet from one of the others who did get pictures.

After this ceremony, we went to the house of someone that the travel agent who arranged this knows in Mysore. An aside-- the travel agent, Manuel, is used a lot by my co-worker and this was a freebie of sorts to show off Mysore to him/us. Manuel lives in Mysore, and knows a lot of people there apparently. He used to be in Industry, but retired from that to be a travel agent. So back to the house. We got to see the decorations they do for Dasara. They had one for the outside of the house, then one with what looked like a depiction of a procession in the main entry hall of the house, and then they had this one, in a separate room. Apparently it is tradition to pass these down inside the family, and for them to be set up each year. Once set up, friends and associates are invited over to see the decorations. It is a way for the families to get together once during the year and meet. We also heard it is a way for the young men to get to meet the young ladies in the social circle who might be 'interesting' to them.

After this we went off to see the palace. I've seen it two times, so I wasn't holding much out for this. But on the way we stopped, and then these 4 horse drawn carriages (of sorts) showed up. We were decked out in our finery, and off we went to the palace. I must say, since we were in the back, it was amusing to see the reactions of the locals and Indian tourists following us. There was a lot of smiling, laughing, and some hand waving. There were also looks of complete befuddlement and confusion. The sad part of the trip is that the vehicular traffic didn't give way at all for the horses. They honked, cut them off, etc. This was a bit uncomfortable for those up front, we (Max and I) didn't notice it too much at the back as one of the cars was following closely to protect our entourage.

Then we arrived at the Palace. We got special treatment there. We skipped the ticket line, we were able to take pictures inside the grounds, but had to hand in our cameras for the palace tour. As we went inside, we were escorted by a policeman. He was obviously there to help us get to specific parts of the palace quickly without having to do the whole tour. Then we were escorted behind the ropes to get close to some objects (ie the golden throne) which the general public had to stay far away from. Not quite the royal treatment, but obviously something special. After the palace, we went for lunch. This was at another hotel (The Windflower) Very nice overall. Didn't get to see the rooms, but the grounds were lovely and the food good.

After lunch, we went to see some wrestling. Wrestling is a tradition around Dasara, particularly in Mysore. We were asked to put on our turbans etc. Then we walked through the muddy parking lot, into the stadium area. We were immediately escorted up on to the VIP platform, and introduced to the Local Minister, along with other dignitaries. Then we were seated to watch the wrestling. The stadium was pretty full of people. But the audience was 99% men. The only women I saw during the whole time were a couple of press people, a couple of other dignitaries, and the ladies who were with us. During our time there we got to watch them put the orange turban on one of the dignitaries. Christina wondered how it stayed on, so they volunteered to put one on her. The begining, and the finishing. And then the result, as we were in the parking lot afterwards.
The wrestlers had to keep going, even when the rain started. It didn't come down hard, but it did get the mat wet, so there were 3 guys who were going around the mat, trying to avoid the ongoing wrestling, drying it with rags. They were able to sop up a fair amoung. Also the Policemen seemed to spend most of their time either chatting or watching the wrestling, not watching what was going on in the crowd, etc.

After the wrestling, we got to relax at a hotel for an hour's nap, and then off to the palace again. We got to see the elephants they use for the ceremonies, we saw the camels too. Then we got to see the royal elephant, and royal cow. It was too dark for good photos, but I did get a few. Look on my flickr if you want to see them. Then we got to see the procession, and the lit up palace. There are over 9000 15 watt lightbulbs on the outside of the palace. They only light it for festivals and one or 2 nights a week for a couple of hours. Otherwise it uses too much electricity. I took a few photos there from the palace grounds, and as well from the hotel where we had dinner. The hotel is a former palace built by one of the Mysore Kings as a guest palace. We got to sit on the 1st floor terrace overlooking Mysore for our dinner. Then we left Mysore at about 10pm and I finally got home around 12:30-- definitely a long day, but a fun trip.

Grey days in Bangalore

It's been really drab here lately with the monsoons having finally hit with full force. The sky has been cloudy more often than not. It has rained almost every day for the last couple of weeks. Not all the time, but it rains hard for a while every afternoon. This has made it harder to get out of the house and do any photography. Saturday it was threatening to rain all morning, and the wind was really blowing. Unfortunately our house now has another house built up right next to the big picture windows we have on the ground and 1st floors, so it looks dark inside all the time. I was starting to feel a bit stuck, when I decided to head out anyways. Then the rains hit. I wasn't really feeling 100%--tummy problems-- so I gave up on Saturday and stayed home and read instead.

Sunday, I felt I just couldn't let the weather get the better of me. So about 3:30 I grabbed a rickshaw and headed for Sankey Tank--which is where the photo above was taken. It is the season to dunk Ganesha in the water, which is part of the reason I was itching to get out. I did manage to get a few photos of one being dunked, and later another showing up as I was getting ready to head back home. A couple of notes on the Ganesha activities. Some families have their own, and they come to dunk him, or do it at home in a bucket or elsewhere, but there are these larger ones which get taken around the neighborhoods. It seems that this activity is mostly young men, and they use a tractor, truck, or any other large vehicle capable of carrying him and them. They will decorate it up with flowers etc, and then they follow, or ride banging drums, and chanting loudly. Sometimes it will take them half an hour to go one block. Other times, they load up in the truck and go joy riding, yelling at everyone as they go by. It seems to be mostly a joyous celebration. And they are thrilled to have their pictures taken while doing this.

After wandering around the tank (or lake as we in the US would call it), I wandered down into Malleswaram. This is an older neighborhood close to Sankey tank. I wandered down Sampige road to the market, and back up. I must say it was nice to get out and wander around. I didn't even get rained on--lucky me. I did find this key maker, there is a fellow like him on the main road near our house too, but I got this one on camera. He shapes the keys by hand with various files. There is nothing mechanized about this process. (There are also higher tech places to get keys around). I also spotted these flowers which were knocked down by the rain into a construction site.

Last weekend we were invited to Manju's daughter's first birthday party. It was at his house. We had a nice time, but were again the guests of honor. We got the only chairs in the house (and there were about 25 people there); we got the first pieces of cake, the first food & drinks. I always feel a bit weird about this, but this is how it is done. Here is Manju with his daughter. You can see more on my Flickr page, including the candle which looked more like a bonfire and played music after opening up, and some of the other visitors.

And finally the grey days, sometimes lead to some fantastic sunsets. Here's one taken from the roof of our house. I was just trying out the camera.

About town

The last few weeks this guy has been set up right across from the entrance to our Layout. I had to capture this for my US readers. I had to think of Obama. My suggestion for him is that we put all the congressmen who don't vote for real healthcare reform on a new congressional health plan. We can park this guy on the lawn outside the capitol building and he can provide for everything that ails them!!


One of my observations about India, is that not everything is so clearly demarcated. Many official items are personalized or done by hand or there is some mix of public and private. For instance one of our nearby police stations has a sign on it that it was provided by some fabric or apparel company. The sign for that is larger than the sign for the police station. If it wasn't for the gun toting policeman guarding the front door, you might not notice right away that it is the local police station. Many of the police now have motorbikes with a special pattern painted on them. They have a leopard print. I assume this was the predecessor to the leopard print. I spotted it on MG road last weekend.


We happened to be going through an intersection we don't normally go through to get to Garuda mall, but because of the construction on MG road, they have made it one way.

On New B.E.L. Road, the main road to our house, on one corner, there is this store. I guess it's a small world after all, but I do wonder what Walt would think of the dolls?


And I won't comment much on this, but those of you who read about it a year ago will recognize the festival. I did really enjoy the Ganesha in the Auto.
And here are people selling the necessaries to go with the Ganesha for the festival.

And an army of Ganeshas, both painted and unpainted, waiting to be blessed and 'drowned' until melted away.