Christmas, 2011, in Hong Kong

We took the last two weeks of December off. The first week we tooled around Chennai; used the Lonely Planet guide and tried to explore places we hadn't been before. I went shopping with a friend - we were seeking treasures and souvenirs. Mr. R and I visited Pondicherry and Mamalapuram, two cites south of Chennai which we have visited many times but this time with the Lonely Planet as our guide to find new places to check out.  I think I am done using the Lonely Planet books.

Off to Hong Kong for Christmas! We left late Friday night (all international flights from Chennai leave after midnight) and arrived Saturday morning, Christmas Eve. I expected Hong Kong to be a little gritty and to smell like I remember China smelling (not entirely pleasant). But it was just a great city. We marveled at how clean it is, how pedestrian-friendly with good signs in English to help you get around very easily. We bought passes that got us easily onto the subways, buses, trams and ferries- it was very simple to explore the city on our own. Plus most people spoke good English.

Mr R holding his Octopus pass for public transport. Easy!

Nov and Early December, 2011 (Malaysia and Jaipur )

After returning from London in October I wrapped up my three year project (whew!) and had some vacation days to use up. Yes, I know you think I've been on vacation all year if my blog is to be believed. But our travels  outside of Chennai have been weekenders so I had days to use.

Yet More Catching Up

With this post I hope to bring you from our July & August, 2011/Ms J visit to the present, Dec 2012.

When we left off I had flown to Michigan for a business trip and accompanied Ms J back from her stay with us in Chennai. That ended up being a very busy week of meetings for me, but we were able to celebrate Dad's 70th birthday at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club while I was there. It was so nice to see Dad's family and friends honoring his day and showing him all their love and respect.

More Catching Up

Actually, if I create a different post for all the stuff that's happened since my last serious bout of posting we will be here a long time. But I do need to tell you about Ms J's visit to India.

Catching Up

My goodness! Has it really been since we visited Bangalore in June that I posted about our travels? I told you we were on our way to Bangkok but never gave you the update. It was great! We spent a few nights at this quiet little place in Ayythaya, where we had a private villa with a deck overlooking a quiet canal and exquisite Thai massages. We took a tuk tuk (3 wheel, open-air taxi) to dinner in a harrowing ride on a 4 lane road with buses and cars. At a local mall Mr R and Ronald McDonald said "sawadika" (hello) to us.

How Did I Get Here?

Things I've said recently that were earnest at the time but, upon reflection, seem really ludicrous:

• "What on earth did the pool guy do to the pool? That's it, time to fire him."
• "Where do you suppose the maid put our new champagne glasses?"
• "Our driver got in an accident? But we were supposed to go out for dinner tonight!"
• "He can't go to a funeral! He has to get the generator working first."
• "We are almost out of Chinese tea. When we go to Hong Kong let's buy some more."

Monsoon in Chennai

The word monsoon brings to mind, for me, life-threatening storms with torrential rain and winds. Turns out it's just an extended period of regular and, yes, heavy rains. But not so windy and definitely not life-threatening.

Summer in Chennai

It's June and the worst of the summer heat is behind us, but it's still hot. But the pool is now cooler than the air so at least it's refreshing again. But we sat out a little too long yesterday and got more pink than we planned to. It's also mango season. It's funny to come from the US where a mango is mango to learn that there are so many varieties. I've made a few batches of mango freezer jam and will make some more as soon as a friend returns from the US with more Sure Jell for me.

We've had a good weekend in. Yesterday was lounge around the house day.  Long breakfast with a pot of tea, some swimming, some TV, some reading. Today, due to lack of imagination, we went to Asiana (our usual workout and Sunday brunch joint) for massages and brunch. I got a Thai massage today, as opposed to the standard Swedish massage. The Thai massage was amazing! The little masseuse walked on my legs and back to loosen up my joints - doesn't sound pleasant but it was and it worked. So next time you come to Chennai I'll get you in and you will love it.

Dad's Travel Journal

Here, in its entirety, is the journal Dad kept during our Dubai/Delhi/Chennai trip. I like comparing our notes; he wrote about the killer B.O. on the Kingfisher flight attendants which I had entirely forgotten about.

He has given me permission to post it. All statements and opinions are his.  :-) My only edits were for formatting and to remove names of J and C.

J & Bob, Dubai & India, 2011

Today at Chennai, India, at 12 degrees N. latitude, 80 degrees E. longitude, I dipped my feet in the water of the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean. I’m a long way from home at 43 N, 83 W, in Ortonville, Michigan.

Our travels end in Chennai

Dad, J and I arrived in Chennai from Delhi in the late morning. We were greeted like VIP's with flower necklaces by Mr. R, and whisked off to our house. After dropping their bags and getting the tour of the house we settled in for drinks and snacks on the outdoor balcony overlooking our yard. At 4:00 PM we walked out to the beach and were pleased to find it clean and quiet. None of the evidence of locals' morning rituals to be seen. I guess the trick is to come out in the late afternoon after the tide has swept everything away. Dad, J and I walked in to the water to get our feet wet. But the waves, as always, were crashing in to remind us that this is not a beach for swimming.

So we went back to the house and  lounged at the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, our ritual is to drink champagne at the pool on visitors' first day in town, and this day was no exception. The cork flew beyond the far side of the pool into the yard. We haven't gotten one over the yard wall yet- but I'm sure that's coming. After all our running around and travel it was nice to spend the afternoon relaxing. In fact, J was asleep before 8:00 PM!

Dubai and other travels

It's been a while since I blogged about our life in India. We have a routine down and things aren't so surprising to us anymore. We've been very busy with travel and visitors- we have visited the Chennai airport way too many times. January was our calm before the storm, although we did have some visitors. My cousin made a business trip to Chennai so we saw him for breakfast one day. Plus one of the women from my team at work was here. 

Tropical Holidays

Happy New Year! Mr R and I celebrated Christmas and the new year in Chennai, with a trip to Singapore tucked in between. We put up a Christmas tree flag, and the caretaker moved a shrub to our door and decorated it for us. We had some small gifts- it's hard to shop here and we don't need to fill this house up with stuff anyway. We called home and spoke to our families in our morning and in their morning. We spent some time in the pool but, honestly, it was a bit too chilly so we really only stayed in long enough to take photographic evidence.