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.