Busy week

This week has not been very productive on the blog front, but I have been busy with lots of other things. I have sorted all the photographs that were made during our trip to Mysore and Kabini. My task for this weekend is to get them into a photo album.
We came back home on Monday afternoon, with Joshua and Mum not feeling well. On Tuesday Simon stayed home with the stomach bug and on Thursday evening the bug hit me. It's only a one day thing, but it hits hard.

Tuesday I went to the slum to teach English and had great fun with the ladies that attended my class. They even taught me some Tamil.

On Wednesday I went to the hair dresser with a friend and we had lunch with Mum & Dad at Leela Palace afterwards.

On Thursday we went in to town to see some churches. The Infant Jesus Church is always very busy on Thursdays with continues masses in different languages. Mass is not only attended by Catholics, but also the Hindus join. The atmosphere is great and the combination of rituals from different faiths is wonderful to see.
We also went to see the Cathedral and had a walk around Russel Market afterwards.

Today Adriaan and Mum & Dad are going to Nandi Hills, North of Bangalore. Tomorrow we have been invited to have dinner at Baburaj's house.
Monday morning I have to drop Joshua of at the airport at 5:00 AM (!) for his school trip to Nepal and Ruben has to be at school at 6:00 AM on Tuesday for his school trip to Pondicherrie.

Guess I better start with that photo album now... Enjoy your weekend!!!

Home again

We arrived back home again this afternoon, after a 5 day trip to Mysore and Kabini (south of Bangalore). It was a great trip. We have seen and done a lot and made approximately 1200 photographs (with 3 cameras). The highlight op the trip was our first safari in Kabini, when we saw a Leopard!!!!

Adriaan is now going through all the photos and is being "Mr. Vandelete" as our friend Sean calls him.

The suitcases have been unpacked again, we have washed the dust from the dirt tracks out of our hair and are now ready to sleep like a log. Unfortunately tomorrow is a school-/work day again.
Still have to see who is feeling well enough to attend school tomorrow, since we seem to have a vomiting bug doing the rounds (Simon, Mum and Joshua had the bug, Dad had the beer...).

The next blog entries will be filled with trip reports and photos I am sure.

Walk in the park

Yesterday we went to the Lalbagh park to see the flower show that is on this week in honour of Republic day (26th Jan). The flowers show was nice but not very big, so we went for a walk in the botanical gardens too.
On the way back home we had lunch at Leela Palace.

Tour of Bangalore

Today we took my parents on a tour to see some high lights of Bangalore. The boys opted to stay home.

Our first stop was the big Shiva Temple behind the Total Mall. You can only enter via the underground car park of the mall, through a covered walk way with souvenir stall on both sides. The whole thing felt very commercial, not what you would expect of a temple. The main 'attraction' is a huge Shiva statue that squirts water from it's head.

Shiva



Next we went to the Bull Temple, where a big statue of Nandi is worshipped. At the entrance is also a Ganesha Temple.

Ganesha Temple 

Dad being blessed at the Bull Temple

After both temples we bought some coconuts to drink and eat and then had a walk in the park behind the temples. In the tree tops were big groups of huge bats.

 

Next on the list was Tippu Sultan's Summer Palace.

Mum & I on the Sultan's balcony

We then did a drive by of the government buildings (can't visit them) and had a lovely lunch at Olive Beach. A great day was had by all (the boys enjoyed their 7 hours of peace and quiet at home too).

Celebrity bench!

When we visited the Taj Mahal I wanted a photograph of us sitting on the same bench as Lady Di. So we had several made, but this is the one I like most.

Look at what I saw on NU.nl today.

Smart girl Oprah!

What is that noise?

When you have guests you start noticing things again that have become normal or unnoticed, things you have gotten used to. At least that is what happens to me. My dad says it is like living next to a railway: at first you can't sleep because of the trains passing, but after a while you wake up when a train is off schedule.

India is a noisy country, I don't think there is any time, day or night, when it is quiet. In our first week here one of the boys said: "It is never Silent Night in India!"
During the day you hear the traffic, helicopters from the air base close by, people talking (loud), music from a neighbour's house, the clinking of a little bell to set the pace for a dance class, squirrels, birds, dogs and the maid next door doing the dishes and dropping half of it on the floor (at least 4 times a day!).
At night you can hear the trains (VERY loud horn), packs of dogs fighting and of course the traffic. Early morning it is the mosque, the temple, maids on their way to work talking out loud together or (even louder) on their phones and the drivers getting the cars washed and ready.
As I said, we have become used to it and the only thing that still wakes me is the cricket game on Sunday morning, 8:00 o'clock, when all the men from the community have great fun in our street.

I have started noticing it all again now that my parents are here and are commenting on it. Funny thing is that we all noticed how silent the nights were when we were back in The Netherlands.

Lazy day (for some)

Mum & Dad had a lazy day today. They slept in till 9:00 and spent most of the day sitting outside on the terras reading and drinking coffee/tea. They had a walk on the compound in the afternoon and then sat outside again until the mosquitoes became too active.

I went to the slum this morning to try and teach some English (got 4 ladies interested today) and then joined my parents on the terras.

Mum and I baked a cake for Baburaj's birthday today. It smelled lovely and looked jammy and Babu texted to confirm it was indeed really tasty.

Tomorrow will be more action packed (we have to do some grocery shopping at least, haha) and Saturday we will do a sight seeing tour around Bangalore.