We Have Visitors..

Our visitors have arrived and got the usual welcome in the form of a Rangoli, made especially by Margaret. So far so good, not too much culture shock. They were excited to see their first cow on the road and wanted to take a picture, I told them there would be plenty more...Our school snacks and Latte stocks are replenished and it lovely to see Nana and Bob. We are looking forward to sharing our crazy lives with them in the next 2 weeks.

Kuta Holiday

Our recent holiday in Bali was filled with sunshine and fun days spent with Grandma and Gramps. We had a big surprise in store for the kids with their big cousins Jordan and Brady coming to spend the week with us as well. The kids reaction when they saw their cousins wasn't what we thought it would be, but by the tears after they left it was a trip worth while. As sad as goodbye's have to be it was special time for the kids to be able to share a holiday together. Kuta was a fun place to be, loads to do, swimming, surfing, shopping and eating. A tour of the countryside taking in the beautiful rice terraces and Udbud was a great day out. We all had a hoot at Waterbomb Park, even Grandma and Gramps enjoying the waterslides.

Is There Life Before Coffee?

A week spent in Singapore meant enjoying all those treats that life in India doesn't allow.

                           

Needless to say this meant we drank many Caramel Lattes and Frappuccino's. One day we said to the kids we would try to count how many Starbucks stores we found, the count ended at 12 and that was only till lunchtime.

Better yet is any airport we get to that has a Starbucks, it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, we love to sit down with a coffee. Even better is when we get to share one with friends as we did on our early morning arrival into Singapore.

Mac's Quote Of The Week.

Driving around the other day Mac asks, "Mum why are there lots of old men today?"
My reply was, "What makes them all old men?"
Mac says, "Well you know Mum they all have bendy legs"
"So does that mean all old men have bendy legs Mac? What about Gramps? Does he have bendy legs?" I enquire,
" Yes Mum he is an old man".

Sorry Gramps. But if your legs are bendy that means your old. I asked him if he had looked at his Dads legs lately. You can't get much bendier than those.......

Water Works Trouble.

On Thursday I had a visit from our landlord to say that we had a leak coming from our bathrooms at the front of the apartment. They weren't really sure where it was and had to do some searching to find the problem. It turned out that a pipe that was joining our bathroom handbasin and Eliza's basin had broken in the wall and was leaking downstairs in the car park. The landlord said this was a huge hygiene issue as it was dirty water in a public area, yep so is peeing on the street and any fence you can find, but that's a whole other issue that these people choose to ignore.

So the plumber was called and the fun began, He rigged up some scaffolding outside and started scaling the wall, of course once he saw my camera he stopped immediately to stand at attention to have his photo taken. Once the problem was found then the banging inside started. The tiles were cut and removed by a tiler and them the plumber and his offsider began chipping into the wall to find the pipe. At this stage I left the building and the noise and left Margaret in charge. The plumber speaks very little English but thinks that I understand everything he says. So I now stand there and listen and wobble my head and say Aama (yes in Tamil)

The Plumber standing at attention 2 floors of the ground with Margaret looking on supervising the work.

Looking down at the scaffolding from our balcony. Would you to be climbing on that?

Our bathroom in a mess, the green bag has two purposes as a bag and a seat, the tools are all so basic but they do the job just fine. The walls are solid concrete. The broken pipe was found and a new one put in to bypass the old broken one. Then came the problem of trying to match the attractive peach tiles. No can do. So we now have tiles that don't match which makes my lovely peachy bathroom even more lovely....

The finished product that I now have to clean to remove the dust that is covering everything.

Brrrr...it's chilly out there...

We have arrived back to Chennai to find the weather has really changed and it seems even the locals think so too. The mornings have had quite a chill in the air. It even got down to 19 degrees one morning, I needed a sweater, does that mean I am acclimatizing?

This is the latest fashion statement to hit the streets of Chennai. Mmm, they come in a few different colours but leopard print seems to be the favourite. My concern for the male population in this country continues to grow stronger by the day. First, its skirts they wear, then a plastic shopping bag and now its pink leopard print...What to do?????

Palani, one of our guards modelling a very attractive pair of brown leopard print ear muffs.

"I'm too sexy for my ear muffs".

Happy New Year Singapore Style

We spent New Years Eve in Singapore watching the celebrations from our room on the 23rd floor looking over Clarke Quay and the Marina. The fire works at midnight were amazing and the noise coming from the party in Clarke Quay was rocking.