Well we have arrived!!!!
The day (22nd Jan, 2011) I flew into North America to join my husband & begin our excellent adventure was a very bleak day indeed!! By bleak I mean the weather!! Cold brrrrrrrr, is putting it mildly!! I had left Melbourne (Australia) which was heading into summer, spent a few days in hot, steamy lovely Singapore, 3 weeks in South India where the weather is quite perfect at that time of the year, spent time in the United Kingdom whose winters compared to this part of the world was quite tolerable, (with the exception of all that sudden snow they have been experiencing over the past few years when the entire country grinds to a halt) but this on the other hand was something else! Cold so very intense it becomes a whole new ball game when one has to decide what to wear when one goes out. On the other hand dressing for the outside can have its drawbacks as most of the houses & places one visits once inside, only very light clothing is required! So it is a challenge indeed!!
However I digress. Once all the formalities are completed at the Detroit airport, we drive to the border & cross into Canada. Not having come up against any obstacle's that one can do these days whilst border crossing, we head for our temporary abode before our container arrives from Australia carrying all our worldly goods which will be on the 30th January 2011. Two months to the day it left our home in Wilmot street, Malvern east!
In the mean time I try to get my wits about me with this new lifestyle I taken on! Will it be easy or will it take a while to all fall into place given the fact that it is the other side of the world for me & even though Canada is a multilingual country, English is the main language, French being the 2nd one.
Watch this space folks for more on this new lifestyle!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Destination Canada, via,via,via............
Well it has been a while!!!!
Via Singapore, India, & the United Kingdom. Wonderful times were had by all in all these countries.
Singapore was hot, exciting & amazingly clean & ordered. A special treat for both of us was afternoon tea in the Tiffin Room at the beautiful colonial Raffels Hotel. The ambience was wonderful, the food absolutely scrumptious & far too much of it but, oh so very delecious.
India for me was as usual great, traffic was horrendous, the infrastructure is still stuck in the 80's but, I was just happy being there. Even though I have not been back for a while, it did not take long to slide back into that lifestyle again. We stayed in Bangalore for about 2 weeks had Christmas with Asha & her husband. there were about 12 of us on the day. Bangalore has changed enormously, it is not the small charming city it once was, however there are still pockets of the past that one can come across. What surprised me was the fact that one did not see the saree worn a lot especially in the evening among the younger generation. Guess that's what progress & the IT world has done!!
Spending time with our neices & their respective families whilst there was just wonderful! And, meeting our aunty Leela who is a relative and 92 years of age & fiesty as they come, was a huge bonus!! Also her son Satish who went out of his way to take us around. All this went towards the making of some truly memorable times. It is something that I would like to repeat in the not too distant future only this time with my husband in tow!!!!
We went down to a place in Coorg called Orange County which is a working coffee estate. Loved it. I /we have all been there before & it never disappoints. Guess for all of us it brings back some memories of what it was like living on a coffee estate.We also went & saw Thannerulla estate which was the first coffee estate owned by my aunt & uncle. It has been beautifully maintained & is now owned by TATA, Plantation Trails. They own about 5 of the old coffee plantations in Coorg, two of them (might even be 3) that were owned by various members of my family, Yammagundi being the other one. They can be rented for as long as one wants with staff as well to do ones bidding!! When I'm more settled, I will upload my photos & send them out. What I loved was being able to speak Malayalam (even tho sadly my Malayalam is not as good as it used to be) & to be able to eat all my favourite kerala foods & breathe in the air of the place!!
Next step Canada, hiere I come!! Watch this space everyone
Via Singapore, India, & the United Kingdom. Wonderful times were had by all in all these countries.
Singapore was hot, exciting & amazingly clean & ordered. A special treat for both of us was afternoon tea in the Tiffin Room at the beautiful colonial Raffels Hotel. The ambience was wonderful, the food absolutely scrumptious & far too much of it but, oh so very delecious.
India for me was as usual great, traffic was horrendous, the infrastructure is still stuck in the 80's but, I was just happy being there. Even though I have not been back for a while, it did not take long to slide back into that lifestyle again. We stayed in Bangalore for about 2 weeks had Christmas with Asha & her husband. there were about 12 of us on the day. Bangalore has changed enormously, it is not the small charming city it once was, however there are still pockets of the past that one can come across. What surprised me was the fact that one did not see the saree worn a lot especially in the evening among the younger generation. Guess that's what progress & the IT world has done!!
Spending time with our neices & their respective families whilst there was just wonderful! And, meeting our aunty Leela who is a relative and 92 years of age & fiesty as they come, was a huge bonus!! Also her son Satish who went out of his way to take us around. All this went towards the making of some truly memorable times. It is something that I would like to repeat in the not too distant future only this time with my husband in tow!!!!
We went down to a place in Coorg called Orange County which is a working coffee estate. Loved it. I /we have all been there before & it never disappoints. Guess for all of us it brings back some memories of what it was like living on a coffee estate.We also went & saw Thannerulla estate which was the first coffee estate owned by my aunt & uncle. It has been beautifully maintained & is now owned by TATA, Plantation Trails. They own about 5 of the old coffee plantations in Coorg, two of them (might even be 3) that were owned by various members of my family, Yammagundi being the other one. They can be rented for as long as one wants with staff as well to do ones bidding!! When I'm more settled, I will upload my photos & send them out. What I loved was being able to speak Malayalam (even tho sadly my Malayalam is not as good as it used to be) & to be able to eat all my favourite kerala foods & breathe in the air of the place!!
The UK was as usual gentle, calming & familiar as was the company of my sister Rosemary & her husband Richard. I was looked after whilst there & wined & dined at the very old & beautiful Tarr Steps country pub in Somerset. It is well know for a very ancient stone bridge that spans the river which runs next to the building & is still in use to this day. The sunshine was gentle & misty, the pub cozy & the food great country fare.
Next step Canada, hiere I come!! Watch this space everyone
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