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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