Cirque Du Solei - Totem

Kit enjoyed seeing Cirque du Soleil's Totem show in San Jose.

Kit's favorite act was a boy and girl on a trapeze swing.

Tuk's favorite act was these five on unicycles flipping bowls onto their heads.

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Tooth Fairy

Kit has had a loose tooth for a couple of weeks.

Last night it came out. She was excited, surprised, brave and proud when it happened.

I was brushing her teeth when it came out. There was some blood on her bib but she did not get upset about it. We found the tooth and looked at it. Then she smiled into the mirror several times to see the gap.

When Tuk came out of the shower, Kit surprised her with a smile.

Returning Home

Got up at 7:30 AM to go into the office for a bit. Returned to the hotel for lunch and to check out. Left the hotel at 2:00 for Mumbai.

Arrived at the Mumbai airport at 5:30 PM. The driver was supposed to take me for sightseeing and dinner first. So we had to return to Mumbai.

Was a 2 hour drive to the other side of Mumbai. I was not due back at the airport until 9:00 PM at the very earliest.

Dropped me off at a beach area so I could walk around a little bit before my flights.

I was hoping for 2 hours of sightseeing yet a few minutes is better than nothing.

Went to Gaylord restaurant's Churchgate location for dinner. Historic location is quite nice. I prefer the more casual outdoor seating.

The driver dropped me off at the airport promptly at 9:00 PM. Emirates airline would not allow me to checkin for my 4:20 AM flight until 12:30 AM. I couldn't clear the security check without a boarding pass so I paced the length of the airport countless times until I could check in.

Cleared security at 1:00 AM and cruised the duty free shops for several hours before boarding my 4:20 AM flight.

Slept for just a moment during the 3 hour flight to Dubai. In Dubai I ordered fresh juice and browsed more duty free shops during the 3 hour stopover. Finally boarded the 15 1/2 hour flight from Dubai to San Francisco. After breakfast I got some sleep yet was continuously awoken by screaming infants and toddlers seated around me.

Landed in SFO, got my bag, met my driver and got home around 2:30 PM. Stayed awake until about 4:30, I think. It was a 46 hour day.

Happy Holi Festival

People have been coating one another with color today. I watched many playing from the safety of my car.

Chatted with Kit on Skype. She showed off the hat she made for her bear. Then she sang a song for me:


This new bear, he played one
He played knick-knack on my thumb;
Knick-knack paddywhack,
Give a dog a bone,
This new teddy bear came bouncing home.

Went to a seafood restaurant for dinner.

The green drink is juice from roasted pineapple with cumin. Very odd.

Lunch Thali

We are going out for lunch at a thali restaurant. They serve everyone an unlimited supply of their daily dishes in small bowls.

Each thali restaurant specializes in dishes from a region of India. We are seeking one making good local-style dishes.

In making the decision on which thali restaurant to go to, I learned that the selection criteria is:

1. Authentic dishes representing this region
2. Excellent quality
3. Clean facility - they are worried about me
4. Today's menu

The list was narrowed down to four restaunts. After calling each restaurant to discuss today's menu, the results were ranked by today's dessert selection.

First place: Panchavati Gaurav

I noticed that it is at least double or triple the cost of a thali place we were discussing yesterday, Durwankur. I think it lost out on criteria #3, above.

The sorted list of finalists was routed to the general manager for confirmation.

The response was to go to Hotel Shreyas (not on the list of four) as their Maharashtrian thali is authentic Pune-style, and not generically of the greater Maharashtra state. This is equivelent to comparing San Francisco cuisine versus California cuisine. Basically, condition #1 was refined to the point that this place prevailed.

The group noted they have not been to this local-style restaurant in years since this is exactly what they get at home. They enjoyed introducing the foods to me. For my part, I am starting to grasp eating with one hand. I was doing extremely well single-handed until the rice came.

Some items get placed in a specific location while others have a general region.

Staff roam the restaurant refilling plates.

For dessert, I picked a grilled bread with bean filling dipped into mildly sweet coconut milk. Delicious.

Drawings

Kit received the letter I sent her from India. The giant piece of paper was filled with little drawings I made of us doing things together.

I colored some of the drawings on the computer. I intentionally made them look grainy.

Here we are hiking.

Playing soccer in the park.

This one is my favorite.

Reading a bedtime story.

This one is Kit's favorite.

Indian Airforce and Army... and my lunch

Each day we drive through the large army base between my hotel and the office. There is a road use tax all commercial vehicles must pay, so we stop and pay this fee each direction.

A large group of army officers and staff were staying at my hotel last week. It is very quiet without them.

The airforce also flies several flights outside my office window each day. Fortunately they are not the 20+ year old French Mirage 2000 fighter jets that have been crashing recently.

My lunches were bland (and I prefer vegetarian dishes) so they went back to ordering from a restaurant we used last trip. Spicy eggplant!!

Went for kulfi ice cream on the roadside again. Pistachio, cholocate, strawberry, milk and mango today.

Kit's First Sleepover Party

Kit invited a couple friends to sleep over. She is quite excited about it.

Kit read Green Eggs and Ham as a bedtime story.

They had a wonderful day.

Then they all crashed in bed together.

India - Art Museum

Went to the Raja Dinkar Kelkar museum in Pune. This was for storing grains.

Elephant shadow puppet.

OK, this museum seems to be rated R.

A nut cracker.

Did I mention this museum seems to be rated R?

An oil lamp.

This is cute.

This was tucked away. She is playing a drum like the one I got for Kit last time.

Nice horn.

Um... I guess Ganesha (Half elephant, half man) had a girlfriend.

View into an alcove.

Museum is 20 Rs for Indian nationals, 200 Rs for foreigners. 150 Rs more if you want to take photos.

India - Sunday

Driver took me to a posh breakfast restaurant with A/C and fancy tables. I had the place all to myself with at least six wait staff... so I left. Please take me somewhere local people go.

Where are the college students having breakfast today?

Next he took me to Vaishali, a very popular restarant. Their outdoor area is large yet broken into sections.

Driver suggested I wait for a table upstairs. I opted to share an outdoor table with random university students instead.

Driver asks, "You like this noisy, crowded place with dirty plastic chairs?"

I love it!

Ordered onion uthappa and idli sambar. Uthappa is a thick rice pancake. Idli is steamed rice flour with a spicy soup. Eaten with your hands of course.

Afterwards came hot drinks. I had masala chai.

Good cheap meal with a friendly crowd.

$2 including tip.

Kit wants to see my driver. Here is Harish. Next week I will have a different driver that I must un-train.

Afterwards I hiked up Parvati, a small hill with a temple on top.

Old window with balcony looking out. The old buildings are very nice but most are not being preserved.

Driver warned me to lookout for kids taking cameras. This boy was nice and with his father... figured I could at least outrun his father. He was a very nice kid.

Steps leading up to the wall.

After walking back down the hill I had fresh coconut water.