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.

India

This time I flew Emirates Airline. Their fleet of 777-300s and A380s is new.

Service was quite good.

16 hour flight flew close to the north pole.

Flew over Iran. My first time in the middle east.

Changed flights in Dubai, UAE.

Modern airport featured 11,000 square meters of "shopping therapy."

Breakfast, with watermelon juice. Also ordered a dosa. I keep forgetting to take a photo of the dosa.

Dessert was an east-west combo: Gulab Jam with ice cream. YUM!!

I ordered two, for research:

Vanilla is better than butterscotch.

My first street food was kulfi. Less sweet and more creamy rich than ice cream. Rose, pistachio, chocolate and milk flavor.


The response I got was, "Oh my GOD! Are you eating Kulfi on the roadside????? We have to start speaking to you in Marathi next!!!!"

Our office complex.

Caught the opening weekend of "London, Paris, New York," my first Hindi language movie. About 10% of the romantic comedy was in English. It was pretty funny.

Movie cost only $2.50 and seats are reserved. Had warm caramel popcorn and a chilled bottle of water.

Took a look at some small rugs. Thought Kit might like one. Awaiting approval from Tuk first.

Tuk says no. Maybe next time. Really nice rugs.

Went on a walk through the busy old town.

All of the streets started to look the same but I avoided getting lost.

Tuk arrived 20 years ago

On February 22nd we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Tuk's arrival in the USA. Kit was very curious about the history.

Science Experiments

Before we did some science experiments, we guest how many colors there are on the walls in our house.

Kit: 18
Tuk: 20
Me: 15

The total count was 22 !

It is easy to make science interesting to kids:

Today's first science experiment was to predict which items would sink or float in a tub of water. It was lots of fun. Kit was surprised that a heavy metal bowl floated, as did an orange. Then light things like paperclips sank.

The second science experiment was to fill a cup of water to the top such that it appears flat when viewed from the side. We each entered our guess on how many more drops could be added before the water spilled out.

Kit: 15
Tuk: 20
Me: 50

Well, it took hundreds. Kit was really amazed at how water tension works. Water is sticky!

Then I asked how many drops of water can go on top of a penny?

We could place 16 drops on the penny!

Kit grew a culture of spit versus snot to compare which has more germs.

Round 1: Spit wins

Wonder what we'll grow next...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kit woke up early to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day.

Hiking with Sophia

Last Saturday we went hiking at Rancho San Antonio with Sophia. Both girls are excellent hikers now. Photos coming in a bit...

Reading and Writing

Last night during dinner Kit copied the entire Ladybird keyword 1a book, creating her own edition. It was a lot of work. She then read the entire 1b book to Tuk. Usually Kit and I read books at bedtime so Tuk was surprised by how well Kit can read. Kit then completed several of the questions and puzzles in the 1c and 2c books. She loves her ladybird keyword books.