Right at this moment the countdown on my desktop says there are exactly 11 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes and 20 seconds left until we board the plane.
India sure has grown on us, but we are looking foreward to going home. We miss our mommies!

This weekend we'll try to see a bit more of Bangalore.
Saturday there is a book fair at the Palace Grounds that we want to see. Sunday we will be going to the Bull Temple.

As for next week. Monday will be a regular working day, but also the last. Tuesday we're going to Coorg with Sumathi, our host.
Coorg is a very nice quiet place south west of Bangalore in the middle of coffee estates. There are a tibetan monestary and beautiful temples to visit. We will return from there next friday.
Check out the travel map in the menu on the right to see the location of Coorg.

That leaves us with the last weekend and monday tuesday to go shopping for the rest of the souvenirs you all want so badly

Wednesday morning at 6:45 indian time (4:15 CET) we'll board the plane towards London and arrive in Copenhagen approx. 17:10 CET.

The reason why I'm so elaborate on this subject is that monday will be the last entry from here. Since we're no longer going to Ascendum, I no longer have the possibility to update the blog.
I'll of course add the pictures from Coorg when I get home.

Have a nice weekend everyone. See you for the last indian entry on monday.
Hugs and kisses

We're back in Bangalore after almost a week in Goa.

The trip to Goa takes approx. 14 hours by car. You go through beautiful mountainous landscapes, roads flanked by rivers and bamboo forrests. Wild monkeys live in trees next to the road. The tour is amazing.

Goa itself is beautiful, BUT if you are not a party person, be VERY careful where you book your accommodation.
We stayed in Calangute, Baga Beach. Alex and I are not party people, so staying right where all the tourists come, was not the best idea.
It's too crowded, and just doesn't feel like India at all. It's a tourist place like any tourist place in the world.

On one of the days we went to a unique deserted beach called Morjim.


We stayed and watched the sun set. This was one of the few good things in Goa.

Alex and I also managed to go to Old Goa. I always love to get a bit of culture when visiting new places. Especially when to cultures clash like in Goa.
We visited the Bom Jesus Cathedral, also known as the Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral. It's a huge and beautiful church. It contains the remains of Saint Francis Xavier, an important missionary.



We also went to the archeological museum of Goa. This was very interesting. It shows the complete history of Goa. From the first settlers to the portugese times til now. We got a good insight into the cultural transformation Goa has undergone.
This is the museum:



Another good thing there is the food. Fresh seafood!
Fresh tiger prawns, fresh squids, and as you can see, fresh shark:



Since Alex is afraid of sharks, he decided to perform the good old ritual of eating your old arch enemy. Payback time!

It's really quite sad to see this once beautiful place being so commercialized. The beaches are completely plastered with beach shacks and souvenir shops. European, russian, and american tourists crowd the beaches behaving badly, getting so drunk it's embarrassing. There is no peace and quiet there. That's what we were looking for. You can't even sleep at night, bacause the noise from the discotechs will keep you awake. The hotel was nice but a little too close to the party centre.
This is it, Villa Fatima:



On the way back, we stopped in Palolem Beach, which again is too crowded and commercialized. But I did manage to snap a few good pics.



I wouldn't completely rule out Goa. If you are a party person, and like to hang around in the sun and get drunk, it's the perfect place for you. Please go check it out. But if you're not... just stay away. It's not worth the lots of money you pay for food and accommodation. And why go all the way to India to see white people behaving badly... a friday night at the local pub is cheaper.

Tomorrow there are exactely two weeks til we touch home ground.
India has been a nice experience, but we are looking foreward to christmas cookies and cold feet.

P.S.: The picture gallery now has a directory including the Goa pics

That was weekend number 5!

This was a slow one. We stayed home on friday and saturday because I wasn't felling well.
Sunday we went to this HUGE Hare Krishna temple.



It's also known as the "duty free shop", and now we know why.
It's 10% about worshipping gods and 90% about buying stuff.
Unfortunately they were very strict and didn't allow us to make pictures inside.

During the last week we went shopping a few times.
Anupa showed us a tiny jewellers place and I bought myself these nice earrings:



I liked the shop so much I went back and got a beautiful bracelet. I'll make pictures of that soon.

The weekend started off rainy, but sunday was warm and sunny.
That's when the rooftop is a nice place to be.



The woman in the picture is Radhika and is our new friend from London who has come to stay with us last week.

Alex wanted me to take a picture of him with a coconut from the palmtree in front of the house. Here it is. Alex is the nut in the black shirt, by the way.


Tomorrow we're leaving for Goa. It's a 12-14 hour drive, but Alex has his Gameboy, so everything is fine. We'll return monday 13th with a lot of beachy pictures.

I'd like to use this as a chance to say goodbye to my very best friend, who's leaving for the far coasts of Brazil for good.
Misha, sweety, take care, have fun, and bring my best friend back to me in one piece some day. May your hopes and dreams come true. See you in South America!

A very fun weekend number 4 has passed.

We got up at 5 saturday morning and got ready for the trip to Chennai. The road was bumpy but not too crowded.
We went through a lot of beautiful landscape, like this rice field behind Alex munching a banana.



It had been raining for a day or two in Chennai when we arrived, but as we went out for dinner, it really started to pour. We went to bed in complete darkness because a thunder storm had cut off the electricity at the house. Outside frogs were singing us good night.

The next morning started early. We went off from Sumathi's relatives and a bit into the central city. The rain and wind had flooded large parts of the city and broken trees were lying everywhere. We had to pass a street that was completely flooded, and decided to try going through the water by car. Unfortunately the water was too deep for the car and Alex and Jay, our host, had to get out and push the swimming car onto dry land.



This sure added a lot of fun and adventure feeling!

After this we made it to the wedding. It is very beautiful and exciting to watch different wedding ceremonies.
The south indian wedding is really strange for Europeans.
We always sit still and try not to make a sound. Here they walk around, talk to relatives, have breakfast, and leave while the ceremony is taking place. Very funny.



They also served a traditional breakfast on a banana leaf.

Last but not least, I've promissed my mother two pictures.
1. Me wearing a sari


2. The Jayakrishnan family, our hosts. (Left to right Alex, Anupa, Sumathi and Jay)


!!!By the way...the picture gallery is now working. Have a look!!!

... has passed and we're back at work.
Alex' cold is better but it finally caught up with me. It's not that bad though.
Due to this lovely cold, we took it slow.

This weekend was Diwali, the festival of lights. It's celebrated over five days. It's a bit like our christmas. People make sweets and visit family. Of course I got recipies, mom!

The funniest part of Diwali are the fireworks. If anyone in Europe thought that we burst a lot of firecrackers on New-Years-Eve... THINK AGAIN!
For four (4!) nights in a row there has been massive fireworks going on... for HOURS! It's unbelievable.
Sadly it was not possible to make any photos of all that.

Monday we went shopping and found lots of nice stuff.
I bought myself two sarees. YES MOM, I'll make pictures!
I'll wear one this weekend when our host is taking us to Chennai to see a south indian wedding. That will probably have one or two kodak-moments.

Monday started off in a not so nice way.
We got to work and Alex was feeling sick, so we went home about noon.
Alex got better during the afternoon, but I had a really bad migraine attack, and was out for the rest of the day.
We stayed home tuesday. Our host had a cold and now everyone at the house has it... except me. Till now. Knock on wood!
Alex is of couse taking some medication (Grippostad C) so don't worry. After all Skandinavians know how to deal with a cold.

I'd like to leave you with a few pictures of the place we're staying.

This is my bed in our new room. (We changed rooms due to our neighbour who keeps his prayer tape on all night)


And here is Alex hanging out on the couch in front of the TV



That's all for today.
Lots of hugs and kisses for mothers and friends.