Kite Festival Weekend

I can't believe the kite festival here in India was two weekends ago. Where have the last two weeks gone?

As I noted last year, January 14 is Makar Sankranti, which is a Hindu solstice-harvest-new-year festival. Different states and regions have different ways of celebrating the holiday. Here in Andhra Pradesh we have ceremonial burning, rangoli chalk drawings, decorated cows, and most importantly, kite flying. Last year we did not see a single kite, but we didn't really look too hard. Muffin wouldn't have appreciated the kites so we spent the day at home, running up to the roof every few hours but not seeing anything, rather than going to one of the parks.

This year I took Muffin to the kite-flying party at Mike's office and then a couple days later we went to one of the parks to watch hundreds of kites. It only took Muffin about one hour to pick up the word "kite" and it took her even less time than that to be perfectly delighted by them. She got bonked on the head a few times but she did not give up on her kite.

This Week

This week I also posted at Coffee Mommy and What I Eat.

Winter Holiday -- Shillong, Meghalaya

Last week we escaped the city and headed north into the chilly weather of Shillong, Meghalaya. It's in the northeast of India, that little part that sticks out between Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Overall we had a great time. The resort was nice, with plenty of nature for Muffin to explore. It was chilly enough to need fleece jackets some of the time, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable. That was a relief to me, wondering how Muffin would fare in weather colder than anything she'd experienced before. By the last day, she was picking up her fleece and walking toward the hotel room door whenever she wanted to go outside.

We flew from Hyderabad to Kolkata to Guwahati and the drive from Guwahati to the resort, Ri Kynjai, was a couple hours. It's usually estimated to be two hours, but it took us nearly three hours to get there and almost four on the return trip. The biggest complaint we have for the whole trip, but there's nothing anyone can do about it, was the traffic. Apparently in the winter dry season, the state comes alive with mining and the roads have "double trucks," as our driver put it. Drives that should have taken forty-five minutes took hours. But if we wanted to leave the resort grounds and to walk around other parks, we had to sit in the car. We were able plan a bit so that the bulk of our car time happened during Muffin's nap times, which made the rides a little more bearable.

Once we got out of the car, though, wow. Nature like we haven't seen in a while.

Lake view from our room.

Morning stroll around the resort grounds.

Why I always insist on seat belts in our rental cars.

Like I said, the resort was nice, and if you just wanted to hang out on your balcony and wander around for a day or two, it would be perfect. Only once did Mike have to get up and ask the kids playing in the lobby at ten o'clock at night to please quiet down. (And that was only because the private cabins were booked so we had to stay in the main hotel. Get a cabin if you can.) The resort does a package deal with the meals at their restaurant (which had pretty tasty food, especially if you don't mind Indian and Chinese) and they handle payment of the drivers as well, so there's no negotiating prices all day long. We really liked our driver and would recommend him to anyone else going. For diplomats, they offer the VAT exemption right up front so there's no blank stares or arguments or paperwork.

Photo Friday is hosted by Delicious Baby.com.

This Week

This week I also posted at Coffee Mommy. And I'm working on my post about our recent holiday. I'm at a coffee shop, away from grabby little hands, so hopefully I'll have it completed and posted here soon.

Snow Muffin

Today we took Muffin to Snow World here in Hyderabad. After dozens of readings of The Snowy Day along with "snow" being one of her favorite sign language cards, we were curious to see how she'd react to real snow. Or at least the closest thing to real snow we're likely to see for a while.

It was not great. Mike is from New Jersey and I'm from Rhode Island so we've had our share of cold winter weather, but Muffin has lived her whole life in balmy Hyderabad. Our clothes were not warm enough for her and the clothes you rent from Snow World (aside from being a little gross and weird) were too big for her. She enjoyed the novelty for about two minutes before the cold started to bother her. I have to admit, it was colder than I expected it to be. And the rubber galoshes they make you wear, to keep street dirt from coming off your own shoes and onto the snow, do not keep your feet warm.

It was such a surreal experience that we'd like to go back when she's a little older and we're better prepared for bundling her up.

Early tomorrow morning we are heading north for a short winter holiday, where, after today's experience, I'm glad temperatures are expected to be unseasonably warm this week. 

Low-Key Christmas

Muffin has been down with a fever for the last two days which has put a halt on my Christmas preparations. This morning she seemed closer to her regular self except for a congested cough, so I think we're in the clear as far as the fever goes. We took her to the doctor on Thursday night to confirm that she didn't have an ear infection or the nasty throat infection that Mike had a couple weeks ago. Just a cold. Her first cold ever, but just a cold.

So, there won't be any gingerbread houses tomorrow. I've got the dough made already so I might be able to bake a batch of cookies, but I'm not worried about it if I don't. Two days of sitting with a hot, sleepy baby on top of me has been exhausting. I finished sewing our dresses so we'll have something to wear if we feel up to going out tomorrow. By a little mix-up we've ended up with two invitations for Christmas Day.

Mike's cooking our duck for dinner tonight. Since we brought it home on Tuesday, Muffin has been insisting on taking a look and saying "Hi" to it every time we open the freezer and then refrigerator. If she's not too crabby we'll make dinner early enough for her to join us before bedtime because, as I said to Mike this morning, she loves food and she's been so excited about the duck all week long.

Muffin had her first visit with Santa this week.

Santa on his own didn't bother her too much. She freaked out when the crowd of people watching cheered for her for not freaking out.

I hope everyone celebrating this weekend has a nice holiday, whether it's big or small, at home or far away.

Travel Photo Friday: Bird Market, Hyderabad, India

It's hard to believe that a year ago when I went to the bird market to shop for our Christmas duck, Muffin snuggled into the Ergo and slept the whole time. Not this time. She was excited, yet thankfully kept a respectful distance from all the animals. We picked out a pair of ducks and this year, I guess my driver thinks I've hardened up to India life, so instead of coming back later for the "cleaned" ducks, we walked around the corner to, uh, the place where they "clean" them. Muffin wanted to watch. I made her wait outside with the goats. She was so happy and engaged throughout the whole process, from taking birds out of the cage in the market to taking them out of the cooler at home.

Muffin and this turkey were the same height.

Dinner!

Sitting on a bench, loving all the activity around her.

Photo Friday is hosted by Delicious Baby.com.

The Hyderabad 10K

This morning I ran my first race in years -- the Hyderabad 10K. My experiences in India over the last year led me to expect a lot of exuberance with much less attention to detail than there would be at a race in the United States. And I was pretty much right.

Chip timing was offered for the amateur ten-kilometer run, which impressed me at first. So did the online registration process. However, when I went to the Expo yesterday to pick up my bib and chip, even though I brought the printed-out registration confirmation, they had me fill out a new registration form -- with all the same information on it -- then they went onto the computer to check my online registration. They asked for my id card but didn't actually look at it. The online registration had said to be sure to bring the credit card you paid with as your proof-of-purchase, but they didn't ask to see it. Also, during the race, as a backup to the chip timing they were writing down bib numbers and times at the five-kilometer mark and at the finish line they stopped me to ask my name as well. If this is all computerized, all you need is my chip! And why the redundancy of filling out new registration forms by hand when I have my printout? They looked at it and threw it away!

The race only started five minutes late, which was earlier than my friend and I expected. We'd been running the course for the last few weekends so had an idea of how to pace ourselves for the times we wanted. I actually felt great and went a little faster than my training runs. I kept thinking that I couldn't keep it up, until I noticed that kilometer markers didn't quite match my Garmin and maybe the race would be finishing sooner than I expected. When a particularly chatty runner started bothering me with only two kilometers to go (even though my Garmin indicated a half-mile left), I used the upcoming finish line as an excuse to say "Great job, finish strong!" and zoomed ahead for a good finish. (If he was able to chat, he should have been going faster, too!)

My goal was to keep a ten-minute pace and my final time was fifty-seven minutes! My Garmin tracked the distance at 6.04 miles rather than 6.2 miles. I'm curious to see my official time once they get it posted. I didn't notice a finishing clock at the line. The 9K Corporate Fun Run/Walk was starting as I finished and the line was crowded. They didn't have great crowd control and eventually they gave up keeping a finishing chute open and free of walkers. When my friend crossed the line a few minutes after me, she said she'd been walking and pushing people out of her way to make it to the finish. She may have finished in under an hour, but the walking crowd at the line took her several minutes to get through before she actually crossed the finish line in about one hour and three minutes. Also, once we finished we had to cross the road in front of all the walkers to get over to the refreshments table. Sorry Hyderabad, even with chip timing and starting only a few minutes late, you lose points for a messy, crowded finish line.

Now I don't know what to do next. I'd like to tackle a half-marathon if I can find one. I may have to travel for that. The Bangkok marathon and half-marathon have been postponed to my birthday in February. I like Bangkok and I like my birthday...

Travel Photo Friday: Old City Motorcycles, Hyderabad, India

My husband loves motorcycles and he recently bought his second Royal Enfield here in India. He bought an older one that will be easier to bring back to the United States with us (classic cars don't have the same safety and emissions standards), but it needs a lot of work. One day Muffin and I went with him on the tour of mechanic shops in the Old City he visits regularly to check on the progress of his new old bike.

Happy.

Muffin loves motorcycles.

I have one of these old scooters, similar in color to the one on the left. I haven't driven it yet.

"Safety on roads is safe tea at home"

Mike's new old bike.

These ornamental handlebars are very popular in parts of the Old City.

Royal Enfield, India.

Photo Friday is hosted by DeliciousBaby.com.

This Week

This week I also posted at Gluten Free Works and What I Eat. Happy Thanksgiving!