Annual Fishing Trip

June is typically the month designated for the father-son fishing trip. Often the adventure takes place at Pine Island in Northern Saskatchewan; other times at home on the Clearwater River. Caden noticed the change in the air on about June 1 and began an incessant requesting to go fishing. He had to catch a fish. Even his diet changed as he began requesting fish for dinner (preferably with the heads on as he wanted to be sure he was getting fish).

Now to turn down such an impassioned request in the Miller Clan is, well, blasphemy, so we set about making arrangements for the pilgrimage. There is a fishing camp located a few hours south of Bangalore, Bheemeshwari Camp, but the road was a bit rough and travel was slow at times (not necessarily because our driver couldn't see over the steering wheel).

After settling in a bit, we thought we'd check out the river and we finally got a line wet. It is a bit rustic with no real fishing rod (but a bamboo stick sufficed) and no reels. A piece of bread on a hook and we were ready to fish. June isn't the height of the fishing season here and we really had to work at it. Caden got his line in the water and waited........

and waited......

And then, finally, we caught one! Okay, a trophy it isn't, but it has scales, gills and a tail, so it met the criteria.

Unfortunately, I did have to hear how next year's fishing trip would have to be with Grandpa Bill; He knows how to catch big fish..... and he has a boat.

Good luck to the crew going to Canada; and for those of you canning Kokanee, please save some room in your luggage (we miss it).

So, how hot was it??

Yes, it was hot. We knew this before we left and had been duly warned. Which is good, because I deal with things better when they are as I expect them to be. Of course, Delhi and the north of India experienced a deadly heat wave while we were there, with a high point for Delhi (temp-wise) being the day we were there. It was 118 degress, and humid, and polluted, and dusty. The low that night was 97 degrees. We drank a lot of water. And sweated most of it out. An interesting thing is what conservative dress really means - even in this heat, NO ONE was wearing shorts. Not one single person. All men in long pants AND long sleeves and all women covered shoulder to toe. God how I wanted to ask - "what are you thinking? Do you know that when it gets to 20 where I come from, we wear a thing called shorts? It's 40 here! Try showing your knees, you might like it." A rational marketer would look at this and see an untapped market for "appropriate" garments.
Oh well. How do I know that I'm acclimating? I wore jeans out to dinner in Delhi (it was 20 degrees cooler at night after all), and I sit here tonight in Bangalore, wearing long sleeve pajamas since it's only 73 and I thought chilly.
One last funny thought. As I was looking up the weather.com "official" temps, I ran across this article...
"New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) After a simmering fortnight when most of north India baked in the heat, the rains finally graced the region Friday, bringing a wave of relief and a renewed energy to harried residents.
The capital woke up to a pleasant Friday morning - without a trace of the scorching summer sun or the unbearable heat - and as the day advanced the skies turned grey before finally giving way to a refreshing spell of rain.
The capital received 51.2 mm of rain. 'The skies are going to remain cloudy tomorrow as well,' said an official of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
The maximum temperature was a pleasant 36 degree Celsius while the minimum was a distinctly cool 28."
For those not versed in Celcius, on weather.com, it was a pleasant 102 today, and a distinctly cool 84 tonight in Delhi.
:)

Stop 3: Delhi

Despite the heat (I'll tell you that in a separate post), we really enjoyed Delhi. A city of 13+ million people and a palpable energy even in oppressive heat. Sunday found us with a bite to eat at McDonald's (we were way more hungry than proud) followed by a city tour that included the Qutab Minar Complex, the oldest landmark in Delhi.
A trip to Humayan's tomb, a landmark of Mughal architecture and predecessor to the Taj Mahal. I liked the quote in my tour book "they built like giants, and they finished like jewellers."
India gate - it's not blurry - it's heat and pollution you see.
Oh, and we saw inside the Imperial Hotel, where they have an extremely decadent restaurant called Spice Route. YUM. Have you ever seen such an enormous glass for wine?
On our last day, Sarah was also able to find a good place for henna. After three people recommended "the place by the Hanuman temple and Rivoli theater," we found the outdoor salon that everyone was talking about...only in India.Delhi was also able to satisfy our quest for material goods and we did quite well shopping. We got pashminas from Kashmir, jewelry from Jaipur (who needs to go there?), some clothes, some more incredible jewelry...800 bottles of water, and definitely a fun trip to remember. It was also great getting to spend some time with Sarah and getting to know her better. Thanks Sarah for a very fun trip all things considered - come again anytime!

On to Jaipur

For the second stop on the tour, we drove another four or so not as nice hours (less road, more cows) to Jaipur. It was interesting to watch the landscape change anyhow as we approached Jaipur - the capital of the state of Rajasthan and gateway to the Thar desert. The ruins of the fomer palatial walled city greet you as you enter the mountains - a vastly different scene from anything I'd seen.

On arrival, dusty and hot from the drive, we spent the afternoon by the pool (in the shade of the 110 degree heat) and ate really good, rapidly melting ice cream. It was nice to relax and read, a bit away from the sensory overload of touring. Rajasthan is known for its color and vibrancy, from jewelry to mirrorwork fabrics to puppet shows. Sarah and I saw a puppet show that was pretty fun, with the puppeteer as colorful as the puppets! Oh, and we also stopped by the palmist on the way to dinner. He said I travel too much, have a "butterfly heart" and a temper. Oh and that I'll have three kids. What does he know!?
The palaces and fomer glory of Jaipur were really impressive. Unfortunately, our tour guide was not... and most of the "tour" seemed designed to sell us stuff at a series of demonstrations, conventiently staged in front of overpriced shops. Still, we saw the Amber Palace/Fort after riding there up the face of the mountain on top of an elephant - pretty cool.

Of our stops though, this was the most tiring. I've mentioned before that India can be sensory overload, and between the heat and our feeble attempt at shopping and the people, Jaipur was no exception. Our waiter even commented "the glory of our past is more than our present." As with the Taj, the contrast in Jaipur was astounding. On the same page of my guide book as discussion on the Observatory and the Palace of Winds is a note that one third of the population live without sewage (I'd never seen the Palace of Winds, or anyone poop along the side of the road before).

The North of India is also quite conservative, and startling in Jaipur was the lack of women outside - anywhere. I bet the ratio of male to female was easily 40 to 1. And 38 of the 40 appeared hostile. This made shopping quite uncomfortable despite our head to toe dress in the 110 degree heat, and although I went with the "I'm from Canada" approach, we didn't buy much of anything on account of silly pricing and cranky shopkeepers. The road to Jaipur was closed with rioting and burning busses the week before we traveled there, and it didn't appear to have exactly re-rolled out the red "welcome American tourist" carpet.

So in startling self-absorbed self-indulgence, we enjoyed the sights, our nice Hilton hotel, some great meals and headed out of town toward Delhi. Also, since I'm getting accustomed to people taking my picture (or Caden's anyhow) like some crazy novelty, I figured I could take some shameless pictures as well. As much as the heat and dust and mean (or pooping) people offended my spoiled sensitivities, I'd have to be COMPLETELY oblivious to not note that most of our fellow travelers were not traveling in a spacious air-conditioned van. It's incredible in fact how many people a moving vehicle could accomodate. In Bangalore, I'm always amazed at how many people fit on a motor bike (up to a family of five). On the five hour stretch to Delhi, that's nothing! But at least those guys were sharing a jeep...

Not to forget that it is over 110 outside and not exactly paved freeway... I tried to be thankful as I fussed and crabbed that my Treo wasn't synching data properly...

Our trip North, and to the Taj Mahal...

To complete Sarah's visit to India, she had to see the Taj Mahal. I'm a firm believer in iconic experience so decided I should go too! Something of a sneak preview (and some unfettered shopping) before my family trip and visit in September. So a girls' weekend was in order...starting with the Taj Mahal. After some debate, we decided on the classic "golden triangle" itinerary - Agra-Jaipur-Delhi.

We flew into Delhi just a bit late Thursday morning and were met by a driver straight away for our drive to Agra, about four hours outside of Delhi. It was an awesome road by Indian standards (straight and paved, not too many cows), a welcome surprise, and traffic was light, this being the "off" season. Ok HOT season... we were fairly warned by everyone I came in contact with since first mentioning the trip... "You're going to Delhi...now???" "Why?!?!?" But that part comes later... first the Taj...totally breath-taking.



We also made the most of Agra and visited Agra fort, a marble inlay shop (if anyone wants a $10k dining table, I know of an awesome one) and the restaurant in the hotel - where they served AMAZING food and even a nice pinot grigio.... mmmmm. One aside from the trip to Agra is that the contrast between "rich and poor" is made more stark. At the foot of the Taj is a very confrontingly poor town - quite a thought provoking dichotomy.
This is a closer look at the marble work at Agra Fort - super impressive...the picture doesn't do justice. And I could barely touch on the story of either this place or the Taj. We had a great tour guide, but you can see why books are written - it's the stuff of soap operas and movies - love story, money, grandeur, murder, and family feud.

We also stopped at Fatehpur Sikri about an hour outside of Agra on the road to Jaipur, once a seat of the Mogul empire under Akbar. It too was a place for which my narration or pictures could not do justice. I highly recommend you visit.

So stop one was a resounding success and a huge highlight I think for Sarah's trip as well as mine (albeit longer trip). I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten such a cool opportunity to go, and can't wait to go again with my husband, son, parents and sister in tow.

Caden started school!

Yikes, amidst all the fun, my little boy started pre-Kindergarten today! When we arrived in Feb, we weren't able to start Caden in school as they were full, and unable to accomodate this when the school year runs June to March. We put in him in "summer" program for April and May, a short event that both he and Wade enjoyed immensely. But, now it's time for the BIG time...pre-K!

Wade and I both went for orientation last week, a little unprepared. We pretty much just wanted to check out the place again, meet the teachers, fill out some forms and such... We got to see the place, meet the teachers... and complete the interview (Caden passed his in order to be admitted). An excerpt:

• Ms. Gita: What languages does Caden speak?
• Angela: uh, English (sort of... oh and he thinks he can talk to airplanes, does that count?).
• More questions with wrong answers...
• Ms. Gita: What are you hoping he'll get out of the program?
• Angela and Wade: uh, you know, pre-Kindergarten stuff - a positive social experience, learn the alphabet, and, uh, stuff.
• Ms. Gita: well, we teach the blah-blah-blah phonics systems so they learn reading at their own pace, and of course simple math concepts blah blah and dramatic play and independent blah blah blah...
• Angela and Wade: Right, did we say "alphabet"? We meant Al...gebra, and maybe some light calculus. And some languages too, for goodness sake.

Anyhow, in seriousness, Ms. Gita is wonderful; and Wade and I are hopeful Caden will learn a lot, and so will we. It's just amazing how fast it goes from learning to sit up to learning to read. Yikes. What's next, driving this car? We stayed on to make sure he settled in this morning, but he never once looked back.
He said he made a new friend today - "a boy in a blue shirt". He might need to make a new friend tomorrow unless there's a limited wardrobe issue....
Overall, Caden did great. And I made it too...
Oh man is my baby boy getting big....

Hi Dad! Life doesn't suck...

So, apparently Dad was the first to make it to the end of my random thoughts... so I'd like to dedicate this to you Dad... today was just another ho-hum day in Bangalore...
After all the hullaballoo of travelling and visits, and more travelling, we decided to lay low this weekend. I got my hair re-cut (much better), relaxed at a neighborhood party, lay by the pool.... oh, and decided to get Caden ready for school tomorrow with a present and some high-rent brunch... with Aerosmith.

Yes, we decided to take Sarah to the upper end of town during her visit, and do the Sunday brunch at Taj West with some of our neighbors - already fun with a couple from Germany and a neighbor from Canada and one of my favorites from Target. Taj has awesome food and freely-flowing champagne. Oh, and Steven Tyler showed up about a half hour after we sat down...
Yep, just another Sunday brunch in India. I'd really love to be there right now for pancakes and eggs from Grandpa (YUM!!!!), family and then a graduation of one of my cousins. Those are really the hard moments to miss. BUT, if you are going to be gone, at least it's good to have a little drama... and I'm pretty sure Sarah would pick this over a cousin's graduation (sorry Adam). It was quite the drama.
As is India. Not the comforts of home, and certainly not my grandpa's pancakes... but never a dull moment...

And I love you Dad, and miss you tons and tons...