• I went to my first temple here in Bangalore yesterday – sad to say but yes, it took me 6 month to go to one – and had a really amazing experience.

    My friend Ran suggested we go to break up the monotony of the week and it was certainly a good day to go given it was Diwali, the festival of lights – imagine Christmas combines with 4th of July.  The temple and the streets surrounding it were lively with everyone gearing up for the celebrations, buying various items for puja and gifts for family and friends.

                   

    As with all temples, shoes must be removed before entering the complex so this gentleman was kind enough to mind our shoes while we went inside.

    Inside the temple complex, people were making offerings to the various gods and goddesses – each with their own station (there was an outer temple and an inner temple) and there were priests stationed at the main gods – Ganesh, Nandi, etc) and the offerings consisted mainly of coconuts, fresh fruits, flowers and sweets.  The following pictures give you an idea of some of the action inside.

  •  So I have to say that I was happy to be going home from our scuba trip…this is us in the Chennai airport waiting on our flight to Bangalore – Dar had been to an Indian barber and gotten a haircut and a shave for 50 INR ($1.06) in Havelock the day before we left and my hair, well the only thing I have to say was it was very humid.

    I thought you might like to see what security looks like at most Indian airports I have been too.  Interestingly the women security guards are really nice – TSA should take lessons.  Women and men go through separate screenings here because your actually patted down.  Another funny thing is that all your carry on luggage needs to be tagged (think luggage tag you put your name on) and stamped by security – because that is proof that it has been through the machine.  If you get to your gate and you don't have a stamped tag, it is back to the security check for you to have another go.

  • The last day of our vacation we spent hanging out – we had to catch a ferry at 3pm (which turned out to be more like 4 pm) – so we read a bit in a hammock and I took a couple of pictures on the beach.  It was a nice day and the beach/water was beautiful.

  • There is something about the people who dive – maybe it is the early mornings, long boat rides, toleration of smelly wetsuits or being underwater making up funny signs for fish – but they tend to be pretty cool and humorous.  We were lucky on this trip and met some really neat folks – pics below – who live in India and are super interesting (not in the weird, strange way – well accept maybe Alexa and Paul but they are scoucers) 

    We had a little party tonight because Paul celebrated his 1000 dive which included the manditory egging after the dive followed by a gift of beer.  The lobster we had planned for Paul to get for dinner was unfortunately eaten by the Island Vinnies parents who were visiting him from Delhi 😦

  • Looked about the same on the website accept for the mold, wet clothes and the hammock – hummmmm

  • Our second day of diving was quite good – got ourselves assigned to a group who were better divers and could manage to make their tanks last more than 20 mins.  The boats for the dive trips are the same that the fisherman use with an additional canopy for sun protection. 

    The trips to the dive sites took anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes and occasionally we had to wind our way through mangroves to get there.  We had the company of dolphins with us for a few minutes today which was so cool – apparently they love the under water current created by the boat motor.

    Our guide for the day was David – super nice guy in the green shirt below – and while we struggled a bit with PSI to BAR conversion, once down, you have your own private aquarium with amazing fish – super huge groupers, wrasses, lion fish, scorpion fish, angel fish, parrot fish, lizard fish – these are sort of freaky because they look like they should be on land, tons of clown fish in anemonies (MY FAVORITE!! I could sit and watch these for hours and on and on).  Basically, think NEMO and all his buddies.

    We got back a little later in the afternoon so after washing our gear out, we just sorta chilled – Dar was tired from entertaining everyone on the boat and took a nap.  I went down to the beach because there was a full moon and took these pictures at sunset – MAN was it pretty!

  • After a restful nights sleep – basically Dar and I both died as soon as our heads hit our respective damp (remember very humid) pillows – we were up bright an early at 6:45 am to start our diving!!! I should mention now that I don't have a underwater camera so all the pictures from the vacation will be of us above water. 

    We decided to do a quick refresher in the morning which consisted of a short skills reminder underwater and a dive. The both were great and we got back early enough to walk into "town" which was basically about 30 shops set up on either side of the road about 1 km from our home for the week. 

    On the way, we met up with an Isreali couple who we had met whilst on the ferry.  We chilled with them while they ate their lunch – the picture is the woman preparing it – and were waiting for their hammock to be made.  The hammock was made in 20 minutes and cost 200 INR ($4.26).

    On the way back, we walked past this sign and laughed our butts off while a few locals looked at us strangely wondering what was so funny.  We tried to share the joke with our new Isreali friends but I think a lot was lost in the translation.

    The walk back was nice – it was starting to cool off – and the rice fields and jungle was amazing. 

  • Back at Chennai airport at 5 am relaxed and refreshed, we were ready to get to our final destination…Havelock.  Our flight from Chennai got in at 7:30am to Pt. Blair and we were picked up and went to a hotel we were staying later in the week.

    The ferry to Pt Blair was at 1:30pm so we had a few hours to kill – we had breakfast, sat and read our books and took sitting in comfy chairs on a deck.  We also took a walk to pick up some more Sudafed (Indian version) for diving – very useful for equalizing.  This little girl and her brother lived next to the clinic and had just gotten a new puppy.

    This was the view from the hotel deck when we got back.  Yes, Yes, it is quite beautiful but it was hot and VERY HUMID!  My hair looked like Rosan Rosanna Dan!

    But it was about to get hotter.  I should start by saying that the folks at the place we were staying said that the ferry to Havelock was a1.5-2 hour ride.  Welll….it was actually a 4.5 hour ride, on a full ferry, without air conditioning, oh yeah and NO windows…

    When we finally reached the island – at 6:30pm, we were dropped off at Island Vinnies (our home for the next week) – which had been struck by lightening the night before (actually the dive shop – metal roof) and there was no power (read no fans, no cold beer etc) but the shower – which at this point was sorely needed – was ice cold.  Can we all say FUN start to vacation!

  • Sooo, we get to the airport at 4:40 am – with plenty of time to check in for our 6 am flight accept – It had been cancelled and we had no notice – so we ended up waiting for a 9 am flight and took that to Chennai.  We had a chance to admire the new airport – which is really nice – and a few birds that had wandered in search of crumbs.

    We got to Chennai and found a hotel – the Park – which was expensive but nice.  We spent the day getting massages and relaxing which was excellent and much needed after I had only gotten a few hours sleep the night before.

  • We leave in less than 5 hours – at 4:00 am ( and yes, I am still awake)  for our vacation in the Andaman Islands – specifically Havelock.  It is about a 6 hour journey to get there – flight to Chennai, then to Pt. Blair in the Andamans, then a ferry to Havelock. 

    The big plan for each day is diving and maybe a trek in the rainforest on the island.  There are wild elephants, tons of birds but let's face it we are really going for the diving…..ok, well maybe the drinking on the beach after the diving too…..ok, and the seafood….oh, and no pollution and no horns honking…..well really I could go on forever.

    We are all set for our diving – bought 3mm shorties and paid more than double what we would have in the US – but it is better than renting (hummm – how do I put this, when you have to go, you do when diving and well, I am just happier being in my own suit).  Apparently the water is bathtub temperature, the coral reefs are amazing, and we are smuggling in malibu rum in a water bottle – how stoked am I???

    If you want to see some pictures, this flickr account has great ones and made me even more excited about going.

    My pics will be up when we get back in a two weeks…..YAHOOOOO!