New year’s eve

Day 8, I was still down with fever and cold. So just another lazy day for all of us, K and the young one were knackered from their squash session late night the day before, so we just had a leisurely breakfast, packed up and lazed around till half 12 when the taxi came for the pick up back home.

After an uneventful flight, except for my fever and cold, we reached home in time to welcome 2019 the next day.

Day 6 and 7

Day 6 saw me wake up in sniffles but still go to the spa , check out the jacuzzi, the sensory showers, the sauna, halo therapy and Indian head massage with foot message with Himalayan crystals. Still not satisfied, I also went to the beach side tent for back and leg  massage treatment by Sandra - as it had rave reviews. The weather was quiet chilly the whole of this day and I paid dearly for my over enthusiasm. Sandra’s tent had transparent views to the beach (which meant some wind was let in through the plastic curtains )she did a professional job but the wind caught up with me and I fell terribly sick.

K and the young one sensibly enjoyed in the hotel, swimming in the heated indoor pool, resting and enjoying the sea view. 

The next day , day 7 was extremely sunny and while I spent the whole day looking at the sea wistfully from the balcony, K and the young one went swimming and snorkeling in the Calheta beach, looked at fishes, ate dinner, generally had fun and came back to take me for a walk on the stones reaching in to the sea for a 20 minute view of the sunset with some music. 

We ate dinner in the room as I was still sick with fever, cold and body aches.

Day 7 did not start very smoothly. There were some ‘ troubles’ and like we have all done with our parents, the young one said she was walking out on us and went out of the room. I was petrified but did not know if running after her was the right thing to do ( as I am always worried that as a pampered only child she should not grow up to be a spoilt brat), K wanted to give her 5 minutes and then get her back in..in the meanwhile ( ie, within 2 minutes)there was a knock on the door. The young one was back with her anger still carefully managed in her face but piping up childishly ‘ I only came back for my kindle!’. It was obvious, with all the stranger danger stories we had fed her, she had been terrified as well.

We heaved a sigh of relief, hugged her and spoke to her about how though as a family we may have fights , the love and safety a family provides could never be sought or procured elsewhere.  Fights and arguments are ok but walking out on a family is never ok.

At 9 , her anger is still very innocent and her indignant arguments are so funny and cute. But K keeps warning me that I should still try and keep a straight face as, for her, they are all very valid and serious arguments.

Day 5

Day 5 saw us getting ready by 6pm to take the taxi to  Funchal and catch the Porto Santo lime. Reliable Gilberto dropped us on time. The city of Funchal was lit up with Xmas and new year decorations and since the city rose up on a hill by the coast, we had a spectacular view from the board. But this was nothing compared to the brilliant illumination we were treated to , on our way back at 8.40 pm.

The first class ticket afforded us nice comfy seats and a buffet breakfast that was not a patch on the hotel breakfast of course, but was plenty sufficient nevertheless. The wifi on the ship did not work and it was quite windy and chilly on the deck, so we took hour long naps, explored the ship for the next hour ( all magazines and tele and cinema were in Portuguese with no subtitles), and then it was time to disembark. There was not much of a crowd so overall it was not a bad experience.

We had booked a snorkeling session with the mildly famous Maththias, as soon as we landed. He was on time for the pick up and he was wonderfully personable and chatty, especially with the young one. We went to a hilly terrain with a steep, golden sandy climb and drop to turquoise blue waters below. It was a natural lagoon which was calm compared to the slightly rough sea splashing on the rocks at its outer edge.

He got us all into two layers of snorkeling suits each as he was not sure how cold we might feel. The water was not very cold , so we wore our flippers, donned our snorkelling mask and went under. It was the young one’s first snorkeling experience and Maththias was the perfect coach. She loved holding his hand, following his instructions and exploring the magical underwater world.

We saw blue and black fish, a school of striped fishes, wonderful, swaying aquatic plants, shimmering star fishes and the high light - a delightfully playful octopus ( a rare sighting I believe ). In around 40 minutes, the young one felt cold and wanted to get out. She and I steed on to a sandy slice and changed out of our wet suits. K continued to explore and was rewarded with 2 huge red and black star fishes and an elegant dance and exit by the octopus. 

Though K and I had done snorkelling, deep sea walks and water scooters at Mauritius and hence the sea life we had seen was much more varied and colourful, the high light for us was this safe and gentle introduction to snorkelling for the young one with the right kind of instructor.

Maththias then chatted with us about how the octopuses, once they trust you are very mischievous, how a Murray eel will catch a finger and spin so fast that you would loose your finger and how he believes monk seals will return to poro santo once the octopus population, which is their prey is revived.

We climbed back up to the car, changed to dry clothes in hidden alcoves, took a picture with Maththias and drove back to a restaurant  in the area by the beach. On the way, Maththias also took us to a viewing point for a picture with a wonderful view of the whole island.

As he only accept d donations and had no fixed price as he introduced people to snorkelling as a passion, we paid him what we thought was a good price for a professional service as he was indeed extremely good.

He also spoke about his horse obelix which the young one was very keen to see. Unfortunately, while reversing in to the very narrow drive to drop the snorkelling gear off he scraped the car, which belonged to his friend. So, we thought best not to ask to see obelix as he was on the phone profusely apologising to his friend in Portuguese.

We had pizzas and the local breezed at a  simple restaurant and made our way to the beach. We walked along the beach from one end to another and while the young one and K wet their feet and three pebbles at the sea, I walked up and down with Sid sriram singing in my earphones, the wind tousling my hair and my feet sinking in the fine golden sand.

We walked back to the shuttle station and paid a Euro each for the 10 minute ride to the cruise ship. We relaxed, had a snack buffet and slept ..completely knackered from the day.

Gilberto was waiting to take us back to Calheta. We paused a minute to enjoy the magnificently lit up Funchal city view and then went to the hotel and slept.

I discovered the next morning that I had caught a cold.

In all, given that having chilly wind blowing in my ears is an absolute no-no for me, no matter how sunny the weather is..Porto santo in December is not a good idea.

K and the young one however had a great time and enjoyed the weather.

Day 4

Day 4 dawned with some trouble with the little one. The usual mischief and the testing of borders happened. As she is no longer a little one we had mutually decided to take hard calls to educate the young one on the link between cause and effect.

Consequently we cancelled the planned trip to Praia de Garajau and Christo Rei as she had wanted to go snorkelling. Also, breakfast for her was strictly fruits, orange juice, cheese,egg and hash browns with no pastry or cakes or cereal or pancakes, the fare she usually looks forward to on holidays.( This she suggested herself as she understood that we gave up the trip as well, for no fault of ours)

After a few failed but valiant attempts some genuine repenting happened and then some rectification as well. So, we took her to the infinity pool of the hotel as it was a fantastically sunny day. Though the infinity pool was not heated, the warm weather made it easy after a while, once you braved the initial baptism by ice cold water. The view of the sea, the mountains and the sun made for a wonderful family swim.

We then took a taxi with Gilberto Perreira, our taxi guy who we had disappointed with our late morning cancellation, to go to Leavada do risco. Levada are actually tiny irrigation tunnels used in olden days to get water from the spring to farm the hilly volcanic terrain of Madeira. In the modern day, following these tunnels leads them to the wonderful springs along the way and finally to the original water source.

It took 20 minutes to reach the starting point of the trail high up in the mountains. Driving through the clouds and looking down at the city on the slope brought back nostalgic memories of Ooty and Darjeeling  in the 1990s.

We were dressed for sunny weather but right at the top it was a tad chilly. We decided to brave it and started walking through the stunningly scenic trail.There were lush green mountains kissed by puffy white clouds , there were mini waterfalls seeping across the moss patched black rocks, fresh green trees all around and never was there not a sound of a babbling brook through the  pipe-like thin irrigation tunnels.

There were intertwined branches of trees forming brown and green canopies, steep climbs, flat walks and  stepped declines all in one trail. The weather got very pleasant after the first few minutes and with the gentle breeze and pristine mountain air, it turned out to be a fantastic outing. 

Be it wherever we went, even this remote hill trail which ended in a spectacular water fall, there was absolutely no garbage whatsoever. Majority of the visitors were civic minded and even at the end of the trail, we saw an employee of the Calheta municipality watching out for any stray litter.

On the way to the waterfall, we stopped at the Rabacal nature spot cafe, to sit amongst chirping birds , stretching trees watching mountains and peeping clouds to have a divine home made chocolate cake and tea. 

We visited the waterfall, took some picks and walked the 1.5 km back to the vehicle pick up point. Here a shuttle took us back the 1 km steep walk to the top where the taxi was parked, the same path that we had easily and pleasurably climbed down on our onward journey.

As always, I had a great time and the young one and K had a lovely time as well though they prefer beach visits to nature trails.

Once at the hotel, we caught up on some pending work, watched the breath taking sunset  from the balcony of our sea view room, wrapped ourselves in warm clothes and set out for dinner at the same place as the day before,

We had a leisurely dinner and rushed back to sleep as we were all knackered plus we had a half six reporting time next morning for our taxi to the Porto santos  line to catch the 8 am ferry to the island with the golden sand and  apparently warm waters.

Day 3

On day 3 we had planned a whale and dolphin watching trip with possible swimming with the dolphins for the young one. ( by the way the Madeira special almond cakes in the buffet this morning were out of the world!)

The young one did some tests and we set for whale watching. However we were told that the peak season was over and we may not see many whales or dolphins. Given that the price was expensive, we gave it a miss and took the taxi to Funchal. It was a 30 minute ride and the taxi guy offered a round trip.

Once there, we took the cable ride to the botanical gardens. While the ride with views of the shimmering sea and the orange tiled lovely homes were a delight , the botanical garden was a disappointment, especially for the price. 

We should have instead paid just for the cable car and got down at Monte palace which costs much less and is a much much more worthy site. It is interesting how the cable car ads below talk nothing about this but lots about the ‘ quiet dull if you are not into gardening’ botanical gardens instead.

We had some milk shake and banan crepe, next to a small cafe near the Monte gardens  and then caught the cable ride back down.  We then spent some time at the promenade, after which we caught the taxi back to Calheta.

The weather is chilly till about 9 am but then from 9.30 to 4 pm it is absolute heaven. Fantastic sun with a perfect breeze to deliver an hour ideal day!

Once at the hotel, The  young one and dad went straight into the indoor heated swimming pool while I rested. We all then went down the road to the manufacturing the gelato hotel. Their tomato,sauce base for the pizzas and pastas were as good as we had read in the reviews and once again I was struck by how genuinely friendly and welcoming the Portuguese are.

I made a mental note to make somewhere else in Portugal our holiday destination, the next time we are planning something.

Xmas 2018

I had wonderful memories of our April trip to Lisbon , so for Xmas when we were discussing options, along with Cyprus and Morocco, Portugal was once again on the list. I really liked the polite and friendly Portuguese and given R’s class timings on the 23rd, a jet to holidays to Madeira fell convenient.

The agreement was that the young one would do her maths and English for some time every day in the morning and nights and we will spend the day enjoying. Mum and dad will also support her and not watch tele when she is working. 

On the way to Madeira, the 4.5 hour flight saw the young one learning some wow words for some time and then watching tele. The 2 hour delay of the flight already gave us a wonderful brunch at the airport giraffe through the air

One vouchers.

We landed at the Cristian’s Ronaldo airport only to be greeted by for  sunny but slightly chilly weather with a roaring wind.

We reached the savoy sachchurum hotel which was around 40 minutes from the airport.The drive along the coast was adventurous with steep slopes, dark volcanic rocks and the absolutely roaring sea and howling wind.

The hotel was neat, the rooms were spacious and the service excellent. The room was facing the sea bang opposite and it was a delight to look out of the French windows during the chilly mornings and sit on the balcony during the wonderfully warm afternoons. We sat and chatted with a Madeira wine  between us and the roaring sea almost right below us in the late night post the young one going to sleep.

The bathrooms were a strange phenomenon. You could not see from inside but it was a crystal clear view of the goings on in the bathroom from  outside  them! The less said on the topic, the better it is!

The day we landed, we went for a swim in the heated indoor pool - we were the only ones in the pool and came to the room, ordered room service and went off to sleep.

The next day, we woke up late, had a wonderful buffet with a phenomenal spread , worked for some time and once the sun was high, went off to the tiny but perfect Calheta sandy beach. The water was the warmest we had ever seen in our travels. (Not even Dubai had such warm waters. I believe the volcanic springs may have something to do with this). It was shorts and t shirts weather, so we played in the beach for a while, walked along the promenade and on our way back had an early dinner at the new era restaurant. Food everywhere is healthy and with decent flavour.

Letters to my princess -8

Ammu

As usual every day getting ready in the morning is a battle. You get ready at your own pace and cannot be hurried. I was, yet again, reminding you how I was late for work and how it was not very nice of you to not feel bad that you were making me late for work.

You happily kept singing while saying -' I will try and get dressed faster amma' - while just not doing anything remotely of that sort! I was frustrated and I said ' That is very mean of you kannamma.. you are not even worried I am getting late and you are showing that you do not care by singing happily'. You blinked cutely and said ' Oh no amma.. I am singing because I am happy. And I am happy not because you will be late but because R ( that is madam is referring to herself!) is always happy, no matter what! La, tra lalala'. I did not know what to say but on my drive to work I could not stop the smile this memory brought to my lips :)

One other reason you are  always late is because you like to fill your mornings with chit chat with me. While dressing up, you said ' Amma, one of my friends wears a crop top in swimming and one other friend of mine at the holiday club wears a stringy cropped top and trousers. I am not sure if I like it or but is it ok to wear dresses like that?'. I said 'Kannamma, when you go seeking for attention through your dressing or otherwise, you will always end up getting the wrong sort of attention. Always be dignified and honest and kind and the right sort of attention will come to you. It will look like those who seek attention get it and are most popular but behind the popularity is lots of mean backstabbing. So, be careful'. As always, I do not know how to do light conversation and you and your dad do not know how to do a heavy one!

So, when I said this, you came back with ' T in my class , though he belongs to another section, always seeks me out to say hi and bye, even though we have no reason to speak to each other. Is that the right sort of attention amma?' I was gobsmacked! T is this nice boy who we also know socially. Though I was prepared to give the gyan, I was not prepared for questions! So, I managed to improvise and  said ' Yes pattu, as long as he does not force you to talk to him even if you do not want to and respects you and is a good friend to you, it is the right sort of attention'.

All sorted, you went to school chirping and skipping as always.

By the way, in an effort make you a tad more serious, I have started meditation sessions for you. We started 20 days ago and for the past 10 days you have been doing 10 minutes of fantastic meditation. (Before that I slowly increased from 5 minutes to 10) From day 1, you focused, sat still and took deep breaths in and out as though you have been doing it all your life!

So, my theory that you would have found it difficult to sit in one place, not talk and to not do anything funny will be impossible for you? - right out of the window!

What an enigma you are my chellame! But you are my enigma and the most sunshiny, brilliant enigma at that.

Love, love, love you da chellame for that and more!

Amma

Birthday 2018_Part 2

One of the dads was very thrilled to find a all day £2 parking which was so steep that as soon as we opened the door we almost rolled out sideways. Not wishing to rain on his parade, we all praised his resourcefullness and made our way to King Arthur's Cafe. Like all health conscious women, I ordered a tame chocolate milkshake and was happy with my lot while one of the mums ordered a sinful Butter scone with clotted cream and strawberry Jam. Not content with indulging herself she offered that calorific spoonful of heaven to us and that was it. There was a collective quick visit to heaven and back.

We then made our way by walk downhill to Merlin caves. The caves themselves were quite rocky and the kids and us enjoyed stepping on the stones to the other end of the cave to view the sea. Though we all wet our shoes while slipping into the water int he caves, we loved the adventure. We came out and built some cairns(stacked stones). There was something very peaceful about the process. The young one as usual was adamant about being original and did a three column stack instead of a single one.

There was a thin waterfall that was tall and elegant to look at and the kids played by the beach again. We then made the uphill hike back, were very pleased with ourselves and went straight back to Aruthur's cafe to order ourselves some scones! We also bought their famous cornish pasties from Pengena pasties. We had also packed some briyani and curd rice and those were dutifully consumed as well.

We then played some lovely music and drove through some extremely scenic routes to Dartmeet. Once again there were stepping stones and we had a lovely time listening to the playful brook through the stones and playing amongst the slippery stones. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we did not have the time to spend in the park nearby.

So, we all made our way back to Gloucester services, had our supper and said our good byes.

Reached home around 1 am and K impressively started at 7 am the next day to drive 3 hours to work as he had an important meeting.

Thus we wrapped the young one's last one digit birthday!

Birthday 2018_Part 1

As always for the young one’s birthday we had planned ahead to go to waterside Cornwall with two of our friends and their families. On the Friday, we took the young one to the Birmingham temple, had a good darshan (as it was also varalakshmi vratham on that day..), rushed back and packed for the 4 day trip.

In the morning, the  three families started together apprehensive of the traffic we might encounter over the bank holiday weekend. However the traffic was surprisingly smooth. We had a lovely stop as usual at the Gloucester services. I bought two Victoria sponge cakes for the birthday celebrations , one for the young one and another for one of the mums. The three girls were in the same grade ( but in different schools)and enjoyed themselves while the 4 year old boy and the 3 year old gi and rl trailed their older sisters wistfully. A usual, my young one being the naughtiest, was a hit with the little ones!

We then drove to the Weston-supermare pier. The children rode on the ponies by the beach and then made their way to the fair ground. The young one went on her first ever giant roller coaster and screamed non-stop but got down with a grin.

We all stopped at a near by diner for lunch and then the mums went on a long walk by the beach while the kids built their sandcastles.

We then made our way non stop to Cornwall, this not being a problem as the route was quiet scenic. The three girls came in our car and talked incessantly. I just plugged my imaginary headphones in (as the real ones were tragically left behind in a hoodie at home!)and enjoyed the view.

With some difficulty we found the place and it was a pleasant surprise. It was a lovely  huge accomodation spread out in separate lodges by the lake  and amongst a forest of  trees.  We had 2 houses booked, one with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and the other with 2 beds and baths. Those who live in europe would understand what a luxury it is to have a bathroom for each bedroom!

The place was furnished very well as well. The other two ladies were expert and extremely fast cooks and I was their able assistant. In no time they made fantastic sambhar to go with the piping hot idlies.

One of the mums had just returned from India and had brought vegetables from her organic farm. The flavour was unbelievable.

The kids took charge of one bedroom, one of the mums with her little one the other bedroom and I took the other bedroom with the other mum.

All the boys including the little one went to the other house. Both the houses had a fantastic jacuzzi as well.

So, I made sure I got up early and enjoyed the Jacuzzi. The dads readied their house for the young one’s birthday party by dutifully festooning their house with balloons and other party decorations. In the meanwhile, we all had toasts, chocolate milk and omelettes so the kids could go for their morning swim.

The young one already received her Harry Potter backpack from one of her friends and was thrilled. The mum said went for a lovely walk in the drizzle, watched the kids and dads swim and came back for a chat,some tea, pulao and egg masala. The dads were not expecting to have cooked food so were delighted. We all then dressed up and went to the other house for the birthday celebration , cakes , photo sessions and a lot of presents. (invluding a harry potter lego figurine, which alas, turned out to be Voldemort!)

We then drove  to kiz world. The dads and kids had a great time climbing ropes and roller skating while the mums went for a lovely walk in the woods nearby. 

We all then returned home to a sumptuous dinner  of egg masala for me, Maggie noodles for the kids and apparently fantastic chicken gravy for the rest of the crowd with cake to finish things off. We also had lovely  chocolate milk for the kids while they cosied up and read books or watched television in their room.

The kids formed a band called the jewelettes,named themselves after jewels and introduced a password for us to enter their room! Great fun for them but very annoying for the rest of us!

The next day , once again after bread and weetos and a birthday celebration for the mum with yet another fresh cake, we set off to land's end.

The weather was sunny and pleasant though with a slight wind. Post a photo session at the cliff edge, the kids and dads went for the 4d show of the dinosaurs and aruthur's quest while the mums went for a cliffside hill walk. For me, this was the best part of the trip as I really enjoyed the views from the cliffs, especially at the far end where the green and blue waters clashed and swirled down below.. The walk was good fun, especially with all of us chatting and snapping pics where we could.

We did not realise how time flew and with the sudden realisation that the dads may not exactly be enjoying themselves we rushed back, only to see that the kids were all fed, entertained and were now happily shopping for knick knacks that the mums would have strictly said no to!

Us mums then went off to have the famous Cornish pasties and returned for some scrumptious clotted cream icecreams bought by the dads ( milkshake for me!)

We made our way from Land's end to Portho beach. The kids had a good time playing in the waters though it was getting slightly chilly. As always, they found yet another dog to pet and play with.. We then changed the kids quickly, made peace with all the sand in the car and then made our way back to the lodges.

I was quite knackered from the day and went straight to the jacuzzi. The other ladies and one of the dads made Chicken Briyani and rasam. I made a quick egg burji for myself and the young one. Quickly we finished our dinner first and I made my way to bed. The others stayed up till 1.30 am sipping locally sourced liquer and chit chatting away. When did the kids go to sleep - none of us have any idea as the door was firmly closed and password protected!

The next day, we ladies chatted with tea for a while and then quicklye used up as much of the the left over food as we cooked and packed just in time for check out. Sadly, this is when we discovered the biking trails with the bikes for hire, the boats available in the lake , the table tennis table and the tennis court. The kids played table tennis for a while and then we left for Tintagel Castle at Tintagel.

..to be continued

Summer 2018 part 2

The next day dawned nice and bright.. but not the young one or her dad. They overslept and dilly dallied on the breakfast and by the time we stepped out it was 11 am. Globe theatre was duly cancelled.

We went around 12 to the Palace Theatre at Shaftesbury avenue for the 1 show and the lines were around the block! But thankfully it moved fast and by then the young one had on her Griffyndor Cloak with all the Hogwarts badges and her wand out!

Post the security check, we both went in , bought the HP play exclusive book ( 5 pounds! Day light robbery!) after giving K a kiss and a wave sending him off to the imax nearby. We sat in the Grand circle. The century old theatre was ornate, impressive and majestic. However the seats were so close next to each other and in front of each other that I could not but feel claustrophobic!

The drinks and eatables were astronomically priced but thankfully there was free water! We sat down to the first 2.30 hours of the show and what a show it was! Mind blowing would be an understatement. This was my first English theatre experience and it was fascinating. The young one kept comparing it to the movies and as she was wont to do kept spotting the strings and the optical illusion bits till I explained to her in the 20 minute interval how unlike movies, on stage, they have to get it right live and get it interesting and provide us an amazing experience with what can be done live.

*spoiler alert* #keepthesecrets

This is strictly for our own memory to re-read and enjoy.

Given the above, the 'incendio' effects, the papers arranging themselves in Harry's office, the duel between Harry and Draco, the flight of the dementors, the book case swallowing Scorpius and Delphini, the effects of the poly juice potion - Scorpius, Albus and Delphini to Harry, Ron and Hermoine , the bond binding Scorpius and Albus , the transfiguration of  Harry to Voldemort, the final battle between Delphini and Harry etc were absolutely awesome.

I loved the actors especially the ones playing Scorpius and Draco Malfoy. These two artists were so good in their act and also so graceful and athletic in the fight scenes and the cruciatus scene ( in the maze) respectively, that I became an instant fan.

This was not how I had imagined Scorpius at all and this was loads better. Rarely do we say this about any adaptation of a book and that says something about the actor!

They took 3 curtain calls finally and the third one was a complete standing ovation.

The young one was really good with her attention span and while I was worried she may be scared of the dementors ( they were absolutely fantastic!) flying over our heads - she kept trying to hi-five them :)

In the 2 hour bread before the second part, we nipped off to Saravana Bhavan and from there to Trafalgar square, the National gallery and Picadilly Circus for a quick photostop. We have been here several times , however the young one seems to have completely forgotten. Hence the photos now to remind her yet again!

We then took the tube back to Hangars lane and from there picked up our car and drove home with the young one sleeping in the back seat and K and I holding hands and chatting through the drive.

Reached home after midnight.

Another precious memory to draw from if and when I feel sad. My own patronuses :)

Summer 2018 Part 1

For this summer, the plan initially was to cover all of Eastern Europe and Austria. Prague had been on our list for a long time and so were Hungary and Croatia. However, the weather here, turned out to be phenomenally good, that we ultimately decided to stay put.

The last two weeks in July were off to a flying start. The young one had just finished her stage 6 in swimming and the instructor said her technique was so good that she should be able to finish off stage 7 in a week. 

The young one also started swimming just for fitness thrice every week as she enjoyed it so much. (Never competing always enjoying!) But what was astonishing was that she would go to badminton for an hour, swim full laps continuously for 40 minutes,read for pleasure at home for some time and then go cycling with our neighbour’s kid for 2 hours, play with our other neighbour’s dog and come in only after half 8 in the evening. 

She really enjoyed having an active holiday. I for my part made sure she was fed and watered appropriately and for some time I could feel the muscles rippling on her arms and legs :) ( Her eyesight continues to be an issue though :( )

She made friends with all the neighbours in our cul de sac and it was very sweet to see her wave hi to all of them, all grown ups and us sheepishly smiling as we have only ever exchanged Xmas cards every year!

Especially our new American neighbour is so fond of her that she sweetly drops notes in the letterbox especially for her with pictures of their dog and messages from her dog as well!

She went for one week of every day half hour swimming and came back having passed stage 7!

For three weekends she then had a friend S sleeping over at our place, she went for a sleep over with N and one of her new dance friends D came over.  

S and her enjoyed the first sleep over so much that they promptly repeated it the week after. Though both the families had planned a day trip, a sudden scheduling clash made us drop that plan and opt for a sleep over and a full day  with a trip to incredible 2 included, followed by sumptuous home made dinner and cake baking at S’s place.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the baking as well the relishing of the cake afterwards.

We also went to the new Lego land discovery centre with her and another couple. It was exactly as boring as it was in Atlanta  3 years ago exactly to the day!( As google photos helpfully reminded us). But what we did enjoy was the walk along the canal and lunch with the friends afterwards.

One other week, we had another good friend and their new born baby come over. Both R and I thoroughly enjoyed cuddling the new born and another pleasant day was notched up!

Over and above all this she went swimming 3days a week, cycled every day with her friend ( who, if R was not out by the afternoon, will start dropping notes in the letter box prompting her to come out as soon as she can,) In all it was all very sweet.

We had guests coming over from Scotland one week and that week was her bharatnatyam ISTD exam. The poor guests were subject to 3 performances but it all turned out good as she passed with a distinction and 94%

She had also gained a distinction in her LAMDA and singing exams so plenty of kindle books were downloaded and subway sandwiches eaten as rewards :)

As a build up to her birthday we also took her to London for one weekend. I had severe back pain but managed to accompany her to Buckingham palace and the tower bridge walk. I then let dad and daughter spend the rest of the day walking with the dinosaurs at O2 while I  rested.

The next day was planned for Globe theatre ( on her request!), followed by Harry Potter and the cursed child , this time just mum and daughter time...

Letters to my princess 7

Kannamma

Sweetheart, you are awesome! As you grow day by day you have a joy and happiness bubbling inside you that is phenomenal. You are always high on life! You always skip rather than walk. No matter how harsh  a critic I am of something you do, your repartee is ‘No, I am good and I know it’

Sometimes it is even ‘ Don’t worry amma, As I try harder I get better!’. As of this moment you are not the best in anything. You are above average in most things. But you are the happiest and the most resilient.You never give up and failures  and hardships are just another thing in life to frown a bit, make a joke out of and move on! ( wait, that sounds like a lot like your dad,come to think of it)

You are never bitter or jealous about not winning and despite being an only child, you are happy to share or even give away stuff!

You rush home from school, do your home work ( even as the neighbour’s kid A knocks on the door to come out and play, you say I will finish the work and then go amma, that way I enjoy more!) go cycling with her come back do some more work, read a book and go to sleep, with a smile on your face.

Some days, you play tennis or go for swimming in the morning, piano, a whole day of school, then badminton, cycling  and you still have energy to do more!

When I wonder why despite all this you are not a swimming champ or a genius at school, your daddy says it is because you enjoy life and never focus on winning but on the process of swimming, cycling,  reading etc. You do it for the sheer joy of it and not for today’s win.You do it at your own pace and do not like the pressure to win/ finish on time! not even God can make you do things faster than you want to! And you are not even naturally slow that you have to push yourselves too much to get to be faster. You just can't be bothered.

He is sure this will stand you in good stead throughout life. I used to be disturbed about the lack of drive and ambition but the sound of your wonderful, carefree, joyful  laughter makes me want to bundle the same and treasure the magic even at the price of giving up all the medals and glory!

Past 2 years, in sports day you never won anything being the youngest and tiniest and having eyesight issues. The teacher said you could have the day off if you wanted, but you always said you enjoyed sports day as for you, it was not about winning ( of course, it almost never is)but about enjoying the day with your friends. And then you came home with two medals having carefully planned which events to play to your reduced height and strength. You amaze me..just the resilience after two years of disappointment and the grace with which you handled it.

The other day you won an award for your studies but did not tell us, as we were at your friend’s place and she did not get one and you did not want her to feel bad! ( She is 11 months older to you, bullies you and is always competing with you). You are able to tell her ‘ you are being unkind’ when she bullies you but have the grace not to brag when you win. Hats off da kuttima!

You still do not understand that you make mummy late to work almost every day as you will not hurry up and you still do not know how to handle your emotional mum ( The other day I said ‘you are going to send us both (papa and I) to an early grave’ and pat came your  cheeky reaction ‘ Do I get the house? ’.

Everything is a joke or play. Being serious is not your forte.

You are a marvel and wonder. My sweet heart, I am extremely lucky to come home to you every day!

Pattumma, nee kalakuda!

Amma

Day 5 Lisbon 2018

The final day dawned sunny again. After a farewell breakfast we checked out quickly and left our luggage to be picked up on the way back to the airport. We then went to the Jeronimos Monastery only to find a long winding queue though we were there at 10.05 for a 10 am opening. Luckily, D's pregnant tummy got us straight in, into the fantastic monastery. This was easily the highlight of our trip and it came as no surprise that this fantastic building is a UNESCO World heritage sight.

The cloisters and the high vaulted ceilings in the Manueline style were a sight to behold. The monastery's library provided interesting insights in to the history of the monastery. The portals, the ceilings and even the pillars were all ornately and exquisitely detailed with stone work. The church to the side of the monastery had fabulous, tall stained glass windows. The gallery from the monastery enjoined the church and gave a view of the inside of the phenomenal beauty of the church from atop. We could not but spend a lot of time admiring the beauty and reminiscing about the ancient temples and palaces of India that have this and more but are not very well maintained, if at all.

We then walked across the park and along the Tagus once again to the monument of discoveries and the Belem tower. We then crossed the park again to visit the Pasteis de Belem Cafe, a cafe open from 1837 and famed for its pastries.  We packed some delicacies to go, grabbed some sandwiches from Starbucks next door and took the tram back to Praca do Commercio.

From here we took the famous yellow bus tram which is more modern , costly and hence with no pick pockets as opposed to the historic tram 28. It took the same route as tram 28 ,with an audio describing the various landmarks as we wound through the historic areas of Lisbon.

The most impressive buildings on this ride for me were the Sao Bento Palace which is the current Portuguese Parliament  with its traditionally dressed soldiers standing guard and the  Basilica de Estrela with its  domed roofs.

Sadly that brought us to the end of the Lisbon trip. We realised that, as is the case with  many European capitals, a Lisbon trip has enough for 10 days if not more and not a mere 5. We missed the Monserrate palace, the moorish palace, the count's house tour and lots more..

The friendly locals made me want to comeback again like I would, just for the locals and their lack of prejudice  to Italy ( Not Naples), Catalonia ( Not Madrid), Athens, Mykonos, Cyprus , US, Singapore but not Kualalmpur, Paris, Switzerland or Edinburgh.

We got off there and took the bus back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage and took the aerobus to the airport. We battled the terribly long security queue to the woefully crowded lounge and the amazingly inadequate food court to another long boarding queue to be seated in the flightonly to be told that the flight was delayed for another 2 hours. Luckily that changed and we took off and made good time and the arrival was delayed only by 5 minutes.

There was still the 2 hour  drive back from Luton which was thankfully uneventful. We walked in exhausted and flopped on to our beds around 1am but with yet more wonderful memories to sustain us through the daily grind.

Day 4 Lisbon 2018

For the second time in her life, D had somebody message her in facebook that they had her wallet and could she come to collect it. She was extremely delighted and we decided to split. D and family were to go back to Sintra to collect her wallet while we would finish visiting Se cathedral and they would catch up with us at Lisbon.

We bade good bye to a very relieved and happy D and family and made our way to Se Cathedral.

The train to this destination covered all the main sights of Lisbon including the Praca Dom Pedro iv AKA rossio which was really cool with it's wavy tiles and alluring water fountains.

From the station we alighted to arrive at Praca Do Comercio , with the majestic statue of King Jose, shining in the late morning sun. The waves of the Tagus were shimmering in the sunlight and the view of the Vascodo gama bridge and the Christ the King statue from this side of the city was a sight to behold. We did stop the night before for tea  in the restaurant on this promenade but the view in the day was something else altogether. We took some snaps and made our way to Se Cathedral.

Compared to many other cathedrals in Rome , London and Paris, this was on the simpler side and while we enjoyed the stained class windows and the chapel there was nothing much to impress. We did enjoy the visit to the treasury which housed the catholic ritual ornaments and lots of artefacts from India. The stained glass work in the small balcony on the top part of the chapel was quiet charming.

We then walked down the hill to the utterly charming Rainha D'Amelia restaurant. It was an experience in itself as this tiny cafe with just 6 tables let us see those walking outside and also the tram 28 passing by Se Cathedral to the background of the soft music from the restaurant. The young one happily had a goat's cheese toast accompanied by hot chocolate with loads of cream and sprinkles while I had a light bean soup.

We bought ourselves some icecream and walked through the streets of Lisbon discovering beautiful squares, narrow tiled houses and scary pick pocketers. I was focusing on getting the young one to safely cross the roads while she was happily licking her icecream when suddenly in French and English several people cried out that I had 3 pick pocketers trailing me, trying to snatch my back while my focus was entirely on the young one. Apparently they ran away when the others warned me off.

The silly reality  was that I was carrying a huge bag with absolutely nothing  in it but my back up rain coat and sun glasses! K took us to the metro Restauradores  subway to top up the Viva viagem card and there I stumbled upon  the fantastic Luiz Ventura a Cheganca tile mural 'The Arrival'. I believe this type of art work is called the Azulejo. The work was so interesting that I was hoping to find out what it depicted. Unfortunately google did not seem to throw up any valid results ( Sacrilege!)

We then took the historic and graffiti painted  Gloria Ascensor across the road from downtown Lisbon to Bairro Alto. We had a fantastic hot chocolate at a restaurant up the hill walking the world go by through the open glass doors. I changed from my summer maxi to a costume more appropriate to the hilly winds. We lounged around taking in the lisbon city view, looking at knick knacks and taking snaps with a tawny owl ( don't ask!) while the happy D and family rejoined us. The wallet had been retrieved intact and they were raring to go.

We walked down the Bairro Alto district enjoying the more colorfully tiled historic buildings  and stopped at Amorino Baixa for some icecream and Macaroons.

P was keen to try  the ancient Santa Justa lift so we stood in line for 1.30 hours to go to the top to get a circular view of lisbon. We then went back to Praca de Comercio for dinner at the Can the Can restaurant. I tried Guincho which was like cherry  liquer and I liked it :)

Back to the hotel but everybody crashed. No kid swapping took place :)

..last day next

Day 3 Lisbon 2018

We had high hopes for this day as the weather forecast was very promising. While it rained all through breakfast, when we stepped out, it was gloriously sunny!

We took the train to Cascais. A ensured all of us sat on the left of the train to enjoy the lovely beaches and hence the fantastic views all throughout our journey. We arrived at bright and sunny Cascais in an extremely good mood. We made the short 5 minutes walk to the Praia da Rainha beach. The weather was most amenable, the beach was small but uncrowded and there were two small coves on the right side of the beach and large rocks to climb and enjoy the view.

We spent quite a while there relaxing while the kids ran amok building sand castles, jumping and chasing the waves and unfortunately also throwing sand on each other! Luckily,  I had taken a change of clothes so dried the young one as much as I could, dusted off atleast some of the sand and marched her reluctantly to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

The Indian lunch was OK but it served the purpose. We then walked through some jolly live music in the town square and spent some time taking photos against the back drop of the various blue and white tiled buildings.

We made our way to the Museu Condes de Castro Guimaraes which was located in the Marechel Carmona gardens.Disappointingly due to it being the easter Sunday, the count's house was closed but the delightful gardens were open. We enjoyed walking through the tiny rock bridges, the peacock gardens where one of them enthralled us with a full feathered dance, the rock nooks and crannies with tiny rock benches to relax privately in and the rock hill from where to enjoy the view of the garden. The children had a great time in the play grounds while we lounged in the sun.

On the way back, we discovered that the house had a beautiful chapel right in the front, opposite which was a private beach! The sea, from across the count's house  went under the roads and under a bridge within the house's private's walls to form a private beach in a small cove. I found it extremely cool to have your own private sandy beach with waves washing your feet just a few stairs down the front garden of your house!

We then walked on the Cascais to Esotiril promenade to enjoy the sun, the sea and the breeze. We stopped to buy some icecream which was when D discovered that her wallet was missing. D and P went to the shops to see if anybody had handed them over while we took the kids to look at some local stalls. We made our way back through the lovely  old town centre to the Praia de Raina. Unfortunately D could not find her wallet so she rang to cancel all her bank cards. Meanwhile the kids picked up something from Mac D for the train journey back.

D did not have much money in her wallet so resigned herself to reapplying for her driver's license and the pan card. While D and family decided to try out the hotel restaurant, we made do with the left overs from lunch packed earlier as it was mostly vegetarian while D and family were strictly non-veg eaters!

The kids moved room again :)

..to be contiuned

Day 2: Lisbon 2018

On Saturday, we got up around 8.30 am and went down to the fantastic breakfast spread. One of the things I knew I would miss after the trip was the lovely hotel and the staff. The shower was blissful, the beds most comfortable, the staff friendly and the breakfast spread my second best! ( the best being my absolute favourite one in Mykonos with the sea view!)

A sat at our table on most days and R could not have been happier. I sneakily fed her lots of fresh fruits, egg and the potato Rostis while she was busy chatting with her friend, so by the time she reached for her nutella pancakes and croissants and doughnuts, she was already full! :)

We then caught the 40 minute train to Sintra from the Campo Pequeno station which was a mere 4 minutes walk from the hotel. The sun was out though there was still a slight chill in the air. We then caught the uber to the Quintas da Regaleira palace. While the palace and the grounds were beautiful the best part was when we had to climb some rock stairs to go through some  tubed fairy light lit dark caves on the other side of which were some beautiful stepping stones leading to more stones and a lovely rock bridge! The sides of the cave also had some gentle waterfalls which added to the allure of the place. We thoroughly enjoyed the  experience ..

We then went to the national palace, watched the trotting of the horse cart carriages in the roads just below the palace grounds  and spent some time at the famous Piriquita bakery. We had their famous Travesseiros that were to die for and also some queijaddas.

We took some snaps of the national palace and moved on to the Pena palace. The traffic was unbelievably bad and the hilly roads of Sintra were back to back jammed with cars so our driver took us through round about fantastically green reaching for the skies tall trees-filled scenic route and we snoozed in the car dappled by the afternoon sun!

The climb to the top of the palace via the fantastic palace gardens was a steep climb but D was game enough to brave it slowly and steadily!

The Pena palace was fantastic and like in many places D's advanced pregnancy led us to being taken straight from the back of the queue to the very front. Nobody complained and in fact most were very encouraging. The castle was very romantic and kids enjoyed the hogwarts-like entrance and the moat and the watch towers.

The view from the balconies over the tree covered hills was fabulous.

We had some light snacks in the restaurant and made our way back to the station.

On the way we stopped at a local restaurant to taste Sintra's famous port wine and nourish ourselves. The kids fought and made up ( yet again!) and we made it back to our hotel quite late in the night.

That still did not stop the kids from getting together in our room for the night..

...to be continued

Lisbon : Easter 2018

Usually we spend Easter holidays shivering but generally having a good time at one of the Butlins' with one of our family friends. It has been an Easter tradition for the past 3 years. But this year, given that we had exhausted all the Butlins options, we thought we would go in search of the sun to Lisbon.

We were going with another good family who have been really helpful especially in the month of Jan/Feb 2018 when I was suffering from chest infection. The lady D, despite herself being in the family way, drove R to her classes and when one night I could not breathe and had to rush to the
A & E, R stayed overnight at their place.

D is now 6 months into her pregnancy but was still game to travel. The fact that her elder daughter A was just 11 months older to our R made it an ideal match. K and P were recent ex-colleagues and got along famously already.

The plan was to travel to Luton on Friday morning and take the afternoon flight to Lisbon. With fond hopes of the bright sun, we packed light clothes and braved the bitter cold wind of the Luton car park to board our flights to Lisbon. The kids went in one car and as usual had a whale of a time to the detriment of the hearing of P and D!

All through the flight the kids sat next to each other and made grand plans for the rest of the holiday , most of which involved staying the hotel room all day playing games, going swimming in the pool and watching lots of tele in the evenings!

As soon as we landed, D and I were sorely disappointed at the slightly chilly and windy weather in Lisbon with a slight drizzle of rain. Though in a scale of 1 to 10 this Lisbon weather would score 5 to UK's 9 in the bitterness of the cold scale, we were still disappointed..

We checked into the Jupiter Lisboa Hotel, where the staff were friendly, the rooms were huge (especially by European standards) and neat and lovely and the roof top pool was awesome.

We then stepped out to go to the skyride Gondola by the Tagus river. The uber drivers were quite helpful though only rarely did they speak English. However P had a love for languages and would always try to converse in Portuguese and that helped us a lot. He taught the kids to say 'Obrigado' which meant thank you and the kids would generally say it everywhere and all those faces at the receiving end would melt into huge smiles and usually some candy for the kids! :)

We passed by the famous oceanarium to get to the skyride. Though the oceanarium was one of the best in the world, given that both kids had been to the acquariums in Atlanta, Barcelona, Dubai and London.. we thought they would not miss much if we skipped this one!

The sky was still drizzling but we made the best of it and enjoyed our ride across the beautiful Tagus and the view of the Vasco da Gama bridge, Christo Rei ( Christ the king) on one side and the city of Lisbon on the other.

Our thoughtfully packed, extremely light, summer clothes were totally unsuitable to we walked to the Vasco Da Gama mall and spent several hours looking through the shops to buy a suitable coat. We di not want to buy anything expensive as it was not that cold and we had good quality coats back home for that purpose. D and I  spent almost 1.5 hours looking through the various shops and finally selected something from Zara!

We were very chuffed over the time spent in arriving at this saratorial choice since over the next 4 days, we saw different colours of our coat on more than 20 ladies in the various tourist destinations.

Obviously most others hoped to catch some sun but caught the last vestiges of winter instead in Lisbon :)

We had chinese dinner at the food court, some ice cream and left happy tired to the hotel. Our rooms were next to each other so on alternate days the kids stayed in each other's rooms and had a great time playing Kludo, having midnight parties and generally being up to no good.

..to be continued.

Singapore and Malaysia 2017 - Part 2

Day 6

After a much needed restful morning, we had breakfast with mangoes from the agrotech park that V had gotten up early to visit, completed packing and went to the Durian Perangin waterfall and pool. This was a beautiful area admist lots of  greenery, some mosquitoes and a  swaying bridge. The kids and K had a  lovely swim and I had half a dip as well. C and V opted out of a dip.

We then proceeded back to Kuah town and visited langkawi parade for a egg fried rice lunch and some quick duty free shopping. We then realised that we should have done more shopping as everything was really cheap in Langkawi as it was duty free throughout the island and also due it being a port town, Kuah town was especially cheap for lots of branded items.

 Back to the homestay, and after the  usual confusion due to the home stay being helpfully named after the airport, we boarded our flight back to kulalmpur. This flight was cheerfully decorated with posters from Kabali but we were all too tired to care. We had a quick Veg dinner on the Air Asia flight  and unusually but understandingly, there was not a peep from the tired kids.

We landed at KL and took the one hour fifteen minute journey to the PNB Perdana hotel.

We checked into the spacious rooms and despite the concern about the not perfectly clean sheets or the drops of water in the tub, we drifted off to sleep.

Day 7

This hotel turned out to be wonderful looking but badly maintained with extremely poor service. The location was brilliant as it was right in the centre of the city. Must have once been a fantastic venture which has now fallen into bad hands.

The one advantage was that we had breakfast in the hotel, so got up, had breakfast and marched out  in the morning for Petronas ticket booking. Turned out that no tickets were available but made a  jugad for 31st night with an associate there. Kids played by the fountain below while the dads made the arrangement for the newyear's eve visit to the towers.

 We then went to Batu Caves to the wonderful murugan temple. Though the monkeys were scary the tall statue, the caves up the 272 stairs and the Ramayana caves down below made the visit worthwhile.

We then proceeded to the pavilion mall, apang mall and surya klcc all of which had phenomenal Xmas displays competing with one another. The kids had a lovely time dancing to the music and singing along to the Xmas carols.

The plan was to visit Jalon Alor for some street food but once again the smell of sea food put us off. So we quickly changed plans and moved to the mall area.

We had a lovely late lunch  of Malaysian veg dishes at Simple life in one of the malls and packed some for dinner. Kids watched Indiana Jones together and were off to sleep as we carried them to their respective rooms.

Day 8

The next day saw the CM do some swimming in the hotel pool and playing in the play area both on the 9th floor. We then went shopping in the Berjaya mall which was disappointing to say the least..Dinner ordered to the room from Saravana bhavan was a further disaster. But the kids were happy monkeying around as unusual.

For the first time in her 8 years the CM had tears in her eyes at the thought of the holidays coming to an end and of her having to leave her friends R and K behind. ‘ I like getting up in the morning and getting to see them!’ She sobbed. I never thought the CM could be so emotional! A revelation for me.

I reassured her that we could keep in touch through skype but was quite surprised that the kids still bickered with each other before going to sleep. C said it was their way of coping with the impending separation.

It was all very touching and very sweet.

Day 9

On the last day we went to the Theon Hou temple, prayed in gratitude for 2017 and wished for a healthy and wise 2018. Tried shopping in the pavilion mall, had another diastorous Sara and bhavan lunch at a different place , rested a bit at the hotel and then went for the PETRONAS visit. The visit was really good and by the time we made our way back to the hotel the streets were quite raucous withe celebrations in full swing to welcome the new year.

Rushed back, the kids cut the cake as per yearly tradition to welcome the new year and the younger ones went off to sleep. The cm and both sets of parents then watched the spectacular fire works display from the French windows of the hotel floor and thus dawned the new year.

We said our good byes and good nights and left for our respective rooms.

Day 10

Due to the issues with my back and the fact that K had to go to work the next day we had booked BC tickets for the return leg. We enjoyed some quite time in the lounge and some snacks before boarding.

Though the first leg to Dubai was a tired looking 777 we still enjoyed the BC experience, stretched on our flat beds and had a lovely time. The food though was disappointing as always.

We were hoping to spend some time in the Dubai lounge as well but that was not to be. We rushed to the next flight and the A380 BC was fantastic. Everything was brand new and very comfortable. Alas, the food was no better. K said it was the vegetarian option that was the issue. The normal meals were all quite ok.

We were planning to be awake but it turned out that all three of us slept through the journey. I only managed to catch three movies ' the battle of the *exes', which was about the iconic match between Bobbie Riggs and Billie Jean King, 'Mark Felt' which was about Deep Throat and the watergate scandal and 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' which was about A.A. Milne, the author and the real Christopher Robin - Billy Moon. I loved the first and third movies but the second put me to sleep!

We were back home before we knew it and the complimentary chauffeur took us home in the cold that is so integral to this part of the world!

So dawned our 2018!

This year is critical to us in so many ways, K's business and  R's 'big leap' . For me this year is about these two mentioned before , as with respect to me, if the year was the same as 2017, I should be OK.There is just one last millstone that I want to get rid off and K who has helped me get rid of the rest has promised he would help with this one as well.

2017 brought home to me very clearly, how very much K is handling and how well. He took care of my millstones, resolved 2 of them, handled R's eyesight difficulties, spent an enormous amount of time with R on Piano and Ganidh,  arranged the entire trip and lots more ..all of this., on top of his daily job  and the early morning extra work on the new venture that he is so very passionate about.

I have never seen you so passionate and committed about anything else in your life (except of course things that are important for R and I)

Hope 2018 makes it all worth it for you K. In my brutally honest, and despite my usual cynical, assessment I cannot but see that  you really deserve it!

Singapore and Malaysia - 2017 Part 1

For the xmas holidays in 2017 the plan was to once again hook up with C, V and the kids R and K and do a joint holiday, as has been the tradition for the past 3 years.

We started from home to Dubai. This was a A380 model flight and was wonderfully comfortable. However, we had booked the very last seats in this double decker flight and that gave us plenty of space at the back ( the way to the upper deck) to exercise, stretch and move around a bit. Though I was apprehensive that this may be incovenient near the toilets, given that it was way back, not many made it that far and the easy access made a comfortable travel for us. The service was excellent but the vegetarian food was appalling.This sadly turned out to be the case on all 4 legs of the flight, onwards and return though while returning we travelled in BC with emirates.

From Dubai to Singapore we travelled in 777. This was a tired flight but given the seats at the very back and a restful sleep, this turned out to be easier than we had imagined. So 14 hours of travel, successfully managed.

We landed in Singapore Chiangi airport. I have been to Singapore twice before but this was the first time with K and the CM. As always, the airport was immaculate and the xmas decorations were a sight to behold. We were hoping to join with C's family, once their flight landed but that was not to be.

Day 1
Straight away on landing, we had some breakfast at 'Wangs' and therein was our introduction to Singapore's famous Kaya Butter Toast. And it was love at first sight for the CM and me. :)

Having exhausted all the entertainment that Chiangi had to offer, we made our way to the Destination hotel . Whilst we were settling down, C's family arrived. They were received at the airport by two more of their friends with whom we made an aquaintance as well.

They thought, given that we had travelled 14 hours, we may want to rest. But what they did not realise was that , the A family, with it's bunny battery on, never rests! Thus, we all made our way to Marina Bay Sands, had a wonderful view of Sinapore in the night on the top floor including the specatular light and fountain show and the carousel and lighting up of the Super tree grove singapore. Fresh from the cold climes of UK, we thoroughly enjoyed the gentle breeze of the hotel terrace and the balmy 24 degrees of the Singapore night.

The kids had a gala time joshing with one another and kick starting the holiday with the warmest of hugs and the sweetest and silliest of games! It was wonderful to see them pick up exactly from where they had left quite some time ago. ( C had visited us at home around April  if I am not mistaken)

From there we made our way to little India for dinner.

The kids wanted to have a sleep over, so C and I went to our room and the hubbies and the kids slept in their room. C and I chatted through the night and barely had 3 hours of sleep!

Day 2 

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast at Saravana Bhavan at the food court at  Suntec tower. The kids also played in the fountains there and were generally up to a lot of mischief.

We then proceeded to a photo stop at the Merlion and across the bay from the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Some cold and milky ice creams followed and we chatted our way to the Gardens by the Bay.

Since we had already had a beautiful view of the gardens the night before, we did not spend much time there but proceeded promptly to the Cloud forest followed by the Flower Garden, both of which I loved. Singapore is indeed as expensive if not more than the UK but what you get in return for what you pay is much more than the UK in my humble opinion. Everything is maintained to very high standards and the experience is truly wonderful which does not make you resent the money spent.

We came back to the hotel to freshen up,. It being christmas eve, I surreptitiously got the CM's gifts ready for her to open once we came back. I also changed to the dress that C had bought for me as a gift. To my delight it fit me perfectly  and we were all set to go.

I had been to the night safari before and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was before the CM was born and even then I wanted K to visit as I knew he would love it too.

We had a phenomenally wonderful time at the night safari. K and the CM and C's family, we all enjoyed it a lot. Little K's loud commentary about the animals only added to the fun.  The CM particularly enjoyed the  'Creatures of the night' show as the MC was very entertaining. She particularly liked the  raccoons foraging the bins kept for the show to demonstrate how they can sort the rubbish correctly in to the recycle bins.While C and family stayed back with their other friends, K insisted that we went back to the hotel as he was feeling very tired.

Unfortunately, the CM had other plans. We originally were planning to wrap up dinner in the complex opposite the hotel. But the place smelt so strongly of non vegetarian food that the CM refused to have any food there and batted her puppy eyes at her dad for a subway sandwich.

Of course, nothing else mattered to K anymore. We all trooped into a taxi and took a wonderful tour of singapore all the way to  Clark quay, which is where a subway was. To be fair, we thoroughly enjoyed the views of the The Raffles palace, Swissotel ( where I stayed the two times I visited before), The Arts House ( formerly the old parliament house) etc. The cab driver was also quite chatty and explained the historic significance of each of these places. I am always fond of late night drives and visits and I enjoyed this one as always..

The  CM had her subway and we then went to a hotel by the river for K to have a freshly caught fish. (I am sure there was a posher name to this, but for me, they are all fish!) We were there when the clock struck 12 and there were happy exclamations of 'Merry Xmas' all around.

We came back quite tired but the CM still had the energy to pipe up ' So, it is xmas today! May I open my presents please? '.  Of course she could and she did. She was very happy with Santa's gift of a new year party dress, Michael Morpugo books , Bad Dad by David Williams and a whole lot of Suppandi books all the way from India!

Day 3

The CM had already announced to everybody that they are all to accompany her to the roof top pool next morning for a swim, so the dads dutifully marched the kids to the roof top and had a lovely swim. I joined them later and by the time we all got ready, we were all quite famished.

Unfortunately K got into his head that xmas day was a day for a proper south Indian breakfast , so he dragged us half way across singapore in search of an elusive restaurant called Laxmi Villas. We never did find it. I was fuming out of my ears by now, so we all went straight to China Town to see if anything would be available near the Mariamman temple there. With no such luck, we settled for Kaya Butter sandwiches which turned out to be a saviour for K. Grrrr

We then went to the fantastic Buddha tooth relic temple and I had a lovely time praying, looking at the wonderful buddha statues, the hindu/chinese fusion gods and goddesses, the meditation hall and the terrace garden with C and little R.

The rest of the gang took a rain check and had ice creams from the card outside and the CM settled with her icecream to read her kindle books.!

We proceeded to the hotel to check out and make our way to the airport to catch the flight to Langkawi with a stop over at KL. We knew the kids would enjoy Chiangi again, so we went an hour early, checked in and let the kids do their thing. We also had a wonderful pastry lunch at the 'Baking house' whereas K and V in their quest for Indian food had a lacklustre lunch at one of the airport Indian restaurants.

The flight was loads fun as the three kids sat together and were giggling, playing and chatting wonderfully just on the inside boundary of being irritating or loud or rude. The air hostesses were so charmed by them that they got extra peanuts and drinks :)

As these were short flights, they were not supposed to have food. We were telling the kids this, when little K piped up ' But I did see a lady with a trolley go by.. there definitely is something'. I think almost half the flight laughed!

K had a funny experience too as he tried repeatedly to charge his phone and the air hostesses would gently but politely keep pulling the plug out without saying a word. It was much later that we discovered that  we are not supposed to charge during take off or landing or 10 minutes after that! K's confused face was a sight to behold!

The tele screens had no headphones as it was a short flight, the CM had great fun watching Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets without head phones but narrating the same to little R and K.

There was a very brief stop over at KL and then an extremely quick flight to Langkawi.

The Langkawi airport , being an island airport was very despondent especially after the flashy charm of Singapore. The cab guy who took us to our home stay ( cunningly named 'Kapal Terbang' which means airport/airplane in Malay'. This lead to lots of confusion whenever we wanted to get to the homestay from anywhere as the cab drivers would start driving to the airport and it was most amusing when we wanted to take a cab from Kapal Terbang to the airport on our last day there!), was absolutely useless. He started selling visits to us claiming to be a well versed local but when we asked where we could buy fruits or bread he said he had no clue!

We managed to spot a seven eleven on the way and stopped to stock ourselves with some bread and egg.

The homestay was a huge villa with a wonderful garden and a small rubber plantation near by and the whole thing sorrounded by woods and fields.

The lady and her family who owned the villa, lived in the outhouse and they had quiet a few  cats and 8 rabbits. The kids were in seventh heaven! All the time we spent there, the kids had a gala time feeding the rabbits, stroking them and following the cats around..

I loved the jack fruit trees, rubber trees etc and the back-home like high ceiling-ed , wide open and spacious rooms all joining towards a central hall.

Be it Singapore or Langkawi or KL, the one thing that I was not happy about was the luke warm water. I know the temperature there does not warrant hot water, but even so, after a long day's travel, I always preferred taking a hot shower to wash the dirt and tiredness away. :(

We all drank Milo and went to a restful sleep.

Day 4

We started the day with Toasted bread and butter, milo drinks and boiled eggs. We spent the entire Day at oriental village. First, we took the Cable car over Mount Maching Chang. The view over the mountain and the Langkawi island and southern thailand was fantastic.

We then took a  walk over the sky bridge with see through glass boards, had loads of fun looking though the glass and making Titanic poses at the edge of the bridge.

We then went for lunch at the Indian Restaurant within the village. The kids fed the golden fish in the pond by the restaurant for a while and while we were waiting for the (ultimately, most disappointing and extremely silly )Skydome show, they went into the rabbit park and terrified the poor creatures trying to be overfriendly!

We then went for the skyrex which was a show similar to Birmingham dinosaurs in the wild show. The waiting time for all these was a good 20 minutes and we did not think it was worth it at all :(

Lastly we went for the 3D art museum ‘ art in paradise’, which was really good.

We caught the late night Uber and luckily this time the cabbie was a good lad who took us to a fruit stall where plently of fresh fruit and some noodles were bought.

Day 5

V decided to turn chef for the day and made egg omelette, tasty noodles ( discovered why it was so tasty much later, there was MSG already mixed  in the pepper which he had used generously on the omlette and the noodles :) ).

We then made our way to the Kilim geo forest which turned out to be the best experience of the trip apart from the cloud forest in Singapore. We visited the bat caves where we saw  stalagmites and some stalactites that grew towards the sunlight due to the algae on them.

The motor boat gave us a view of Thailand on the other side of the hills and also we saw a lot of monkeys and crabs next to the dense spider-like mangrove roots that were clearly visible as it was low tide. Needless to say, the kids loved the experience.

The motor boat then took us for a view of eagle feeding. The elegant rust gold eagles ( this beautiful species, we later found, is the symbol of Langkawi) with their majestic glide against the blue sky and  their graceful dive to pick up the fishes to feed on was a sight to behold.

The boat then took us to the  fishing farm in the middle of the water body. The guide was fantastic and he explained very interestingly how sting rays suck in their food/ prey, how a barracuda’s teeth that can crush bones, how the puffer fish that blew up on touch, how the lazy fish lived up to its name and  refused to even move for food, and how  the crab (?) fish that swam on its back used its front legs to crawl on the land etc while picking out each of the fish mentioned above from its top open enclosure next to our feet and demonstrating what he meant. I believe  it is possible that I may have enjoyed this even more than the kids!

K once again had a freshly caugh fish for lunch while the others just sat around him and felt sorry for the fish and made sure K knew it!

We all made our way back to land went to the Spice Village restaurant for lunch. Our cabbie was a lady and she was most charming and knowledgeable.

 We went back to the hotel, freshened up a bit , the kids played some monpoly and went back to the Tanjung rhu beach with its warm water. The kids had a great time swimming but the dads were not very happy as the beach was way too crowded and the water was  filled with the smell of petrol due to the numerous motor boats about.

 K and I went to the alun alun spa for a wave massage with firangi pani oil and ginger tea for me, and I loved it. K loved his herbal massage as well.

In the meanwhile C, V and the kids enjoyed the fire martial show on the beach and had some play time under the night sky in the beach.

The CM and us went for a subway dinner while C and family went for Pizza next door.

C and I went back to the homestay with the kids while K and V had their boy's night out.

..To be continued