don't worry chicken curry no hurry

One of our new indian friends, Bilal, coined the quote above. It's a good one.

On arriving to our destination last night 1.5 hrs late, we were met by a fellow from the hotel we called and they took us to a pretty bad hotel, but at only 250rs (less than $100) it's not really surprising. We moved hotels today (ahhhh, much better) and spent the day going to the rat temple, where people worship and feed thousands of holy rats, (Kanimata.com). God forbid we step on one of them! And to the Bikaner fort, Junagarh. Had a lovely day.

Bikaner is in the middle of the Thar desert in Rajasthan. It's quite incredible. Looking out of the window on the train from Delhi to Bikaner yesterday, the environment changed so amazingly. From the very populated outskirts of Delhi to the open fields with camels dragging heavily laden carts, to Marble Mines and people doing shits on the train tracks next to us, the desert surrounding bikaner seems to be the most different to anything I've ever seen before. It's not like a sand dune sea, but a shifting dune/low scrub desert. I certainly wouldnt like to be stuck out there by myself though!

The train trip yestrerday proved to be quite incredible. We were in 3aC class, the third best air conditioned class. It was good! The air conditioning proved quite cold and the berths that Tom and I were in were very comfy. I recommend this class if you're ever in india. Meanwhile, i wonder what the first class looks like!!!

We are currently sitting waiting for a man to download our photos to CD and it looks ike it's gonna take forever! But that hopefully means we're gonna have some photos soon to upload.

Anyway, love to you all. Take it easy!

The best times....

On recommendation from Renu, tonight Tom and I visited the Habitat Centre, a centre for Culture and the Arts in Delhi, to see a Katak dance performance. It was incredible. The 2 hour show was amazingly choreographed (with up to 5 dancers on stage at a time all in perfect unison) and the musical accompaniment was astounding. I've never seen anything like it but it was truly incredible.

The themes, earth, wind, fire, water and space, were well matched with the dancing and costumes and, whilst I know nothing about dancing, it seemed to me one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen!

Thank you Renu, for your recommendation.

Tomorrow, we board a train for Bikaner, in the state of Rajasthan, to see the sights. Rajasthan, for those who don't recognise the name, is the region where they do a lot of camel treks and you can see the Blue and Pink cities. I can't wait. A rough itinerary (for mum to keep track of us) is: 27th Bikaner, 29th Jaisalmer, 2nd Jodphur, 4th Jaipur, 6th Agra (don't worry Nat, I'll get that picture!) and 9th back to Delhi to stay with the Malhotras for another couple of days.

Sorry for the lack of photos - these guys have a Mac and I'm finding it difficult to download. I'll pop some on CD soon and start uploading some asap.

Love hearing from you guys, so if anyone wants to send an email, karen_lewis79@yahoo.com.au or tomthepom@hotmail.co.uk

Love to you all

Karen & Tom

Luxury!

Hi all

You won't believe this but I'm sitting here in a beautiful home working on a very large desk with a huge Apple computer on it after the most amazing couple of days....

Tom's mum Sandy is a teacher at a school called Malvern College in the UK. It's a very exclusive school and therefore she gets to know her students very well. Two of her very good students are from India, and their parents most graciously offered for us to stay in their beautiful home. So we are now staying with a very welcoming and warm couple (Anil and Renu) who live in an exclusive suburb in India. And it is incredible.

Yesterday, after we checked out of the hotel in Central Delhi, we caught a cab to their home. Driving up to the gate, we weren't sure what to expect but the gentleman at the gate allowed us in, and up the drive we went. We paid the driver, got our bags and went into the lovely sitting room (complete with pics of Don Bradman - they love their cricket and have just seen India win the 20-20 match against Pakistan - we are hearing lots of fireworks outside presently!)

Meeting Anil and Renu was lovely and they took us almost immediately out to the Golf Club, which they are members of, and which had a dress code that we didn't meet by any means.... Tom had to borrow a shirt and a pair of trousers and i had to borrow shoes! AT the golf club, we had some food and a beer and met some of Anil and Renu's friends, who are all so friendly and interesting. On our way out, we saw Kapil Dev, a retired Indian cricket player! Famous!

Then off to the Gymkhana Club, where Anil is a Director, and it is incredible. This club was one that was built by the English in the Raj Era, and has lovely marble floors, crystal chandeliers and massive fans to cool the patrons. Anil is currently involved in an election to become a Director for the 4th year running and was chatting to a lot of people. Tom and I went across the road to the Indira Gandhi museum (and her former house) and then the driver took us home for a shower before we went back to the Gymkhana Club for dinner. And, if you please, we had dinner with the former Foreign Secretary. There are some very important people associated with the club and a more different experience we are not likely to ever have again.

Today, after a sleep in, we again utilised the driver, Vijay, to take us into town to visit the Train Station to see if we could book some tickets onwards to Rajasthan later in the week. And then we went to a market/bazaar called Chandni Chowk where we wandered for two hours in the labrinthyne streets, watching colours, sarees, buttons, pyjamas, and all other amzing things being made and sold. One wonderful experience was walking down one of these alleyways, against a tide of little indian children, who all shouted Hello to us after we replied to the first boy who was brave enough to say Hello to the white people! The indians are so warm and lovely.

On our way back, Vijay stopped in at the Lodi Gardens where we watched scores of Indian eagles soaring overhead and took in the sights of two amazing tombs in the middle of an immense lawn. Screeching indian parrots (bright green with a band of black around their necks) toasted the dusk with us as we watched the sun turn the sky pink.

Tonight, dinner made by Bibiani, the chef, which was a lovely mutton (goat) and potato dish, a lovely soup, potato and paneer (indian cheese a bit like greek haloumi) curry and indian bread made fresh. We are living like kings and can only thank Tom's mum Sandy for being a good teacher and getting to know her students. Anil and Renu keep insisting we stay for as long as we can, and given the lovely atmosphere, I can only hope that we can come back again.

Love to you all.

INDIA!!

First impressions:

HOT
And more humid than expected - we're a long way from the coast here in delhi
Traffic - horns and lots of horns
Mind blowing change of culture
Evrything that you think about India is the India we're seeing
Brahmin cows in the street
Friendly faces
Good curry!!!
Bright colours
Dirty but not as bad as expected.

Gotta go - times up on our computer. Love you all

Party

Last evening there were in excess of 20 people in the house (family and friends) who were there to celebrate Tom's birthday. Was a lovely evening of lots of food, lots of booze, happy times with the friends and family of Tom and his folks. A surprise visit from Francis's nephew George and his girlfriend, Alice, who are in the process of riding bikes from Lands End (the far south of the UK) to John O Groats (the far north)! Amazing! They've done 500 miles so far!

The party was excellent and even more excellent was that Foo and his mate Nathan (and his mate Michelle) were there to share it with Tom. Unfortunately, Foo and Nathan were mega jet lagged and i had a migraine. BUGGER! But these things happen and today i'm fighting fit and happy to be rid of this headache. I don't know whether any of you ever get them, but migraines are horrible - the only thing to do is to take pills and get out of the light into a darkened quiet room. This was difficult to find last night and i REALLY didn't want to have this damn headache. I wanted to be able to party with all of Tom's buddies. It really stinks to have to go to bed when you don't want to!

So it's Sunday night now and only 4 days til we get on the plane for Delhi. I'm not sure whether I'll post here again before we arrive in India so I'm hoping you guys are all well and happy in Oz (or in the UK or Hong Kong!). I'm excited. I'm holding my breath. I'm so ready to get on the road with Tom.

And I'm going to be really sad to say goodbye to my engagement ring for the next 6 months. Boo hoo! Jeez, i'm so shallow. But seriously, this is the nicest thing I've ever owned, so wouldn't YOU be upset????

Love to you all.

What a great evening

Just had a lovely evening looking through hundreds of photos of Tom's family. It's so wonderful - Sandy has a HUGE box of photos - all scrambled and "i don't know what we're going to get next!" so it's been a lovely evening.

I've hopefuly uploaded some photos of the photos here (hard to check til posted)... there's probably not too much clarity but you can see pics of Tom when he was a baby. Apparently he was bald until he was 5 years old!

A great story of Tom when he was small is that he lived on a farm with his parents and hardly ever wore any clothes (Ambie, i think you can identify...) Once, in winter, a group of wealthy people came to the farm to buy some free range eggs and noticed that Tom (that poor child!) was naked but for his boots. An hour later or so they came back to the farm with some clothes to give to his parents, assuming they were too poor to clothe the little boy. Johnny, Tom's dad, spoke to the people and apparently said "If you can get the little bugger to wear them, be my guest!"

Poor little naked Tom.

He's got another good story from when he was tiny. When he was about 2 years old (and running around naked again), his uncle and his father were having a drink and chilling out. TOm ran up to his dad and took his finger (tiny baby hands barely reaching around Johnny's finger) and proceded to scratch his bum with it. Dad noticed what he was doing and said "Ergh, use your own finger". ha ha. Naughty Tom!

What a lovely day.

Pic for Dad

Hi all

My dad asked me to send a photo of what Greenacres looks like - the house that Tom grew up in. Here it is. This is the veiw into the kitchen area - it looks like a really small cottage but it's a three bed house with attic space and a kitchen, dining room and tv room below with a bathroom also. The bit on the left of the pic is the "new" bit - Tom's mum built onto it as soon as they bought it (12 years ago) - you can see the different material that it's made from. The older bit is made from granite stone which has been rendered - the walls are 2 feet thick!

Went for a walk by myself up to the Malvern Hills today and had a great walk imagining all the wonderful things coming in the next few months. The wind was blowing my hair around my face, the buzzards were riding the thermals and the view was magnificent. This land is not too different from the area i grew up in, at Newrybar. Rather that bandicoots though, they have badgers. Rather than magpies, it's buzzards. Rather than cane fields, it's corn. But it looks similar. It made me think of my upbringing and how much i enjoyed it. And how wonderfully blessed i've been to have no sadness or tragedy in my life. I must have done something right in my last life.

I've spent a lovely afternoon learning a new skill - i am now a silversmith. Tom's mum makes jewellery, and helped Tom and I make some rings to wear whilst we are in India and SE Asia. Unfortunately given the expense, time, effort and heart and soul Tom poured into making my engagement ring, we have to leave it here so that it doesn't get pilfered by some starving Indian child (god forbid!) So we've spent a lovely afternoon making rings for each other (I decided tom needs one too - the poor fella's always miss out on the engagement ring part!) It's lovely.... will attempt to upload a pic but can't promise anything.

Hope you're all loving life....

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
~~~~Elbert Hubbard

Forecast

The weather in Delhi where we will be in two weeks from today is a low of 28 degrees, a high of 37 degrees. Will be interesting to see how Tom does in that kind of weather. The lonely planet guidebook said, however, that most things are done either in early morning (no chance with Thomas's keenness for sleeping late) and late arvo and evening. Dinner is not eaten til after 10pm and there is a period during the day where everyone buggers off home to sleep in the blistering heat. We'll have to book airconditioned rooms.

Today we went shopping for the final items for our trip into india - buscopan for stomach upsets, imodeum for diarreah (spelling?), antihistamines for bites, ibuprofen for headache, elecrolytes for rehydrating, sunscreen and DEET mossie repellant. Man - this travelling lark is an expensive game.

I feel poised on the edge of something amazing,,,, waiting for the push towards the abyss below.... waiting for the experience of something totally new and fresh and incredible. I'm ready.

I'll leave you with a lovely travellling poem i found online today....

Delight

From Delight we came into existence.
In Delight we grow.
At the end of our journey’s close,
Into Delight we retire.

Drunken post

Hey - it's hard to type when pissed. Will attempt to fix all mistgakes before posting. ~Not doing too well so far.

Had a lovely couple of days in malvern where tom's folks live. I was really happy to receive card and a lovely letter from my wonderful nanny who has the most lovely writing and said some wonderful things about tom now being part of the family. I'd like to include an extract here:

"Dear karen and tom

i was so thrilled when your mum told me you were engaged, I was so hoping you two would eventually get married as you are so suited to each other. You do everything together and seem to like the same things, have ambition in life and love each other. I very much welcome you Tom."

How lovely is that? All this while she is sick in hospital! However, she is now out of hospital and getting better again - thanks all for your good vibes in getting her well again! Thanks so much Nan, for your wonderful words of welcome for Tom into the family - he's certainly the man for me!

Things here really good at present. Have been really relaxing after our hectic time for the last few weeks - the most strenuos thing we've done is to go for an hours walk up to a roman fort on the malvern hills with Tara the dog and stretch our legs. Tom's sis Jess and her bloke James have just arrived and we are enjoying a couple of beers etc. We also visited a cidery today in preparation for Tom's birthday party next week (for all that don't know - his bday is 13th Sept). Foo is arriving next week too before heading off around europe on a contiki tour with his mate nathan, so we're mega excited to see him.... Foo's always the one i miss most. That damn brother of mine is truly a great and wonderful friend, and therefore i can't wait to see him and take him to the pub for a pint.

We are seriously preparing for india now - made a list today of all the things we still need to purchase.... mostof them are healthcare items - imodeum, ibuprofen, DEET mossie repellant! Will cost us a fortune.

Anyway, all, missing you and loving you from across the oceans.

Karen and Tom xxoo

More pics

Tom and i on my birthday - windy walk on the moors




This is one for mum - a lovely foxglove on display in the moors

Some pics

River O when flood went through - one day of rain and check this out!



Cream tea at Brimpts Farm (www.brimptsfarm.co.uk) which was AMAZING - clotted cream and the whole lot. Note that a Devonshire tea here is just called a Cream Tea!




Sunset on Yar Tor - red wine, my fiance, Rosie and Giles to share it with - the word wonderful does not begin to describe the pure feeling of that moment. Hmmm - if there was a word for F-ing Incredibly Amazingly Wonderfully Mind Bogglingly Beautiful, I'd probably use it here.

Sorry sorry sorry!

HI ALL

I'm dreadfully sorry that i haven't posted for a while - it may seem that being on holiday should be relaxing and lovely but we've been really really busy. Here's what we've done since last posting:

1. Bluey, Tom's parents dog, had an accident while out on a walk and was very lame so off to the vet for xrays
2. Vet said cruiciate ligament damage - operation required
3. Off to bristol from dartmoor so that he could have the operation
4. Operation goes well - Bluey requiring quite a lot of care - 4 x 10min walk each day
(Note: to a non-dog person, the fact that i've had to put a tablet down Bluey's throat each morning and night has proven difficult - found dogs like pills crushed into mayonnaise or Devon clotted cream, then they eat it up easily!)
5. Had Russell, Giles and Rosie to greenacres in devon for a weekend of good laughs and many beers.
6. Cleaned up Greenacres ~(Tom's parent's house in Devon) before heading to rosie and giles's place in Wiltshire (they have a beautiful new house in Warminster)
7. Went to Longleat house and safari park near warminster where we saw lions, tigers, giraffes and funny little monkeys who broke our car. (Only a little bit - just the tire cover on the back!)
8. Giles and Rosie took us out for a lovely dinner at the Cross Key's Inn where we all had a great time.
9. 4.45am last friday got up to drive to heathrow to collect Sandy and Francis (Tom's parents) who we were really excited to see and it was really lovely
10. Checked into a B&B in Dorking south london with Sandy and Francis, Jess and James and us before the wedding for cousin James and Claire the following day.
11. Helped prepare for wedding on the 1st - ribbons, food, chairs etc.
12. Wedding took place at the Mansions in Leatherhead before heading to a primary school for the reception
13. BEST WEDDING EVER! ~Barn dances, lotsa booze, great family to meet and get to know, wonderful food, happy times. Just the type of wedding i like - nice and simple and easy. The bride even changed into a relaxing dress rather than being uncomfortable! Wonderful time. Thanks for the good times James and Claire.
14. Slept in a van that night - uncomfortable but drunk so easy.... If i can sleep there i can sleep anywhere. Woken by church bells in the morning outside our door.
15. Caught a lift with David (Tom's cousin and brother of the groom) and Ruth (his wonderful lady) who took us to Didcott to catch a train to Malvern where Sandy and Francis live. Was a wonderful ride with those two - David was sad to be saying goodbye to a particular phase of his life and to his brother leaving for overseas so i hope it eased his sorrow to be distracted by us goons. David and Ruth are about to leap into a new life also so i wish them all the very best. I enjoyed so much talking with them on the way - what a vibrant happy and interesting couple they are.
16. Headed back to Devon to collect the dogs from Claire and Ben - thanks a million! - and also had to fix the spring water to Greenacres. A backbreaking day of labour yesterday digging trenches to find the pipe. Finally gave up and hired a digger knowing that we'd probably find it within minutes of getting the bloody thing and YES we were right - 20 minutes in we found the t-junction we'd been looking for.
17. Rush to the hardware store to buy the parts for the pipes before closing time.
18. Fixed pipe - water back on - problem solved. Parents-in-law very happy with Tom and I.
19. Back to Malvern today. Dogs happy to be home.
20. Updated blog

So there you have it all. Along with the fact that i've scarcely had enough time to scratch myself, there's been little exposure to a computer.