Slingapora

Hello Slogites

Well a visit to a very modern metropolis , just to eat the Chillie Crab and drink Tiger Beer
And a little bit of shopping thrown in
Bumped into a couple of friends away on their travels around the globe
Who let them away from the close all the way to Singapore.
Was really nice to see A&J for the few days in the far east

To start we managed to find this handy road








Mrs Pimms and Mrs A caught sight of the right place to shop for all those essential items








Didn't do them in the right size, so went off to do the sightseeing bit instead








Aha Singapore , lots of places to shop and eat and the roads are not too busy

Got back to India on the wednesday and straight into the meeting for our big night out on saturday, hence slow to upload the blogie thingy
Delhi Cali society annual Burns night Jig with about 70 kilted scotsmen out for a night
Only had just over 200 at this Black tie and kilted night in the Hyatt and the reply to the laddies was the best laugh we have heard for ages , have my doubts on was this a lassie or a laddie
And I thought you only say this in Boogie Street in Singapore
Have to be a Navy man to understand that

Both Mr & Mrs P suffered with aches and pains as were never it seems off the dancefloor
We must be getting better at this scottish dancing as remembered lots more

Meanwhile, we visited the Aussie High Commision and was reminded of the 2008 wall calendar I meant to share with everyone , mmm strange people around ?

To finish though a learn from your mistakes picture




Namaste

Hi

Well Hi Readers

As you are reading this we will be in yet another country
Again for Mr B and a first for Mrs P

Singapore for a long weekend, meeting up with friends for some drunk prawns, yum yum
A weekend of chillie crabs and lots of fish as learnt our lesson of do not eat fish in Delhi, unless you wish to loose lots of weight that is. The things people do!

Meanwhile back in Delhi
The new road has opened now cutting journey time down for lots of commuters between Gurgaon and Delhi, well that stretch anyway , all this raod building just moves the traffic along to another place to wait. Progress?
Lane driving is not a thing thats common here in India and it is normal to see people on the inside lane turning right and people on the outside taking the next left, driving skills take on a force India team skillset so we think this is the team to watch out for in the future for F1 racing ?

What seems very strange is that they built a very long 4 lane highway but it does not have many places for people to cross, now that gets very interesting when Mr B drives at the weekends
All these people running to cross the road, playing paper , stone or scissors .
Have even seen a cow , well its allowed out here, missed the camels on the way to the parade today though .

Well short and to the point but have to go to sleep as up early for the flight to seafood and indulge for the weekend.

Raffles and singapore slings are calling

Namaste

Next breaking news is they are about to bring out a tax on all animals , yep you have to pay 500rps for your pooch now , oh and 1000 for the bullock that pulls the cart along
Again the voice of progress is at work

Monkey see , monkey do

Hello Bloggies

Mr B is meant to be moving into a new office on the 2nd of Jan but it keeps going backwards
I guess its many excuses but the best has to be because of the monkeys!
Nope not the Pop group for you people in the sixties but the real type
Yes all go Ahhh, no Arhhh

Yep a nice two floor, nearly finished new palace , that has had a few nightly hoodlums pay a visit and its another day off schedule.
Why off schedule you ask well what else when the trashed the false ceiling

Now Mr Blenders says he does not want monkeys in Engineering, he's told his boss , well who would.He does know of a frog in another Airline though, so who knows

Meanwhile Mrs Pimms is really busy at the natural , all day scrub down spa in Gurgaon
Two weeks of pure bliss , being scrubbed and massaged by two Kerala ladies, that joined with the poison yuck to take for a fortnight and all in the pursuit of the thinner body . Well India offers so much !

Meanwhile we still visit the cruel man in the gym as and when we can , honest this keep fit stuff works says Mr B , well that and no or very little beer along with the right Indian diet .
Here's the chart that just proves it , all the slips are the visits back to the UK but we will both reach our own targets. Mr B is pretty pleased with 18.5 to 14.6 in 15 months though, trim , fit and more than ready for the many years of our adventure in life.
Mr Cruel man in the gym (Krishna) always says afterwards, do we feel good to work out and we have to agree its good, told you India offers so much!!!

What else apart from Monkeys and being fit people?

Well you have the motor show over here at the moment and Tata's goal has been launched
A car for just over a lac, whats that you ask?
A lac is 100,000 rups
Yep , thats right , well after taxes ext will be around £1250, but you can buy a television for that , can't you, or a holiday?
India is coming up as this is the car for the common people , just like the Airline we work for, generating an economy for a global leader. Just watch us grow.
Yep the Nano has been launched out here , but we have to wait a while till its in the showrooms, and on the streets

Well , what do you think?
I think there could be a market elsewhere too, but it will cost you lots more.
Meanwhile Mr B has his eyes on an Indian driving licence and a Bullet!

The roads just got even more of a stressful time for the driver. Not Mr B or Mrs P as its always ok in the back seat.

Mr B thinks it should have bullbars all, round, BIG rubber ones like dogems cars as we know what its like in the delhi traffic
Well the signs say it allNamaste all our readers

Hellooooo

Hi Bloggies
Well its been a while
Since we have been here that is, 3 years 2006/7 and now its 8
I know slightly cheating but who cares
Its Mr B's Birthday soon and thought he could share a few things as a list

Congratulations

Born in the 60’s were you , well only just ?

All this thanks to GOM website , ta its so true

• First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us around for those 9 months.
• They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, liver pate and didn’t get tested for diabetes. All the foods back on the menu out here so must be healthy!
• Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
• As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags or in a transit van – loose in the back – yippeeeeeee, ouch!
• We drank water from the stream and NOT from a bottle. Then we found the dead sheep in the stream, half way up the hill, toilet phone in use shortly after.
• We shared one fizzie drink with four friends, from one bottle/ never had tins and NO ONE actually died from this. Well it was medicine 70 shillings and some lager stuff
• We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back for tea , then out again to play till bedtime, only to sneak out again till you got really tired .
• No one knew where we were or what we got up to, well until we got caught that was.
• We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
• We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no DVD’s, no MP3’s no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms........... Bit we had the loudest sterio to play 45s and albums on. Remember them, now who was you favourite, Wizard, Slade, Stones, Floyd or Ian Dury? Mr B was and is still is very varied on this subject, I feel another blog coming along some time ?
• WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
• We fell out of trees,swam in icy cold water, climbed hills and got cut, broken bones and teeth, there were no lawsuits from these accidents .
• We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
• Made up games with big sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.
• We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! There mums always made us a cup of tea or if lucky a tin of beer
• Not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Well when you only had 11 people that were in the primary school you actually did make the team and we even won the cup that year
• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! And the law were very . very , very BIG people where I came from, sort of eclipse of the sun effect when they stood in the front door . Oh how to learn by a little mistake
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

mmm , are you one of these people from the 60's, did you learn?

Sorry DC , your's is probably a little bit different as born in the 50's, or is it as so close?

Namaste, oh and wish DC a H, H, H, Happy Birthday for Saturday, have a laddie on us.

Its warming up

Hi Blogits

Well Delhi Winter is passing and the temp meant Mr Belnder did not need an undershirt under his overshirt.

Been settling in with a new housekeeper for the last couple of weeks
Mrs Pimms is back to growing her nails, massages and shopping

Vinod comes 6 days a week to take care care of all the hard work
in keeping the flat clean , and has he made it spotless , well till
we open the balcony door and the dust settles again
he's cooking us chilli chicken and egg fried rice tonight , but before that he's cleaning up, dusting, sweeping and making the bed
Life is tough for Mrs P.

Well whats on this weekend then
Bonfire night here in India tomorrow night,

Bonfire Celebration

Despite icy wind, the festive mood of Lohri is keep its warmth owing to its Bonfire celebration. It is an accepted fact that this festival is to worship fire. Lohri is not a religious festival, but a celebration marking the end of an intense winter and it also celebrates the sowing of the rabi crop. It celebrates the arrival of the new month and the new season and is a festival of happiness and anybody new in the family adds to it's fervor.

Every year, Lohri falls on 13th January and right through the bitter winter day, men, women and children go around collecting dry twigs and branches to make a bonfire. The bigger the bonfire the better is Lohri celebration. Come evening and the bonfire is lighted with family and neighbors singing and dancing around it.
The fire indicates the spark of life and prayers are said for goodwill and abundant crops. People gather round the bonfire and say prayers, and this is usually followed by dancing.

Huge bonfires are lit in the harvested fields and in the front yards of houses and people gather around the rising flames, circle around (parikrama) the bonfire and throw puffed rice, popcorn and other munchies into the fire, shouting "Aadar aye dilather jaye" (May honor come and poverty vanish!), and sing popular folk songs.
During the parikrama it is traditional to throw popcorn, til, peanuts and jaggery into the fire.
These are healthy winter foods and til is also considered to be holy.

Punjabi celebrate Lohri every year with great enthusiasm as it is a festival of joy and it also heralds spring. Also, sowing of a crop is always a reason to celebrate in Punjab, where the majority of the population is into agriculture.
People enthusiastically participate in the dancing that is held around the bonfire.
Bhangra dance by men begins after the offering to the bonfire. Dancing continues till late night with new groups joining in amid the beat of drums. Traditionally, women do not join Bhangra.

So thats Mrs P on no dancing tomorrow night then. Have to keep her off the G&T

Namaste

well well

Hi Indigers

What on this week, well its photo shoot with the doorman in Agra , he's nearly as tall as me but not as slim?
Had our usual weekend gym sessions and back to where we were before the holiday season. Yippee , so new target is for 7 lbs in 8 weeks.
Surprising after all the cocktails Mrs Pimms had on the beach , oh and the beer a young and slightly older Mr Blenders had !!


Haircut week and Mr B still didn't manage to get under the banyan tree, had to go to Habibs instead.
His stylist in one of the local shopping places
Now a haircut here in India is very different from one in the UK
Apart from the haircut you get a head, neck , back and arm massage thrown in, if you want to be pummeled and kneeded that is. Feel very refreshed afterwards
I think you come away with something else if you have it under the tree.
Have actually seen one under an electricity pylon but that is only for punks who want a spiky haircut

New housekeeper has started and life is easy again
He has sorted out all the kitchen just the way he likes it, so now we can't find anything
Cleaned , cleaned and cleaned to make Mrs Pimms blush following her stint as housekeeper
She quit as the pay and perks were getting too much for her
Mr Blender now has the shiny shoes every morning and we are both not allowed to do anything around the house as its Vinod's job he says
Even cooks once a week , Indian, oriental, european, veg and meat.
Mrs pimms says he's a bit of a dish , mmmmm

Session on for Mrs P this week on the weight loss Aryvida fortnight
14 days of massages , manicures , pedicures , steam baths , hot oils and some yucky stuff to have before meals, dont think there is nay of this though , well Jo had to do it before whe went home

Namaste

Well where did we go next

Hi again Delhiite readers

Yep when you visit India you just have to go once
Well twice for Mr B
No three times for Mrs P

Agarraaaaaaaa
What a dirty city compared to Gurgaon
Up very , very , very early for the Taj Express and a taxi to what looks like a sleeping hostel for the Delhi poor at the train station. Hassle but never too much as at this time of the year there are lots or tourists to pick on
The train thing is really good , if not for the time. Stop on the platform at the digital C2 carraige sign and it stops to pick you up
Newspaper each when you are sat down , bottle of railway water ( sealed) and a cup of chai followed up by veggie breakfast. Just under 3 hrs and here's Agarrraaaaa!!!
Bit off putting all the people having a morning constitutional on the railway track as you pull into the station. The return journey was only 425rps each , so you have to keep smiling

First tour was the city outside Agra . Fatehphur Sikri
Built by Akbar as a monument to his rule and bolster the Mohgul empire
Oh and its not true he left it because of lack of water
He just moved on after 14 years to build his empire elsewhere
Here we are having a debate although not on religion as Akbar tried to have eveyone believe in just one god

mrs pimms has been reading
fiction in the era and read about a game of chess with elepahnts and real people in this courtyard. A few people having a peek around to find the concubines and the eunichs Life was tough I guess? Being a ruler

Next lunch at a loverly little tour ist cafe for veggie lunch outside
Was nice food and a little break before the trip back to Agaraaaaaa!




Well next day its off to one of the wonders of the world, again
Taj, for 4 please

youve heard about this place before so I don't have to say much more
Really busy in december though come out in Nov or Feb/Mar and you will miss a few crowds
Finished off in the red fort and a tour of the shops
Warning to everyone , dont buy at the places the guides take you as yolu will only pay over the odds for anything , no matter what they say. We dont and find some smashing things for what we think is worth paying.

Namaste

Merry 2008

Well happy 2008 bloggitts

How was your xmas celebrations then?
Where did you go and what did you do ?

Well, we had to suffer down in Goa , well just look at the temperature , the suffering happend back in Delhi, oh and on the ramp in Goa for Mr Blenders on his last day while everyone else stayed by the pool.

Mr Blenders had been here before and they made us so welcome
A young Mr Blenders and his girlfriend out to relax for a chrimbo break

Even the barman remembered him for some strange reason !!
Only one lump of ice in his drinks.

Well young Mr blenders got all brave and tried a little beach flight
Lasted all of 5 mins but it brought a smile to his face
We did ask
What happens if the boat breaks down , you get wet
What happens if the parachute fails, you get wet
It seemed every question was answered with you get wet , Sir

Never mind as it doesn't take long to get dry

Meanwhile, back with the beach bums, well the cleaner version
Took a trip to the hippy market to not , repeat not buy a drum despite many people trying to sell us one for 50rps eventually

Mrs Pimms did procure a craft bedspread to keep us warm back in Delhi. Bargaining was fun and the buyers and seller had a good session getting the best for an Indian price and Mr B has another elephant on the bed , oops hope Mrs P doesn't read that! Namaste