Mid-week trip to Goa!

This week was the Hindu holiday of Dussehra which is one of the most important Hindu holidays.  The day marks the victory of the Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur. (I think I got all those names spelled correctly!)  Almost the entire town of Bangalore headed south to the town of Mysore for massive festival celebrations and even though it was amazing to see almost no traffic in Bangalore we decided to take a last minute trip.  Everyone here warned us not to go to Mysore, our driver said we wouldn't even be able to drive in to the main part of the city, we would need a motorcycle which we don't have! So we booked a flight to Goa which is just a one hour flight.

Goa was amazing and so hot!!  Goa is on the western coast of India and is on the Arabian Sea.  We went with 6 of Aaron's co-workers and had a great few days relaxing.

  

Three of the girls that joined us for the trip!  Steph, Hannah and Dani!

We rented scooters one day and I can't believe we didn't get any photos!  It was lots of fun to ride around until we would run in to any other traffic!  India has some crazy drivers but we all did fine!  Dani has only been in India for less than a week and she handled Indian traffic like a pro! (probably terrified but like a pro)

Walking the beach we saw lots of fun things.

The lifeguard hut.  Both lifeguards were asleep the entire time we were at the beach!  Can't blame them it was so hot outside!     

This was the old lifeguard stand.  I see why they sit under the hut instead!

Aaron's new business venture!  It was so funny to see this place because most people here have never heard his name before and have a hard time pronouncing it!  They sold delicious coconut water though!

It was so nice to spend two days together after me being in the US, Aaron being a little sick for a few days and then a few busy days of work for Aaron.  Can't wait to go back to Goa in just a few weeks!

Traveling the Globe

Well it has been awhile!  Aaron and I am have both been very busy and after three long weeks apart we are finally back under the same roof.  I was super lucky I got to head back to the United States for 3 weeks and see family and friends.  It was an action packed few weeks that is for sure.

First my dear friend from college Miss Emily Brueggen became Mrs Emily Lilly.  It was a great wedding up in Breckenridge.  I was a bit jet lagged but the wedding was amazing and the scenery of the mountains was unbelievable.

 

It was such a perfect night that a full moon rose up over the mountains as the reception started!

Breckenridge is such a cute town!

I got to spend a lot of time with my family and it was amazing!  I spoiled the little munchkins rotten and loved spending lots of quality time with them.  It was great to see Jane and Walter and my parents too.  I'm so lucky they were all able to make time to come out and visit.  If only I could have seen the Kline side it would have been perfect!  

Jane, Walter and I had the kids for a day and took them to a little street festival near Anne's house.  They loved it!

We had lots of walks and fun time together, they are all at such a fun age.

But they did tire out pretty well, although they always seemed to have more energy than me!!

Emmett had pink eye and couldn't go to day care for two days so he and I hung out.  We played lots of fun games and went to the zoo.  He loved it there, he must have walked for miles with those tiny little legs!  First exhibit at the zoo had a KPMG sponsor sign, felt like Uncle Aaron was with us!

Family dinners were the best.  

Mom and I took all 3 kids to the children's museum one day while Anne and Dad went to the Broncos game.  It was fun to see them play and learn new things.

My final stop before leaving the United States was in Palm Springs with the Michigan crew to see Jessica marry Justin.  It too was an amazing wedding and I could not be happier for them!

Don't feel too bad for Aaron for being left behind though.  He had some good weekends while I was away and though I'm sure he would have had so much more fun with me :)

Here is what he had to say about the trip:

Kashmir is in Northern India and is bordered by Pakistan to the West and China to the east.  It lies in the Himalayan mountains. It is known for it’s skiing in the winter and hiking during the summer months.  It’s border with Pakistan is highly contested and until recently, was not considered safe for tourism.

The first day we spent it on Dal Lake on a houseboat.  During the day we were driven around the lake on a shikara, which is a small water taxi.  Our first stop was a garden area that also had small shops and restaurants.  After that we went through the backwaters and stopped at a Honey Factory.  Kashmir honey is supposed to be the best honey and this family had been selling honey for several generations. 

The next day we drove to Gulmarg, which is a hill station and has one of the highest gondola’s in the world… we didn’t take it, decided to hike up the mountain… didn’t quite make it to the top, but we came close.  Stopping around 12,000 feet above sea-level. 

It was a fun weekend of playing cards, drinking and exploring…but we missed Amy J

The next weekend he also traveled with some of his colleagues.  This time they went to Sri Lanka and rented a house on the beach together.  It looked pretty incredible.  Sounded like it was mostly a relaxing beach weekend but he will have to fill us in on the details later!  

I know that was probably one of the longest blog posts ever but a lot happened in just a few short weeks!  I am missing the US a bit but so happy to be back in the same city/country/continent as Aaron!  

Malaysia!!

We took our first international trip this past weekend and we ventured over to Malaysia!  We almost didn't make our plane.... (twice!) but in the end we got there!  Got to the Bangalore airport a little later than we should have but got on the flight.  Our flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur had a tight time of 1 hour to get through customs and connect to our flight to Kuala Terengganu and then we got delayed in the air due to weather!  We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 620am and made our connection which left at 7am!  I wish I had a video of us running through the airport!  After we cleared customs Aaron took off and said he would make sure they held the door for me!  I think the airport in Kuala Lumpur is the biggest airport ever!  But the amazing beaches and beautiful waters on the island of Redang made all our travel worth it!

A view from the ferry ride Kuala Terengganu to Redang Island.

The Beaches!  

The weather was overcast the first two days but very warm and on Saturday we had sun all day!  We took a ferry to a different island one day and snorkeled from that beach and then also did an open water snorkeling excursion.  They were both beautiful, we saw some really cool fish and coral.  

The hotel is involved in helping to save the sea turtles and each night that we were there they released baby sea turtles in to the ocean and people could pay to hold them and let them go.  They brought them from a local sea turtle sanctuary and they were adorable!! 

On the way home we had an extended lay over in Kuala Lumpur and took the train down to the city.  We saw the Petronas Towers on the way in but decided to make our way to the central market and walk through China Town.  We only had a few hours and really wanted to explore the streets a bit! We both loved the city.  It was really clean and easy to get around.  We have become so accustomed to India traffic and how difficult it is to navigate it was great to be in a city that had good clean public transport!   

I am headed back to that states early Wednesday morning for a few weeks but Aaron has lots of travel planned so we will have lots of updates soon!