Happy Diwali!!!

Today is the Indian New Year. Ant and I have been spending some quality time relaxing at the home of Dustyshoes, a friend of ours who with her family has been extremely generous in putting our sorry butts up for a while.

We've been living in LUXURY.

Hot showers, tasty morsels, no bugs, good company and two solid games of Word Search (the ladies won of course) are just a few of the great things we've gotten to experience.

Dusty had arranged a day trip for sightseeing in Mysore, a city about 2-3 hours away from here. There were three major highlights, the Maharaja's Palace, The Tipu Sultan Summer Palace, and the Mysore Zoo.

The Maharaja's Palace was built around the turn of the 20th century and just spells wealth. Everything was covered in gold in the throne room, and there were huge silver doors. The doors not covered with precious metal were equally as impressive because of how beautiful the teak wood was carved.

At the Summer Palace there are great gardens, as well as a well preserved teak house, which bordered on mansion.

Finally, the zoo. We only got to spent about 25 minutes there because of really heavy rain, but I was able to glimpse my first look at a White Tiger. VERY impressive and majestically beautiful. We also saw a few giraffes, but couldn't tell if they were evil or not because they weren't eating leaves. :) Peacocks, gaurs, and monkeys were also seen.

As for Bangalore itself, it ROCKS. This is India meets New York. There are busy sidewalks (not a common thing so far in India) and beautiful gardens (Limbargh Park), shops, restaurants, book shops, cafes, you name it. I had the best frappe I've ever had at Cafe Coffee Day.... mmmmm.....

I shopped a bit and bought a new salwar kameez, as well as a new punjabi shirt which is a silk/cotton blend... very snazzy and useful for home too.

Anywho, life is good, and for those who might have been to Dione's wedding, tell me details please!!!!