Veg or Non Veg?

A funny thing happened within the last few months - I stopped eating meat! I know shocking isn't it? I can't explain it, it just kind of happened. It could have been many things:

• the sight and smell of carcasses hanging in the shops and markets.
• signs around town with pictures of animals saying, "don't kill me."
• graphic signs at cafeteria at Meditation Pyramid saying "don't murder animals" and "stop eating flesh."
• Judy at cooking class in Goa calling meat flesh, "bring me the flesh," "let's cook the flesh."
• yoga book stating unhealthy to eat meat.

Yes it could have been many things but it just happened and now I'm trying to be creative or just eliminate meat from our usual meals. Veg lasagna, veg chili, veg burgers (!!). Some dishes I'll still cook the "flesh" for everyone else and just leave it out of my meal - veg enchiladas, chicken salad - and just add more veg. And I am still eating seafood, milk, and eggs...just no meat.

I've ordered special meals for the plane (I'm special!): I think it's "lacto ovo veg." There are so many options on the plane. "Hindu veg," "Jain veg" and I think there was a "lacto, ovo, seafood veg" option too...

In India it is so easy to be vegetarian. Many restaurants are strictly veg and almost all others will have a veg menu and a non veg menu. The question is will this last once I get back to Canada? Most people we know are serious carnivores, it could be difficult.

Wine and Yoga

Went to an excellent wine dinner last night and an excellent yoga class this morning. Each on their own were fabulous but lets face it wine and yoga don't mix.

The wine dinner was at Caperberry's featuring Spanish Torres wines. About 60 people showed up which was surprising and most of them Indian. As always the dinners are as much about the people you meet as the wine you taste. And in this case we were lucky to have Anna Manchon, the Torres Head Wine Sommelier sit at our table.

We had a great time talking to Anna about wine and travel. Although she said Spanish wines are the best (she has to say that right?), we talked about Tuscany and Brunello di Montecino which we all agreed was the undisputed favorite Italian wine between us. Left me wishing Tom and Melissa (our Tuscany buddies) were at the table with us. Anna definitely has a passion for wines and with her Spanish accent can talk a mile a minute. Definitely a dream job - travelling all over the world promoting wine. A fun evening with good food as well!

My 1 1/2 hour yoga class started at 9:00am this morning. With only a few classes left my yoga teacher is pushing us to the limits even though she says we are still just doing the basics. She wants us to perfect the standing poses as well as shoulder stand, head stand, and many other asanas before we are sent off into the big wide world.

And now lots of coffee and lots of water to face the rest of the day. Off to the school to watch Alanna horseback riding and then bringing back three giggly girls for a sleepover. Craig will fly out the door as soon as he gets home to play cricket with his friends and tomorrow we will all look forward to sleeping in.

"What's in the News" and "Life This Week"

What's in the news? A full page ad in the Bangalore newspaper, DNA, about beautiful British Columbia, Canada, that's what!

Imagine my surprise to see a huge travel article and photos on my home town and province, "Cosmopolitan and hip Vancouver...Charming and quaint Victoria with its British heritage. The wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. Whistler, one of the world's premier ski destinations...From hiking to skiing to scenic train rides and gastronomic delights, British Columbia offers amazing diversity."

Color photos included those of Burrard Inlet, the Parliament Buildings and Empress Hotel in Victoria, the Sea to Sky highway, Whistler and Capilano Suspension Bridge. Wow it looks beautiful and BC is diverse isn't it - it looks like a pretty nice place to go back too!

Well, you are probably wondering about those ants? I'm happy to say (knock on wood) that the ant problem seems to be solved. Looks like we cemented up all the entry points to the house and we seem to be ant free.

The list of things going wrong continued this week though when our washing machine broke down. Appeared to be a clogged filter and thought I could fix it myself - looked simple enough. Michael read the instructions outloud and I pulled out the little tube to drain the water into a pan (the machine was full). No water came out so we proceeded to the next step: "turn and remove the plug and then remove filter and clean." The plug came out nicely and as I looked in to find the filter an enormous gush of water erupted! The pan couldn't hold it all and I scrambled to plug the hole, but not before the kitchen floor was full of water. Michael had backed away to avoid getting wet and calmly asked, "Should I phone the repair guy now?"

Oh What a Week!

Wouldn't you know everything would start to fall apart now? It's like the house knows we only have 5 weeks to go  - maybe it's trying to get rid of us early. Let's see - Craig's geyser blew up, our main electrical switch in our bedroom blew up (smoke and fire was involved), the sliding shower door won't slide (again), 20 litres of water from the water cooler leaked all over the dining room,and lastly (hopefully), an army of ants have invaded the house.

First, a geyser is not to be confused with a geezer (we have no old men getting blown up in Craig's bathroom), nor is it a spring coming up from the ground with lots of vapour. A geyser is a water heater found in bathrooms and kitchens. Much to my delight who should come to the rescue but my favorite Handiman in his trademark red jumpsuit!

The geyser and electrical switch got fixed, the wheels for the sliding door are (supposedly) on their way. The 20 litres of water found all over the dining room floor was annoying but fairly easy to clean up. But I can't say the same for the tiny flying ants.

We noticed the ants when we got back from Kabini - in the living room and dining room at night, attracted to the warmth and the lights. We sprayed the rooms with no results - they just kept coming. So we had pest control come in - twice. The second time the guy found a hole outside under the living room window. He sprayed it like crazy and ants poured out. We thought that would be the end of it but the thing about ants is they come in seemingly unlimited numbers and are small and smart.

They obviously had more than one entry. Every night we turn on the lights and in they march. So yesterday I had the holes patched up - all the cracks inside and outside the window. Then we noticed some ants coming out a crack in the tile outside so we patched that too, wiped our hands clean, sure that we had outwitted and outplayed those little insects.

But evening came, the lights went on and suddenly they appeared inside again. We sprayed but couldn't even tell where they were coming from. Nauseated from the smell and just plain frustrated, we turned off all the lights, went out for dinner, came back and spent the rest of the night in our rooms. The ants were clearly winning.

Today noticed another crack in the upper corner of the inside wall, sprayed and out poured the ants. Cleaned them up and filled those cracks in. Waiting patiently now for evening to come...and the lights to come on...

Kabini (Part 3)

Sunday morning we were woken up at 6:00am for our morning boat safari. None of us were really into it but we dragged ourselves out of bed and made our way down to the boat.

It was a calm and beautiful morning. We saw the odd bit of wildlife here and there: lots of interesting birds, lots of deer grazing along the shoreline, a couple of really cute otters and even a crocodile. We had our binoculars with us which kept the kids entertained for the full two hours and everyone really enjoyed the trip.

Back on shore we had breakfast and packed up ready for the long drive home. Our driver managed to speed as much as we would allow (a bit nerve racking) and he got us to the outskirts of Bangalore in only four hours.

A big bottleneck as always getting into the city where we stopped at Hard Rock Cafe for a break and our usual nachos, burgers and margaritas. Back home we remembered that it was Easter (an unusual way to celebrate) and the kids were thrilled to find a huge Bliss chocolate easter egg waiting for each of them in the fridge.

All and all we really enjoyed Kabini. The people at Kabini River Lodge were friendly and accommodating, the safari's were entertaining as long as ones expectations are not too high - it's India, not Africa - no open plains with unlimited numbers of animals. But really nice to see a quiet and calm part of India out in the wilderness.