Author: drewwfaust@gmail.com

View from Nepenthe Wines:

Adelaide from My Lofty:

A smile from my coffee is good, right?

Enjoying wine country:

Leena wishing we’d commuted in our heli:

Greetings and apologies to our legions of loyal followers for such sporadic updates of our travels Down Under. My laptop is having a heckuva a time holding wireless connections when we get them, and they can get pretty pricey (last place was $.50 a minute!). We should have brought a thumb drive to transfer pics from the laptop to whatever machines we get access to. Trust me, I have half a dozen posts with tons of pictures just trapped on the laptop! We arrived in Cairns (pronounced cans) this morning — beach town in the northeast with easy access to the Great Barrier Reef. It’s hot as advertised — above 30. Go ahead, do the conversion. I’ll wait. (30 x 9/5 + 32 = 86). We sail and snorkel at the Reef tomorrow and I’ll do my first scuba dive in 20 years. More soon! Maybe with pictures! Or…?

Leena went for accommodations with a view. Check the window shot. Score. We’re in the Potts Point section of Sydney.

We didn’t get a Holiday card out this year, so here you go… Happy Holidays!

We walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens to the Opera House and caught the 13:00 ferry to Manly beach without a minute to spare. Snapped this one from the ferry.

We enjoyed a drink at the Fountain Cafe in the early evening.

Leena wonders: “How is the Aussie Chardonnay?” (Yum.)

We mastered boiling water in the Southern hemisphere and enjoyed dinner with our lovely view. We forced ourselves to stay up until 21:00 before glorious sleep…

Part of the idea of traveling to OZ/NZ now was to escape our winter (and enjoy their summer). Check. We left snowy Portland early Saturday.

The flight for Sydney left at 22:30, so we spent our stopover in San Francisco with friends. We got to their place just before noon — perfect Mimosa time.

We flew in an Airbus 380. They’re huge. We were in row 73; there were a few rows behind us. We slept well enough on the flight and arrived just before 08:00 to a beautiful Sydney morning. You can see the tail of our plane with Sydney in the background.

Snow today in Portland, which is pretty rare. Just an inch or two. We’re in for some really cold weather this week — for Portland at least.

The project started with a simple problem: water damage to the front stairs and railing. When looking that over, Kevin (contractor; former home inspector) also noted that the grade of the yard was too high. Dirt was up on the sills of the garden-level basement windows, and up against the mud sill on top of the foundation. More potential for dry rot. We couldn’t just lower the grade near the house — that would create a slope towards the house. We decided to lower the grade of the entire yard. With the yard coming out, we decided to lose the lawn, lose the ivy, and redo the landscaping from scratch. We also decided to replace the front concrete stairs that go from the sidewalk to yard level. They’re broken and uneven and would now be at the wrong grade. And since we’re now doing concrete work, we decided to replace the driveway retaining walls — one was leaning badly. And while we’re fixing the driveway, let’s widen the garage door from 7 to 8 feet and re-pour the driveway too.

Work started in early November. The yard came out first — about 40 yards of dirt. Next was the ivy. The driveway retaining walls have been re-poured and the garage door opening has been prepped for the new door coming Monday. And the landscaping for the yard is mostly done. We’ll just fill in around the concrete stairs and driveway after work is complete. Here are some in-progress pictures!

Yard from the north:

Yard from the southwest:

From the west:

New driveway retaining walls and larger garage opening. New door comes Monday.

The first day in Ahmedabad starts normally. I get up first and take a shower. Soon after I finish, the power goes out. I assume this is just a local brown out – it’s not our first outage of the trip. Leena gets up to see what’s going on and finds the bedroom door stuck. I give it a pull. It’s won’t budge. We play with the handle to make sure it’s turned all the way. Seems OK. I’m now pulling almost as hard as I can – I’m afraid that if I put any more into it, the handle might break.

About 20 minutes later, we hear voices in the hall and let them know that the door is stuck. I figure that it will open with a push. No luck. Jayesh and Niraj are working on the door now. Finally Jayesh goes for help. They break the door down – the door literally splinters away at the handle. Our one hour of captivity is over. As for the power outage, Niraj and Ami left the geyser (water heater) in their bathroom on too long by accident and it overheated.

Niraj and I head out for a shave. We’re driven to a nearby barber shop. It’s almost full. I grab the only open seat (there are 8-10 in the shop). The barber asks if I want a face massage. Why not? As it turns out, this is a facial as part of the shave.

They start with a cream and work it in everywhere on my face. He keeps reloading. After 10 minutes or so, he moves onto what must be a cleanser – it has just enough texture to exfoliate. Then it’s on to the shave. He uses at least 10 times as much shaving cream as I usually do.

The shave is done with a straight razor. After a once over, it’s another round of ample shaving cream and a second pass with a fresh razor.

To finish off the experience, my face is covered with “mud”. A fan is set up in front of me, and the mask hardens. After another 10 minutes, the mask is sponged off. A few rinses, and I’m done. It takes the better part of an hour.

As you’d expect, it’s a ridiculously close shave. By the following morning, it’s just starting to feel like some stubble coming in – about how it feels in the early afternoon after a normal morning shave.

We head to Deepak’s – a cousin – for lunch. Then we’re off to a five-step well. Built in the 16th century, the well drops five stories to reach water.

We then do some shopping. We start at a tailor’s shop where Niraj and I order shirts. I order four after looking through the fabrics – two long-sleeve and two short-sleeve. They take measurements of course. The shirts will be delivered to Jayesh’s in two days.

We shop for the rest of the day, mainly for clothes. I buy a shirt. Leena buys several shirts and a skirt.

For dinner, we head to Vishali where much of the family in Ahmedabad join us. The concept of Vishali is that it’s a traditional Indian village. There’s a campfire burning as we come in (this is entirely outdoors) and we sit for a short while. There’s a little shopping area with traditional items. There’s a portrait artist available for 100r. We convince Leena to sit for the portrait. Though advertised as 10 minutes it takes 45. It’s a good portrait – not great. Leena looks young in the drawing.

We sit to eat – on the floor. The tables are raised enough to slide your legs under while sitting with your legs crossed.

 

Today we shopped in Delhi, then took a flight to Ahmedabad.

Our first stop shopping was at a cottage industries shop. It’s enormous. Leena and I head downstairs to look at rugs. They’re beautiful. We look at dozens and narrow it down. We have tea while we shop. We zero in on some 6’x9′ rugs. The price starts at $1650. We decide early on that we won’t buy today since we’ll be back in Delhi for a day and a half at the end of the trip. This gives us a starting point for selection and price. We’ll be shopping in Ahmedabad and Mumbai as well.

All I can say is that patience is valuable. By the time we leave 90 minutes later, the price is $800. We promise to return. They promise that we won’t get that price again. We’ll see.

We head to Connaught Circle for more shopping. We need a bathroom, so we head into a Pizza Hut (regarded as an upscale eatery here!). We can’t resist; we have some pizza for lunch. Then we head into a pedestrian mall that’s packed with people between two rows of stalls. It’s like Saturday Market in Portland. Leena and Ami buy skirts, bartering to half price. Niraj and I get beach shirts, also around half price.

I’m a target for touts. They’re taught me how to say “No, I don’t want any” in Hindi. The Hindi works better. Why? Well for one thing, it makes it seem like I’ve been around the block here, so I’m not as easy a target as I appear.

“Nahi, chahiye.”

We head back to the guest house, have a snack (we’re always eating here), and pack. We tip the help and head for the domestic airport. It’s about the same as a US flight, but there are a few differences.

You have to have a ticket to enter. They they X-ray all of your bags – including those you will check. Then you check in at a counter to check bags and get boarding passes. Next is security – metal detector and a pat down.

There are only five gates; the doors are about 10 meters apart. Our flight is called, our boarding passes are checked, and we step outside. We’re directed to a bus to our flight. Once it’s full we drive out to our plane – it’s perhaps 1/2 km. The sun is setting; I wish I’d snapped a picture.

Boarding passes are checked again at the base of the stairs and we pile on. They have never checked for ID! Three or four busloads eventually board. It’s 90 minutes to Ahmedabad.

We collect bags and meet Jayesh and Kopesh, cousins or Niraj and Leena, at the curb. Niraj forgets his jacket on the plane. It’s retrieved – his plane tickets were in it! – and we drive 30 minutes to Jayesh’s. We meet more family, have another meal (our fifth of the day), and turn in around 11.