Thanksgiving

I celebrated Thanksgiving away from home this year, but I made up for it by talking to family and friends and enjoying a turkey dinner. It was pretty good for being so far away!

Mahabaleshwar and other good stuff

I got out to see Mahabaleshwar and the wonderful surrounding area this weekend. As usual, pictures just don't do it justice. It took 2.5 - 3 hours to get to the area. Most of the touring was done outside Mahabaleshwar itself, and we ate lunch at a hotel near the town.

We ended up on a horse-cart tour of one of the plateaus outside Mahabaleshwar. It was only about a 20 minute tour. The area didn't allow vehicles out there and it was a bit of a hike by foot. These tours seemed pretty popular and there were quite a few carts.

This is the view from the first overlook that we visited.

This is the Orchid Room at Mapro Gardens. We must have been early, as this area wasn't open yet. It was really something though - basically a dining area in a greenhouse.

This was at the same location as the horse-cart tours. There's a cave down these stairs, and apparently this makes a good hangout for local monkeys.

This was our last stop. I can't remember the name of this particular overlook, but it was really nice on this platform.

Food on the grill at Barbeque Nation - excellent. This was dinner back in Pune.

Thank you to my colleague that strongly recommended this trip!

Lonavala and Karla Caves

I visited Lonavala / Khandala this past Saturday. Lonavala is a hill-station about 1.5 hours from Pune and it's right on the highway between Pune and Mumbai. This picture is from one of the overlooks. It was sunny and very windy.

There were wild monkeys at a garden outside Lonavla. This guy is munching on some peanuts.

View into a valley outside Lonavla. There are waterfalls here during the rainy season.

Karla Caves. These were carved out of the rock-face around 1 B.C. by Buddhists. I had no idea that this was here - the guide just said that we were going to see some caves. The holes in the middle and half-way up are windows to meditation rooms. There are rock stairways to get up into the rooms in the bottom openings on the left. This was all carved out of the rock-face, from what I understand.

This is inside the main chamber at Karla Caves.

This is right outside the main chamber at Karla Caves. There are many carvings like this outside the main chamber.

Running around

Well, it's been a little while since my last post. Things are still going really well. I'm still eating a ton of great food; the highlights include: Oh! Calcutta, Shisha (excellent!), Arthur's Theme.

Here are some things I've seen out and about.

Bollywood anyone? There's a movie shoot going on in Magarpatta City, right next to the office buildings. They've been here about a week and there are a ton of staff/cameras/etc. It's pretty exciting.

Sheep! I believe they're sheep, anyway.

This was a fun conversation. My driver was waiting on the road and I heard him honking. I ran over to the car and he said "Sir, I can't stay here. There's an elephant coming." A what? "Oh, ok." I said.

Happy Diwali!

The celebration here was amazing. There were city-presented fireworks in the center of Magarpatta City on Thursday night, along with candles placed along all the major roads. Many, many people came out to see the fireworks, which were launched from the water tower in the middle of the park. We stopped and watched on our way home from work that night around 7:30. It was great.

The celebration continued all weekend, and fireworks could be heard each day including today. Saturday night was especially crazy as strings of firecrackers, airborne displays, and ground displays were set off around Magarpatta City by residents. It was a fun time to walk around.

Here is a picture I took off MG Road today - string of firecrackers goes boom.

This is the view from my balcony showing some decorated houses on Saturday night

We've eaten more great food over the last few days. Highlights:

Barbeque Nation - starters grilled right on your table with a full buffet of Indian/Italian food

Mainland China - great chinese food near Sigree

Deccan Harvest - we've been to this one a few times and the food hasn't disappointed yet

Saturday on MG Road

We got out and about today to check out MG Road - a popular shopping area. We had looked around this area little bit this past week, but this time really checked it out. I didn't get too many pictures, but hopefully we'll get back to MG Road pretty soon.

This is actually just off MG Road. This is in front of a mall that is out of view here - cool mall too.

Mysore Masala Dosa at Coffee House restaurant. There is a plate hiding under there somewhere. This is a light, crispy but chewy batter cooked kind of like a crepe (I think). This shell is wrapped around a sauce with potatoes and other veggies that is mainly in the center of the dish. The whole inside of the shell is lightly coated with a different spicy sauce (yum). There are also some accompanying sauces to consume along with this. Awesome.

My place

Time: it's late

Temperature: ~70 F

Chance of snow: No, not even a little (Sorry, mid-west folks!)

Things are going really well here. My Pune orientation is over, and I learned a lot about the city and some of the things it has to offer. I've already eaten at some great restaurants, and I'm making a list of new ones to try. Things at work are going really well too; it's nice to see the other side of the team again.

As promised, here are some pictures of my new place.

I really like breakfast... this is Uttapam. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is a rice-flour based bread that is pan fried. It has onions, mushrooms, and other vegetables on top and is very tasty.

View from the balcony

Partial bedroom view

Living room area

This is the entry-way and the other side of the living room

This is the kitchen. There isn't a stove or oven, just a microwave and a kettle.

This is the hallway to the bedroom

Dining area

Post-arrival photos and thoughts

It's been a rainy couple of days in Pune, but I've been getting out and about. Here are some pictures; the pictures of my new home will be up soon.

My room in Mumbai. This one is weird because there is a window in the shower to see directly into the main room from the bathroom. It's interesting.

This is the view from my room in Mumbai

Breakfast - yum. The large bread-type item in the middle is Aloo Paratha, a fried bread stuffed with a spicy potato mixture. The accompaniments are curd (basically yogurt, I think), coffee, achar (a sweet, spicy, tangy pickle mixture), and white toast (potatoes and bread - is this a starch-filled redundancy?)

Arrived

We have arrived! Last night was spent in the amazing Gordon House hotel in Mumbai, India, and tonight I am in my new home. I hope to have pictures of that soon; it is really nice here.

It was a dark, stormy night

Things are progressing with my inevitable travels. Yay!