Tuesday 28 June 2011

Mumbai over the weekend

Last weekend we went to Mumbai for a nice weekend away. We both have been very busy lately so it was nice to go away! It is a 2 hours flight and about 10 degrees colder. I had to buy a pashmina when I was there because it was only 28 degree in the evenings. I did pretty good on the price as well, I have never bartered in my life ( we have been here for 3 months now) so started high I took off 60% on the price, got it for about 50% cheaper than he said to start with so pretty happy with that, Stephen couldn't believe his ears:)
We also saw all the attractions you are suppose to see and even got offered hash and marijuana ( very quietly ) but we looked at each other and laughed , so they took that as a no.
On Sunday it was raining a little, so instead of going to Elephant Island we had a lazy day topped off with a superb Champagne Buffet in the restaurant for lunch.
It was a nice weekend and we had a great time!

I have started working on my new business with an Indian lady I met and it is very exciting, I'm learning alot!

We have also collected the ring we had made in a jewellers located in Le Meridian with my star ruby. I told him how I wanted it to look and he made it, so we collected it today and it is beautiful!

Also yesterday we went to the gym as usual and Stephen had a meeting with a nutritionist and had the test we did in the beginning again, now he is 13.4% body fat! any less and he will not exist!!!!
I'm too afraid to do them again!

Oh and we have a whole family of lizards now, we have got Lizzy still, her two children jack and junior they are tiny and then we have got Daddy lizard, he lives in the kitchen and looks like a crocodile!

On Friday Stephen and his company was played cricket against the hotel we use to stay in and that some of them still live in. I couldn't watch because I was working but I met them at the hotel afterwards where we had  free drinks and super nice dinner together with both teams. He had cuts, bruises and open wounds on his elbows, knees and hips! And they didn't even win! Although the oldest player was 64 and the latest any of them had played cricket was last year and for the rest it was 13 years, 25 and 30 years ago or their first time ever they had a go and did not do too badly.  Except maybe Stephen who was out for a 2nd ball duck, he claims he was too tired from fielding in 40degree heat to bat at 3!
This is how the people live is the slum in Mumbai!

Chickens transported to the place where they die, hopefully sooner than later!


Child entertaining himself on the street.

the gateway in Mumbai, also a great place to buy drugs ;)

Taj Palace, where the Mumbai shooting took place.  

taxis!



You are like celebrity when you are not Indian.


Us with the Mumbai skyline behind us.

This is Mumbais beach, but it is full of rubbish and it smells so bad!
My ring:)

Sunday 19 June 2011

Busy week

This week I have been keeping myself busy by sewing dresses!
I went to the fabric shop and it was amazing, they have so many pretty fabrics and they kept pulling out more and more, long after I said that i was satisfied with what I'd got.
We also had some people over for dinner and our maid made us some really nice Tibetan food. She has not been here since Wednesday as her daughter is ill and in hospital which is not nice, she is only 4 years old !

Friday night we went to the gym as usual and had a good workout, I said to my personal trainer that I must be your best client as I am so enthusiastic, he didn't reply! hmm at least I'm trying and I think I'm doing well. Stephen also went with me and had his personal trainer and he only exercised his legs so on Saturday morning he was off to the gym again doing exercising his upper body, today Sunday he can't move! haha.
I did 4 times last week in the gym so I stayed in bed on Saturday until he came back.

We went out for a lovely meal with a group of men from Stephen work, we went to Bukhara, oh how we ate, and couldn't move afterwards! ended the night with a few drinks in the bar.

It is Sunday today and we haven't done much, we went to the market this morning and bought some lovely fresh fruit, and bread, so started the day with a mango smoothie.mmm
Stephens had a Swedish lesson again this afternoon since he hasn't done them for a while and he scored the highest score. Maybe we'll have him talking Swedish at the wedding next year!

  These are the two dresses I've made this week,
  one floaty butterfly in cotton/silk.
                                                                                    And one black tight in silk/Jersey.
Here we are in Bukhara eating a giant nan bread and watching the chefs cooking in the kitchen.

 

Wednesday 15 June 2011

it's raining!

We have been waiting for rain now since we came to Delhi in Feb, and yesterday it came!
It rained, we had thunder and lightning everything at ones. The electricity is not great here so that disappeared as well, but that's OK because we got these amazing lanterns and candle holders. So we took some pictures and tried different settings on our new lens, it turned out quite effective!

I have also started to sew a little to keep myself busy. I will put up pictures when those are done. But the fabrics here are amazing so it is so much fun!!!



 This is only after raining 3 minutes!          These are our buddha candle holders.


When electricity failed

And in normal daylight,

My lovley fabrics!


Sunday 12 June 2011

Easy weekend.

This has been a very calm weekend, well the whole week has been easy. Haven't done much at all, been to the gym a few times, done some shopping and relaxing. I did go to the children on Thursday which was intressting. Stephen only managed to go to the gym on Saturday this week because he has been working crazy long hours this week, and he only managed to benchpress the bar (no weights on it ) :)
Our new maid started working for us on Friday which is great, she makes super nice food. So it would be nice if we could keep her for ever!

We are enjoying a glass of red wine and watching T.V after a nice meal which I cooked myself.

Thursday 9 June 2011

Slum children who wants to do more!

This morning I went with Mark and Dennis from Stephens office to the Asha Deep Foundation.


It is a foundation that is trying to help the children in the area to get a future, they also help rag picking children to get an education and taking care of girls and boys who's parents are dead and are left on the street alone.
There are 40 girls and 40 boys living there at the moment. I meet all the girls and they are lovely,they are happy, they sang songs, danced for us and had a good conversation in English.
It is a school and at the moment it's holiday so most children are home with their families, but the children who doesn't have a family to go home to stays there.
In the school they learn how to speak English,cooking, math and normal subjects. They can also choose to learn a profession like tailor making or beautician.
We also went to the slum and saw how the children lived with their families and what conditions the children are playing around all day.

This is the girls with Mark and Dennis.

                                              These are all children living in sheds in the slum.

                                                 Young children playing with their toys, bricks!
                                                   In the school, one girl learning to sew.
                                                    Others learn about make-up and hair.
                                  These women are making nails while their children are running around their feet.

To sponsor a child through this organization only cost 30000 rupees, £500 or 5000 Kronor a year.
                                     A small price to help a child change her/his life around.

Monday 6 June 2011

Indian little girl

We bought a Indian outfit for Stephens little niece and she lookes super cute!

Sunday 5 June 2011

Strange men following us.

Last night when we went out to celebrate we walked the normal road to the hotel where our favourite restaurant is located. A tuk tuk driver stopped us, as they always do, but we tried to get rid of him saying no, no, no thank you, no that's ok, no we like to walk, no , NO!
We kept walking, and he followed us saying it wasn't safe and that there was a protest on so the roads where blocked in that direction. We didn't really believe him because the road looked fine. But then a local who walked past us said yes there is a protest on and the road is blocked. So we thought maybe he is right and turned to walk the way he said to go. The local kept walking the way we would normally go and he was fine! But never mind.
So we walked the other direction and a guy kept walking behind us, changing streets when we changed etc. The tuk-tuk driver stopped us again and asked if we wanted a lift, we said no, again and kept walking. The man who was following us started chatting to us asking if we were tourists etc. we said we lived here and yes we knew the direction and eventually brushed him off and later we saw that he jumped in the same tuk-tuk that kept creeping up behind us.
We turned a corner and it was all very creepy and not a nice area to walk in. We nearly ran to the hotel but we were fine , the road wasn't closed when we got there and no protest to be seen!
Don't know what was going on there! We read in the papers today that there was suppose to be 1 million people out protesting, but we didn't see any! We had a fantastic meal and took a taxi home!

Our pet Lizzy is also back, we went away for two weeks and she wasn't here when we got back but today she crept up on Stephen and scared him :) Yeay!

 

Saturday 4 June 2011

New Beginnings!

Yesterday morning I was a bit lazy and stayed in bed quite late, at 10 am my phone rang and it was our maid, she said she was outside our door! So jumped out and put a towel around me, pretending I was just gonna go in the shower..
She was not suppose to come until today (Saturday)
So anyway I got some clothes on and she asked where she should start to clean and where the products were that she could use, we only had one spray that did kitchen and one cloth so I said just use these ones. She said oh no mam, can't use that! So we went to the market to buy everything she needed to clean our apartment with. We came home with two big bags of products, sweeping brushes, mops etc!!
She did a great job after our rocky start and our apartment looks lovely. Don't know what she is gonna do now tho when it is all clean but we'll see.

I had a business meeting today with a lady that I met who is running her own company that is  importing/exporting fashion and interior between India and Europe,USA and Asia. It went really really well and I will start working with her to set up a company that will do the same to northern Europe i.e. Scandinavia as well as what she already has got! And also design my own cloths to export as well.
I'm so excited! I will learn a lot, travel and design! It is gonna be a great experience. I can't wait!

We have been out for a meal tonight at our favourite restaurant in Delhi; The Spice Route to celebrate and I am stuffed! always good food there but you eat too much every single time! Great Indian wine as well.


Thursday 2 June 2011

Apartment.

 We said when we started this blog that we would only write if we had done something nice or anything else worth telling. This week we haven't done anything at all, so I thought that we could show some pictures of the apartment.
It is still not 100% done, we are still waiting for an other big sofa in the T.V room and some matching side tables for our bedroom but we are good and not too worried about it, it is a mix and match kind of apartment. We didn't choose any of it but we like it.

This is our bedroom.                                                       Kitchen.

  
                                                                            T.V room.

                     Dining area.                                                                 Spare bedroom.