Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The filling of the hole
The life-cycle of our hole continues. From pre-hole to hole to the very earliest stages of post-hole existence:
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Much Delayed Posts
After we got home we found all sorts of other priorities and didn't quite get back to the blog. So, finally, we've wrapped up the main series about our 4.5 months in Asia. New posts have been backdated because it helps us keep the timing straight. The new entries are:
- First day in India!
- Delhi to Agra; First Glimps of the Taj
- Agra: Taj Mahal and More!
- Jagroan
- Amritsar and the Golden Temple
- Jagroanian Pajamas
- Last call for Jagroan
- Chandigarh's Fantasy Rock Garden
- Bazaars of Chandigarh
- An Unexpected Trip To Jaipur
- Downtown Jaipur
- Outskirts of Jaipur
- Ending and Beginning
- Beijing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Pingyao (1, 2, 3)
- Xi'an (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- Chengdu (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Jiuzhaigou (1)
- Kunming (1)
- Yuanyang (1)
- Hong Kong (1)
- Phuket (1, 2, 3)
- Chiang Mai (1, 2, 3)
- Sukhothai (1)
- Thai Elephant Conservation Center (1, 2, 3)
- New Delhi (1)
- Agra (1, 2)
- Jagroan, Amritsar (1, 2, 3, 4)
- Chandigarh (1, 2)
- Jaipur (1, 2, 3)
Hole!
For some time we have owned a pre-hole. Last week while we were away in San Diego permits finally came through and we now have a full hole.
Sadly we do not have a moat so the black knight won't be entirely kept at bay. However, we do kind of have a castle wall. Or perhaps a convenient way to get close to the power line if you were inclined to swing from it?
The north-eastern gate gives access to the hole as well as providing some idea of what our view will be like.
The hole is more impressive when seen from within the hole.
From atop the southern fortifications you can see the odd L shape our neighbors lot makes around us.
Looking forward to seeing a slab go in and the structure begin to take shape!!
Sadly we do not have a moat so the black knight won't be entirely kept at bay. However, we do kind of have a castle wall. Or perhaps a convenient way to get close to the power line if you were inclined to swing from it?
The north-eastern gate gives access to the hole as well as providing some idea of what our view will be like.
The hole is more impressive when seen from within the hole.
From atop the southern fortifications you can see the odd L shape our neighbors lot makes around us.
Looking forward to seeing a slab go in and the structure begin to take shape!!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Almost Hole Poor!
To be "house poor" is to have a house you can't afford, such that your mortgage is consuming so much of your income you have to live like you are poor.
To be "hole poor" is then to have a hole you can't afford. We are approaching this stage: we have the precursor to the final hole (similar to a Nydus Network).
So far we have purchased an old duplex (seen here), knocked it down (seen here), and are now in the pre-hole stages (seen above, more pictures here).
As soon as a full hole is dug we will have achieved hole-poor! Lol.
To be "hole poor" is then to have a hole you can't afford. We are approaching this stage: we have the precursor to the final hole (similar to a Nydus Network).
Our Pre-Hole
So far we have purchased an old duplex (seen here), knocked it down (seen here), and are now in the pre-hole stages (seen above, more pictures here).
As soon as a full hole is dug we will have achieved hole-poor! Lol.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Of Dining and Cats
Nan Yao Tou, our beloved dining place, is apparently a wee bit shifty. During a conversation with a co-worker recently it came up that delicious cat was available! We didn't eat the specific item cited but god knows what wonderful things we *did* eat!!
The significant MSN conversation follows:
The source article is available google translated to English here, though it doesn't translate overly well.
The significant MSN conversation follows:
***** ******** says (6:04 PM):
oh
***** ******** says (6:04 PM):
that village we ate in every day
***** ******** says (6:04 PM):
there was a news article the other day
Rod says (6:04 PM):
"poisoned dozens"?
***** ******** says (6:04 PM):
the BBQ skewers of meat
***** ******** says (6:04 PM):
are made from dead cats
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
!!!
Rod says (6:05 PM):
LOL
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
nobody believed me until I showed them the webpage
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
good thing I never ate that
Rod says (6:05 PM):
did we eat bbq skewers there? I suppose many other things migth be cat too though. Do you have the article still?
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
it's in chinese...
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
but yes
***** ******** says (6:05 PM):
you can run google translate
Rod says (6:05 PM):
yeah
***** ******** says (6:06 PM):
http://news.xinmin.cn/rollnews/2010/03/08/3907937.html
***** ******** says (6:06 PM):
no we never ate it there.
***** ******** says (6:06 PM):
also anything with "hidden" meat was suspect
***** ******** says (6:06 PM):
like dumplings
Rod says (6:08 PM):
lmfao ... oh well, not sick so far !
The source article is available google translated to English here, though it doesn't translate overly well.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Ending and Beginning
On February 20th at something like 4am we got up and headed for the Jaipur airport. We flew to Chandigarh, caught a taxi to Aman's house, packed up stuff (particularly shopping) we had abandoned there, hung out for a few hours, and then in the late afternoon got into a car to be driven to New Delhi. Some six hours later we got to New Delhi airport and learned security wouldn't let us through without our printed boarding passes. Naturally we only had digital copies. We found the office of the airline, got a printout, got through pre-security, checked bags, went through actual security, and at around 1am sleepily boarded our British Airways flight to London.
On reaching London we met Rod's cousin, headed to her place, and basically shut down for a couple of days. Travel in India wore us out, probably through the constant stress more than anything else, and our Jaipur to Chandigarh to New Delhi to London route finished us off. Lest we give the wrong impression, we had a great time in India and will absolutely go back (knowing what we are in for :)
In England we visited family a great deal, ate familiar food, had a family re-union with a bunch of very rarely seen relatives on Rod's side, and generally relaxed. After the stress of travel and living in China this was kind of like paradise. Signs in English, people who we can talk to without issue, familiar food, relatively little air pollution, family taking care of just about everything requiring any degree of thought, really no concerns at all! We did squeeze in some minor touristy things (The Mousetrap, etc) but this final leg of the trip was really about recovering energy levels and visiting long unvisited family. During this time the camera was apparently almost totally unused so no endless stream of photos this time.
On March 1st we flew from London to Reykjavik to Seattle to Vancouver and finally got home. This substantially longer route home was less than half the price of flying direct and covering less miles consuming less jet fuel.
Vancouver naturally welcomed us home with some splendid weather :)
On arriving home we settled into Pavan's parents house as we gave up our apartment when we left for China and will not likely have a place of our own until our construction project (demolishing and rebuilding an older duplex) is done. Oh and we're getting married July 24th. So we'll be somewhat busy.
On reaching London we met Rod's cousin, headed to her place, and basically shut down for a couple of days. Travel in India wore us out, probably through the constant stress more than anything else, and our Jaipur to Chandigarh to New Delhi to London route finished us off. Lest we give the wrong impression, we had a great time in India and will absolutely go back (knowing what we are in for :)
In England we visited family a great deal, ate familiar food, had a family re-union with a bunch of very rarely seen relatives on Rod's side, and generally relaxed. After the stress of travel and living in China this was kind of like paradise. Signs in English, people who we can talk to without issue, familiar food, relatively little air pollution, family taking care of just about everything requiring any degree of thought, really no concerns at all! We did squeeze in some minor touristy things (The Mousetrap, etc) but this final leg of the trip was really about recovering energy levels and visiting long unvisited family. During this time the camera was apparently almost totally unused so no endless stream of photos this time.
On March 1st we flew from London to Reykjavik to Seattle to Vancouver and finally got home. This substantially longer route home was less than half the price of flying direct and covering less miles consuming less jet fuel.
Vancouver naturally welcomed us home with some splendid weather :)
On arriving home we settled into Pavan's parents house as we gave up our apartment when we left for China and will not likely have a place of our own until our construction project (demolishing and rebuilding an older duplex) is done. Oh and we're getting married July 24th. So we'll be somewhat busy.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Outskirts of Jaipur
February 19th was our last real day in Jaipur as our flight out on the 20th was in the early morning. We grabbed breakfast and headed out with our all-day auto-rickshaw. First we headed out towards Jaigarh Fort. The auto-rickshaw wound its way painfully up the reasonably steep road towards the fort. At one point we stopped and got a nice peek out at the water palace from the road.
As we pulled into Jaigarh Fort we began to notice it was really frikken hot. Luckily the price for chilled beverages inside was ludicrous by local standards, meaning roughly on par with a good quality grocery store in North America.
Some of the views from Jaigarh look out of walls along ridges, very similar to what we saw at the Great Wall (see post).
Other parts of Jaigarh make one really appreciate good old fashioned North American soft drinks. Bad for you or not, nothing beats the first sip of really cold Coke on a really hot day.
For no reason we ever discovered one part of the fort encloses a rather useless looking patch of rocky ground and desert shrubbery.
Jaigarh also contains the Jaivan Cannon, a monstrous old-style gun powder cannon that could throw a ball 10+km (10 is the lowest claimed range). One has to imagine it was horrendously inaccurate but perhaps if it ranged far enough to hit something large and immobile (say a castle) you could gradually adjust aim and hit something.
Just as we were getting ready to leave we realized a narrow passageway led back into a kind of garden palace complex.
From here one can get a nice view down on Amber Fort.
After this we headed for Amber Fort. From the roadside along the way you can get a nice view of how Jaigarh (left) overlooks Amber (right).
The entrance to the Amber Fort is not entirely without pigeons.
In front of Amber Fort sits a remarkable garden in the midst of a dry former artificial lake. This must have been magnificent when filled!
The way to the entrance is baking. The shade when you finally reach the gate is wonderful.
Around the fort are some fairly interesting looking less maintained structures.
Once inside a flight of steps and the requisite fancy archway guide you further back into the fort. Amber is quite substantial.
Many of the interior doors are pretty impressive too.
Amber Fort has a Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) near a nice garden.
The pillars and interior surfaces are painstakingly decorated.
Once up on the walls you can look up to Jaigarh.
On our way down Pavan started chatting with some of the elaborately dressed visiting ladies and we wound up swapping pictures.
One last look and time to go.
Outside a new type of monkey was enjoying some coconut.
On the way back we stopped for a glimpse of the water palace but unfortunately it was closed for renovations and we couldn't enter.
Along the shores salesman offered head-born goods.
After this we headed home to rehydrate and have some dinner, despite our auto-rickshaw drivers enthusiasm for taking us to shopping facilities. On the morning of the 20th we had to get up at something like 4am to fly to Chandigarh so we crashed early.
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