Travelling Kiwi

Hello INDIA! (again)

julia — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:50:40 +0000

After a fairly uneventful journey from Bangkok, I am back in India. This is my 3rd trip to India and once again I am here to study yoga with my teacher in Mysore. My flight got in at 11.30pm last night so I got a hotel near the airport and I am currently relaxing in Bangalore before travelling to Mysore (it is a 3-4hr journey). Its pretty cold in India at the moment but here in Bangalore it is still warmer than a NZ summer. I think its going to be a great month!

The view from my hotel room

Breakfast Indian Style

So, the plan for today is to get a driver to take me to Mysore. I’d usually prefer to take the train (more interesting), however my bags are heavy and I don’t want to risk hurting my hip before I start the yoga.

Yes, the hip…. as some of you know, a couple of years ago I tore a ligament and the labrum in my hip joint (gym accident). I had surgery in Oct 2010 and was expected to make a full recovery within 3-4 months. A year after my surgery I still hadn’t managed to get back to full activity. In October, after a series of events (incl sailing, a drunken walk home and pushing through the pain) I ended up in hospital. This put me back to square one of my recovery. Its been a few months now and I am hoping that some gentle yoga, curry, warm weather, fresh coconuts and sunshine I will be able to make some good progress on my recovery. I’d be very happy if I could get past this speed-bump and get my active lifestyle back. But, I am trying hard not to have any expectations so that I can avoid disappointment if the yoga doesn’t work out. I figure, worst case scenario if the hip doesn’t want to play the game I will have a lovely holiday in India and hang out with my international yogi friends.

Right, I better pack my bags. In the next few days I will update the blog as its been a while and I have two trips to Thailand to write about.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Filed under: India, Yoga

The Thai Cat Museam

julia — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:46:48 +0000

So, on Pats recommendation we visited the Thai Cat Museum on the way home from Hua-Hin. I am not sure how I feel about this museum, there were many cats and they were all in small cages. On the plus side, this man breeds the cats for sale in Thailand and internationally. So he is doing a lot to keep some of the rarer breeds of Thai cats alive and I am hoping the cats in cages are young and will be in homes very soon.

Here are some photos.

Filed under: Thailand

The Vintage Market at Hua Hin

julia — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:42:21 +0000

We checked out the vintage market at Hua Hin, VERY cool market. It was mostly full of Thai tourists and is based on an old-style market design and a lot of the stalls are themed appropriately. I bought some vintage (but hopefully fresh) sweets for my colleagues, a little robot (not sure why) and took plenty of photos. At 7pm (or 6pm) the National Anthem played and in respect to the King everyone stopped what they were doing and stood in silence. I’ve been in places before in Thailand where this happens however the atmosphere of the market made it seem even more special.

Filed under: Thailand

Resting up in Hua Hin

julia — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:49:36 +0000

I spent almost week in Hua Hin with the family before heading to India for my month of yoga therapy. This was good because after the flight from NZ I needed some R&R to give the hip a chance to settle down again.

Dad booked us into a lovely resort which was hard to find but lovely. Several steps up from my usual standard of accommodation! I spent a lot of time reading, lazing by the pool and eating AMAZING thai seafood.

Hua Hin is a lovely wee beach town on the coast south of Bangkok. The beach isn’t as spectacular as some of the islands in southern thailand but its nice enough. I think it took us 3hours to drive from Dad’s place. Hua Hin is MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer than pattya, it has all the resorts and tourist attractions but is a lot less seedy. I really liked it.

Here are some photos and a link to more info about Hua Hin.

Filed under: Family, Thailand

Meet Pat’s Cats

julia — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:56:29 +0000

I was very excited that I could catch up with the family in Thailand AND meet my sister Pat’s cats. She has two little kittens, the white one is called ‘Morning’ and the other one is ‘Sompaan’. Morning is also known as Ling Kaow which means white monkey, he gets this name because he climbs the curtains to try and catch the gekkos! As you can see, they are very very cute cats.

Filed under: General