A Farewell in Flowers......

We would like to say that this sign was for our farewell when we arrived at our favourite Terraced Garden for our final there jog today.

But of course we knew that this had to do with the big Chrysanthemum Show that was beginning today.  We understand that it usually happens a little later in December, but the stars aligned and we were able to see a bit of it.

Preparations have been ongoing for the past few weeks.

Please enjoy the displays while I ramble on.

Yes, today marks the end of our wonderful adventure in India.

Late afternoon today we will fly from Chandigarh to Delhi, spend six hours there before catching our next flight (10 minutes past midnight) to Beijing.  After seven hours in Beijing, we will begin the 10.5 hour flight to Vancouver.  So, 10:30 am on Saturday morning we will be back in Canada after 31 hours of travel.

My purpose in writing a blog was to keep family and friends at home up to date on our life here in India.  That way, they wouldn't avoid visiting us when we returned thinking that they were going to have to sit through hours of boring photos and stories.

There are many more unpublished photo so that is still possible.

I thought about updating maybe once per week.

Two surprises awaited me:

1.  The days were so full of experiences that daily blogs became the norm, and
2.  Other people were interested and the readership grew.  To date, I have had over 14,500 page views from people in 15 to 20 countries.  I know that many of them have come upon the blog by accident--maybe searching for a chat site?

Thank you everyone who made comments and sent emails.  Unfortunately, the capability of  comments was not available to everyone.  Several businesses were able to comment and wanted to capitalize on the audience to promote their product.  Clever of them really but it wasn't my intent!  

Back to the Chrysanthemum Show for a moment.  I now realize that what we call Dahlias and Marigolds are all part of the same family.  Some displays in the park reminded me of Alana's yard in August!

Some of the displays had to be repaired a bit today as last night, the wind and rain came with a vengeance!  George said even the Gods were weeping because we were leaving India today.

So, is this my version of "the last post"?

Some students have asked would I keep blogging when I returned home.  I said my life at home is not quite as exciting as it has been here so it could be really boring.  "Today I washed my floors!"

However, I have since thought that our "family" here might like to know something about our family and life in Canada.  With Christmas coming, we can share some of our celebrations with them.  

Chandigarh students who plan to come to UFV Abbotsford might be interested in that UFV campus and the classes George will meet in January.  Check occasionally for an update if you are interested.

We have many people to thank for this journey and hopefully we have done that.  I must pay tribute to something else that has been important to me over the past 15 weeks.  Yes, my computer!!  It has been a lifeline and I sometimes feel my fingers are permanently attached.  What would we do without email and Skype, and online newspapers and the ability to Google anything we need to know.  I often think of people like Mr. Kahlon who left this country and his young family many years ago to prepare a new life in Canada.  His long, long journey was followed by years of no communication.  How courageous he and others were!  I don't think I could have done that. 

There must be a song for this occasion--and the first line of John Denver's "Annie's Song" comes to mind.  We have heard this sung beautifully by Gurneet's friend, Michaelangelo Frances recently.
So, India, "You fill up my senses......"
Namaste!   Sat Sri Akal!  Till we meet again!

A Farewell Atop The Mountain.....

We have had so many wonderful experiences in India why would we not expect our farewell luncheon to be spectacular!

We drove toward the mountains on the Himalayan Expressway for about 40 minutes to Timber Trail.  There is a hotel and restaurant just off the highway but we boarded the tram to travel to the top of the mountain.

The ride was eight minutes long and took us to an elevation of 5000 feet.

We did bundle up expecting it to be cold.  It was!

Maybe this was Gurneet's way of preparing us for  our return to Canada.

Mushtaq was enjoying the scenery and planning which photos he would take.

This is the Shivalik Range of mountains--the outer Himalayas.

Homes and terraced farms dotted the mountainside.

You could see for miles around.  Beyond the mountains lie the plains on which Chandigarh sits.

Lunch at the top was in the restaurant of the more modest of the two hotels that are on the mountain.  Of course we had more delicious Indian food and the view was incredible.

After lunch, the hotel manager took us up further to the newer, five star property, Moksha Himalayan Spa Resort.

Adi's family has a hotel in Shimla and his father is a very prominent businessman.  His good friend owns the Timber Trail complex so we were given this special tour.

Jeevika tried out the sofa in the warm and comfortable lobby.

The girls posed in the breezeway leading to the spa.   The skies were cloudy but the vista was still quite awesome.

Adi posed by the hot tub in the spa.  There were two hot tubs and a swimming pool outside on the deck overlooking the valley.

Nobody posed in the spacious bathroom of the suite we were shown!

We thought we could hold a meeting in this huge space.

Gurneet has promised us a weekend at the elegant Moksha if we come back to Chandigarh for another term!!  (Please put that in writing, Gurneet.)

 

We rode in golf carts up to the higher level and around the large area of this complex.  No, Gurneet did not drive but he obviously would have loved to.

On the way back down to the tram, Mushtaq was busy taking pictures of me taking pictures of him.

Interesting that one of the carts is righthand drive and the other is left.

What a special treat to finish our time in India!  We had seen this hotel high atop the mountain when we were on our way to Shimla early in our stay but didn't expect to have an opportunity to visit it.

Back down to earth and back at UFV Chandigarh, George and I wanted to say thank you to those who have treated us so well.

As it has turned quite cold, we followed some good advice and presented the drivers and cleaning staff with warm blankets.  Borrowing from our First Nations people, we had a blanket ceremony.  Hopefully Anil, Radhe, Suresh and Harbans (and Brojinder) will remember us when they and their families are warm this winter.

There is no way to properly thank Team Anand-- Gurneet, Dilmeet, Simlee, Jeevika, Adi and Mushtaq--for their help and friendship over the past 15 weeks.  They have become our Chandigarh family and we hope to welcome them to Abbotsford at some point.

We did present them each with a pen to remind them that there was life before computers!

Our gift from them was a beautiful replica of the Golden Temple.

So, our packing is just about done and tomorrow afternoon we will start our long journey home.
Final farewells will not be easy!

12-12-12

An auspicious day, marked by the arrival at our house of this Nihangi Sikh!

He was brought to us by beautiful little Miss Daisy.  She is just seven years old and is a very polite young lady who has strong English language skills.

Daisy was accompanied by dad, Kamaljeet Singh Sidhu.  This is not the first unique gift delivered to us by Kamaljeet as you might remember the famous atta chicken.  We see the hand of our good friend Hardeep in this gift as well.

Earlier in the day, we ventured to Sector 17, the prime shopping area in Chandigarh.  We have spent very little time there, preferring to shop in the street markets and smaller neighbourhood shops.

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas in Sector 17.
(Sounds like a good line for a song!)

Generally, the shops are high end and not for price-sensitive people.  If you want to purchase a designer label, this sector is the place to go.

George finally found someone to polish his shoes.  Our neighbourhood shoe man seems to be on vacation these days.

Sector 17 is a very spacious area, free of traffic and contains many, many shops.

In the evening, we were treated to a delicious home cooked dinner downstairs with Mr. and Mrs. Sodhi, our landlords.

The Sodhis were very gracious hosts.  Mr. Sodhi is a retired Brigadier General.

We and the Brigadier General enjoyed a dessert of kulfi on a stick.

Mrs. Sodhi accepted the gift of flowers we offered.




Today was really the day to start packing suitcases--which we didn't do!!

Only two more sleeps so we had better get on with that tomorrow..........

Last glimpse of Jaipur.....

We began our last day in Jaipur with a leisurely breakfast in the rooftop restaurant at our hotel.

The buffet offered cereals, papaya, omelettes and toast as well as a selection of Indian food including parathas.

Guests were from many different countries.  I am not sure where this guy came from.

While some of us chose to stay and enjoy the art, architecture and ambiance of the hotel until departure time

one of us was beckoned back to bargain for bangles!

This was the scene as we came down the stairs to our floor.

I just assumed that in the hotel name, Umaid Bhawan, Umaid had something to do with the maid service.  Then I spotted this photo among the many historical photos in the hallway.  Umaid was actually a Maharaja! 

This was one of my favourite paintings.

We all got quite attached to elephants while in Jaipur.  We did see a few on the streets though the camels are the animal of choice for pulling carts.

Our hotel, like many locations around the city, honoured the Hindu gods.  We saw nothing of the Sikh religion which is very different from Chandigarh.

We would definitely recommend a stay at the Umaid Bhawan!

One last famous site in Jaipur that must be mentioned is Hawa Mahal, The Palace of Winds.  This was built in 1799 and is simply a structure from which the royal ladies could view the activities going on in the street.  Of course they were not to be seen so sat behind latticework.  We didn't go inside but I understand that the building is designed so that gentle breezes flow through all rooms.

By the time we reached the Jaipur Airport, we were finished with snapping photos!  So, this was taken at the Chandigarh Airport on our way to Jaipur.  Both airports are new, modern structures.  I was surprised at the lack of air traffic in Jaipur.  It is a huge, busy city that attracts tourists.  They must travel by train and bus.
Our flight to Chandigarh was a bumpy one hour and ten minutes, unlike the smooth ride we had on the way down.
For the benefit of my aircraft-loving brother who will ask for sure, the plane was a turboprop, 68 seater ATR 72-500.