Here we come Austin (and Don)

We will be heading back home tonight. It's Saturday morning here. Honestly, here at the hotel, breakfast is included and is my favorite meal of the day! So see, I love breakfast, and apparently can be a morning person, but I just need someone to prepare it for me. Haha! 

This blog will host what all I can think to write about the remainder of our stay here this week, since my last blog. I'll be posting photos of our three choices of where we would like to live. Our real estate agent is negotiating them for us. Hmmm.. I think I'll start there. I'm sure you're all excited to see them, as much as I am excited to show them to you. So here goes: 

Choice #3 - at Palm Meadows in Whitefield - Unfurnished

That's Malini our real estate agent, standing in front of the house.

 Entrance into the house.

Looking out the entrance from inside the house.

Beautifully etched cabinet in kitchen.

Slightly blurry but it's the washer and dryer in the utility room.

Cabinet storage for giants (in the living space, ground floor).

By the way, in India and basically the rest of the world (outside the U.S.) people call the first floor the ground floor and the top floor is the first floor. So there ya go. Tidbit of info to carry with ya.

Storage space in garage. Yes, garage! It's the only house out of our choices that has a closed in garage.

View of outside of house, looking towards balcony.

 View of dining area. No, the fridge will be moved closer to the kitchen and yes, that is weird.

View of kitchen. Yes, it actually has an oven! Most houses here do NOT have ovens. The oven actually has a rotisserie in it too. Two of our house choices have ovens.

 Closet in one bedroom. 

Staircase to upstairs.

Living room on ground floor.

Upstairs family room. Near the family room is another room that is the study. 

I don't have a photo of that but what a great place for me to work. 

View of balcony from inside house.

Closet in Master bedroom.

Bath in Master bedroom. 

View of balcony from family room.

Guest bath upstairs. Entry from guest bedroom and family room.

Closet in guest bedroom.

Choice #2 - Prestige Ozone in Whitefield - Furnished

Living room.

Dining area and table (a bit blurry)

Back patio and garden area.

Garden area.

Guest Bedroom

Guest bathroom with shower (can add curtain)

Storage cabinet near dining table.

Kitchen (no oven)

Dishwasher and clothes washer, they'll add the dryer later.

Cabinets and microwave in kitchen.

Balcony from Master bedroom.

Other direction of balcony from Master bedroom.

Master bedroom.

Master Bathroom

Vanity in master bath.

Family room upstairs.

Looking downstairs into dining room and living area.

Looking downstairs into living area.

Couch in family room.

Looking out onto balcony from family room upstairs.

TV in family room upstairs.

One view from balcony.

Balcony off of family room.

Another guest bedroom.

Vikas, inspecting the closet storage in a guest bedroom.

Guest bathroom

Desk in master bedroom.

Couch in family room.

Vanity in guest bathroom.

Another view of guest bedroom.

Hot water geyser. Heats water as it flows through to give you hot water for sink and shower.

View onto patio from dining room.

View of front of house #2.

View of front of house #2.

Choice #1 - Prestige Ozone in Whitefield - Furnished

Small outdoor patio and yard.

View towards dining area, stairs and kitchen.

Powder bathroom in near entrance and living area, ground floor.

Living area

 Entrance

Small nook for dishes, etc... 

 Kitchen

Kichen (oven) 

 Utility area with sink and clothes washer.

Cabinets in utility/kitchen 

 Pantry

 Guest bedroom #1

 View to backyard from bedroom #1

Bedroom #1

Bathroom view from bedroom #1

Closet storage for bedroom #1

Vanity for bathroom in bedroom #1. 

Closet storage in bedroom #1. All closets have lighting when doors open.

View of family room from stairs, upstairs 

slightly blurry, family room with flatscreen TV

Couch in family room

Chandelier in family room (the main rooms all have them)

Guest Bedroom #2

Guest Bedroom #2

View of bathroom from bedroom #2

Master bedroom (wood floors)

Master bedroom closet

Master bedroom

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Master bathroom, fancy schmancy shower :)

Lighted stairs

Chandelier in dining area

Chaise lounge chair by patio window in living area

View of dining area

Garden on front step

Garden on front step

Front of house choice #1

Front of house choice #1

View from front of house

Garage (sun is making photo seem faded)

Ok, I know that's a lot of photos and if you made it this far then, thank you! I think we did well for the few days we had to find a place to live. Now let's hope the rest all goes smoothly. Things are still being negotiated by the real estate agent. We are also still not 100% sure which we really want but we think this is ordered the way we want it. I'm sure any of the homes will suffice. They are all very nice. 

I've taken many more photos and there's a lot more to write about but our day is coming to an end here. We need to get ourselves all packed up, have some wonderful dinner and get ready to head to the airport. I won't lie, it'll be good to get back to my bed and my cute lil poochie, Max. 

Then it will be time to focus on a last couple of projects for people, packing for the relocation and plenty of rest. I'll see many of you soon and if not, I'm sure I'll comment on your posts on Facebook or something. Take care everyone and remember to check for more posts in a few days. I have more photos to show. Good morning Austin!

Another day in Bangalore

More house hunting today. We are going to see many more than we did yesterday. We do have our minds set on one so far and it's really lovely. Marble floors, granite bathroom tiles, counters and walls, granite in the kitchen, beautiful balcony, and much much more.

I woke this morning about 6 am. My poor husband woke around 5 am and could not go back to sleep so, sweet person he is, he sat in the bathroom (pause for giggle because of picturing him in there) so I could sleep a bit more.

Once we know what house or houses we will be negotiating on, I'll try to get some photos on here of them.  It's weird because in my head, I'm still decorating our home in Austin and now I will be decorating our home away from home here in Bangalore. Crazy, but fun!

Here is a photo of our balcony at the hotel. I missed posting it in the previous post. 

So some of you might get this and some of you might not, but let me tell you, people here honk as if they do it with each breath. It's to let people know you are there or to get out of the way or watch out, etc..., but it still tickles me how often you hear it. The part that makes me laugh is that it's no surprise for me because I lived in Miami for 2 years and they honk almost as much if not just as much there. 

My thoughts are all over the place so this post will not follow any sort of time line. I want to write about things as they come to mind. Soon we will be leaving to look at more homes so I want to write as much as I can. 

Last nights dinner was another amazing meal. The chef even came to the table to say hello to my husband. Apparently, because he stays here for work, they know him well. Haha! Everyone at the hotel is so nice and quite impressive to say the least. I'll get to that in a minute when I talk about this mornings breakfast. Does it seem like I talk about food a lot so far? Well, there's a reason, it's been absolutely amazing! 

Below are photos from yesterday's breakfast, today's breakfast and last nights dinner. Breakfast is at a restaurant here at the hotel called MYNT and dinner is at a restaurant,  here at the hotel, called Masala Klub. 

We were headed to breakfast this morning and I heard the most beautiful flute music being played. I thought, "it's nice that they have this music playing over the speakers today, so lovely and peaceful". We come around the corner and I'm amazed to see there is a guy sitting in white, on a table with a white table cloth and a white umbrella, contrasting so beautifully with the greenery behind him. A moment I will say that I regretted not having my REAL camera. Next time we are here there will an amazing shot of this guy, guaranteed. He had a radio playing some music into a loud speaker and he played the flute. It was so beautiful and so nice to have breakfast to this morning. I definitely looked like a tourist photographing him with my little iTouch camera. Haha!

One of the tables at Masala Klub. The lighting is so pretty there.

My breakfast the previous morning at the restaurant, Mynt. I had already eaten the idlis. In the bowl is a dish called Sabji. It means vegetable. Here they basically call most dishes like this or dishes with vegetables only, Sabji. It's one of my favorite Indian foods and I love having it with fresh idlis. Yum! There is also bacon and fresh fruit, cantaloupe and kiwi. The kiwi is amazing here. Just right. 

Half eaten omelet with ham, mushroom, and cheese. On the side they put a seered tomato on top of a small round hash brown patty.

The restaurant, Mynt.

Yesterday evening, when we arrived back at our hotel from looking at houses, I was so tired it was a chore to keep my eyes open. When we came in our room though, there was a cute little surprise in our room. I've seen people created some amazing things with the towels in a hotel, but this by far is the most talented creation yet. Take a look below and yes, the flowers are fresh flowers. 

What a cute elephant! That is what I squealed when I saw it. He's still sitting on our couch in the hotel room. I can't find it in me to disturb it. I love looking at it. 

Later they also asked if they could bring us a little gift. A guy came and dropped off this little pillow/saché and put it under my pillow on our bed. It smells amazing. It's an aromatic pillow and it smells of neem oil and aloe vera, which seems to be a scent that is used widely here at the hotel. It is a WONDERFUL scent, very pleasing to smell and relaxing. 

Well, we will be heading out soon but I'll assuredly write more when we get back or more after breakfast tomorrow. Enjoy and please do feel free to leave comments. I love hearing what you think and asking questions. 

And the journey begins...

Hi everyone! It's 8:22 a.m. in Texas right now but here in Bangalore it's 6:54 p.m. We arrived last night/morning around 1 a.m. We were tired, but well rested since my husband was able to get our last leg of the flight, from Frankfurt to Bangalore, upgraded to Business class. Let me tell you something, there is just no other way to fly. Meals are created by renowned chefs. The food was amazing! See the photos below. The seating will recline in several different positions, included practically laying flat with enough room for a person to lay on their side. You have proper feather pillow and a nice comfy quilted blanket with a sheet sided lining. The airline we were on was Lufthansa.

Photos of food on plane:

Potatoes in tomato curry, saffron rice, and black lentils. Spicy fruit chaat on side. Raita (yogurt dish on the side for main dishes). Vermicelli kheer for dessert. 

Swiss Reclette with pickles and carrots. On the side, seasoned crawfish with seasoned rice pilaf. Dessert, chocolate mousse. 

The airport in Bangalore is about 3 years old and it's quite nice. In many ways, it reminded me a bit of Austin's airport, in size and newness. No, I didn't take any photos of it as it was 1 a.m. here and I was ready to get to the hotel and sleep sleep sleep.

We got to our hotel and all I can say is, Wow! It's so beautiful! We are staying at The Taj West End. You can see their website here: http://www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/City-Hotels/The-Taj-West-End-Bangalore/Overview.html

We were greeted with bows and greetings of Namasté. Namasté is a customary greeting of saying hello to someone when you meet them. You can also say Namasté when saying goodbye. It means peace and not it's not the peace as in deuces up yo, it's more like peace be with you. Although a good "peace out!" is good too sometimes. You bow slightly and have your hands together palm to palm. They also had a beautiful glass bowl filled with water, fresh jasmine flowers, and a floating candle in the center. The flowers smelled so pleasant. They gave us each a customary blessing for success and good health. I found that to be such a beautiful way to greet someone. If only that was a custom in so many other parts of the world. Well, we got ourselves checked in and then were driven to our villa and walked to our room door. The room is very nice. Photos below.

Writing desk, where all the blogs come alive. 

Sitting area. 

Room

Incense for us to use. 

Bathroom vanity.

In case you didn't notice in the photos, the room has fresh flowers throughout the room. Outside of the room are beautiful glass bowls of fresh flowers along the corridors which are outside.

Another thing when we arrived, there is tight security here as in most places. They check the vehicles thoroughly. This is a good precaution. I think security should be more like this everywhere. It would be a safer world and it would provide more jobs, but this is not a political blog, just an informative and fun one. Still, it was interesting to here them open the trunk, see them check under the car and check the car overall.

We did do some house hunting today. We saw four rent houses. All were nice, but two were especially nice. We have more to see tomorrow and I think we'll be closer to knowing what we want to go with. I'll write more later tonight about that part of our day. I'm still feeling a lot of jet lag so I think it's nap time. :)

Oh, a funny side note, when watching most English tv channels, such as movies and tv shows and sometimes news, there are English subtitles at the bottom. It's for those strong English accents (American and British) that people here might not understand. It makes me giggle though. I also find I end up staring and reading all the subtitles instead of watching the actual movie or show. Haha!

I'll write another blog later this evening. I have a few more photos to post. Yes, this trip, I am taking photos with my phone. This is a vacation in a way and so therefore I did not bring my Nikon. I will have more time later to do that. Ok, very sleepy so now off to get some sleep. More soon!

The countdown has begun...

The time is getting closer to our move. We will be going soon to look for our house on what is called the "look-see" trip. I'll post photos from that trip. We've already seen some photos of the areas we'd like to live and it's really nice and tropical.

Now it's all lists and lists and lists. The lists are all of things such as, what do we need, what things here that we can't get there do we want to bring, what clothes do I want to bring, what shoe, etc... Of course my husband is basically thinking, socks, shoes, shirts, pants, etc... toss in suitcase, board plane. LOL! Boy, he's going to laugh and comment about this post. That's okay, it's why we work together.

So that's really where things are right now. There isn't too much to blog about just yet, but stay tuned because there will be.

I'll be the girl on the plane reading books about South India and Bangalore. I stick out already, so why stop there. Mostly, I'm reading to books to learn about customs, traditions and especially great places that I want to see and photograph.

I have learned of a great organization called OWC, Overseas Women's Club. The provide groups of women travel from all over the world to India a place to get together in the types of groups that fit your style, from hanging out and doing yoga, crafting, having lunch and chatting, traveling and a lot more. It's also a great group because a lot of the women know the best people to hire, the best places to shop, to eat, and things like that. I'm sure it will be a very helpful. I would say to anyone who is traveling, to look for groups like this because I'm sure there will be great assistance in some way by doing so. You can find more info from the Bangalore OWC here: http://www.owcbangalore.org/

I also came across another woman's blog who is doing the same as me. You might want to check her blog out also. http://beinginbangalore.blogspot.com/

So that's all I have for right now, but by next week, there will be photos and stories to tell I'm sure. :)

I recently published a photography book for our, my huband and I's, travels in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. You can find it and view it here. Let me know what you think. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2324495