Wedding vibes in Phuket

The previous post in this series is here..

Day 8 of our trip saw us say bye to Chiang Mai and go to Phuket.

Air Asia was interesting. The lines were long but moving along. When it was our turn we found the one checked bag was 4 kg overweight. The lady at the counter said we would have to pay 40 bucks anyways, so might as well adjust and check in the carry on bags for that price. So we checked everything. This was a direct flight and we were hoping that our bags show up with us when we get to Phuket.

We got picked up at the airport and had an almost 2 hour drive to the JW Marriott Khao Lak resort and spa.

After checking in we realized it was already time to join the Mehendi party.. so we cleaned up, took some pictures and walked to the beach where I was treated to smiling familiar beautiful faces. The whole gang was there and we were just so happy to be there! Accidentally ended up twinning with my buddy, the grooms dad! He keeps his social media profile at near zero levels.. but at least I get to post one photo! We were also so happy to see the bride and groom! These two kids made us so happy with the way they kept it cool for all of us!

There was a fire show and dinner and we called it a night when it got a little chilly. We had our first argument on the trip after 8 days when the smell of the mehendi shut down my nose and lungs and San refused to wash it off before coming to bed citing that the redness of the mehendi had a higher priority over my lungs.

One evening back with her friends and my lungs went down on the priority list.

Had to resort to a vicks inhaler to just breathe again and sleep. The next morning she was very happy with the end result and given she was smiling from ear to ear, I temporarily let go of the animal cruelty..

Many of my friends from Cupertino also told me to put my camera away and just enjoy the wedding.. so I took a few photos with my iPhone and that was it.

Here is a video highlight reel..

My screen time for this week is through the roof.. but it looks like I will finish writing about the Thanksgiving trip before Christmas and that is a good thing!

4th of July Fireworks in COVID times

We wrapped up the BIL's family visit with an entire day at Great America theme park which finally ended with some amazing fireworks..

Given all the walking San had done to that point, she was now on a cast and in a wheelchair. So that was interesting in itself. Great America is not designed to be friendly for people who have casts but the kids who manned the rides did their best to accomodate. They gave a list of rides that were safe for her and we took her only on those rides. San was actually smiling most of the time she was being wheeled around.. the irony of the situation was also making me laugh every now and then!

Great America is a poor mans Disney.. and you get to see that the poor man who visits this park is at least 3 sizes larger than the average person visiting Disney. 4 of 5 people you cross are walking with a struggle, are obese and in general show poor health just by looking at them. We saw many rides go down because the rides got stuck or people got stuck in the seats and had to be retrived. That apart, we went on a handful of rides which were in general safe and were not going to get stuck. BIL, me and Jr. spent one hour on a line when they shut it down and sent us back. We still put on a smile and went about the rest of the day.

The place is beautiful with all the fountains and floral arrangements.. 

The smile from the kids made up for all the standing in lines and josting for space with the wheelchair.

While Jr., the little one and BIL made it through some of the risky rides, the rest of us split up and did different things. My MIL and me went on the rotating tower and got a birds eye view of silicon valley. My old office is right behind this part and my new office was also visible. 

the day ended with fireworks. We got great shots on an iPhone with the right setting.. 

A few shots of the fireworks in a slide show.. Most of them were taken on an iPhone

 

and a video of the highlights of this day trip.

We had a great time the entire day, except for the exit out of the park. The design of the exit and the procedure leaves a sour taste.. Everyone was trying to exit the park after fireworks. There were no traffic cops to get any order. It was a free for all towards the exit after being in a gridlock for 1 hour. Finally we made it out and home closer to 11:30 PM when the fireworks had ended at 9PM and we had sat in our car at 9:15! It is a 15 minute ride back home on a normal night! If there is one thing they could fix immediately, it is the directing of vehicles out of the park.

Our hope is that we eventually make it to Disney with the kids(?! at heart) soon, once the delta variant makes its exit. Till then, we will always have memories of this Great America trip, when it comes to roller coasters, fireworks and parking lot exits! 

Moneys worth for a local day well spent!

Celebrating Deepavali in India

It has been 25 years since I was in India for a Deepavali ! You can celebrate all you want in the US of A with family and friends, but somehow nothing comes close to being in India on Deepavali day!

On a whim, got last minute tickets to go to India straight from my business trip and spent the weekend in Chennai. I have spent 3 days with my parents in the last two years and made a promise that will go see them even if it was a solo trip without wife and kids and even if it was only for a weekend. Glad that I made it.

San got me tickets on Air Asia. That was an interesting thing in itself. These guys take the Airbus flying quite literally. It is like a local "bus" ride in the "Air". They take this "low cost airline" concept to an all new level. An unnecessary security check within their own gates to throw out my water bottle and then charge for water on the flight! It was an all time low on my flying experience list. Once I reached Chennai and got a bear hug from my niece, that was temporarily forgotten. 

Then I got to see my dad, which was one main reason for going. He has tremors now and is conscious of it. So he doesn't come to the phone or skype often. That said, he manages it pretty well. He knows when he cannot talk and stays silent and is very meditative. When the tremors subside, he is normal and goes about his usual activities. 

He asked me to take pictures of him this time...

Then there was our second failed attempt at recreation of the old picture routine.. 

Lots of fireworks! 

Lots of fireworks.. 

I taught my nephew how to hold an oothubaththi to a Kuruvi vedi and that experience alone was priceless. The poor kid had fractured his arm and was just out of his cast, but was so hyped up that he was running around the terrace with me in all that excitement. 

He reminded me of someone all the time... me!

My niece did my hair and make up as part of Diwali and I sat through it patiently thinking "my sister used to comb my hair for hours, then my kids did it.. you are probably the last one to get the experience of combing my hair as there is not much left to comb these days!"

Fireworks are not the same anymore from when we were kids.. They sell these fireworks where each piece is like a long tube and they are like 4th of July fireworks, expensive and fancy. 500 rupees for just one piece but very nice. The entire city was lit up with these things! It was non stop from every roof top. Just an amazing sight to watch. The smiles on the kids faces.. it is something to see when every kid you walk by is just all smiles! 

Here is a video composite of the whole fireworks experience.. this doesn't even come close to being there!

(WARNING : the background noise in this video is very high !) 

Then there was the sweets and savories. My mom made sure that 177 yoga classes for the year were nullified in 177 minutes. To summarize "she kept me well fed" for the three days. By day two, I started saying "enough" before she even put anything on my plate, because she would continue to pile it on my plate for a good two seconds after my saying stop! Some things never change. Had just told my brother to lose weight and go do some yoga and he gave me a look and a smile that said "if you live with mom in the house, no amount of yoga is going to get your weight down". He was right. Have put on a good 5 lbs in 3 days!

If you are wondering how come I have eyes only for San.. look no further.. think there is a gene for that which gets passed on.. 

It has been one hectic but memorable trip! 

Heartfelt wishes, belated as they may be, for everyone's lives to be filled with light and happiness!