This past weekend we took a quick trip 3 hours south of Bangalore to a place called Georgia Sunshine Village. We took the trip with 3 other families, the Thornes, the Kiothi’s, and the Camerons. We tried our best to get an early start and only left 30 minutes after schedule on Saturday. On the way out of town we stopped at Kamat for breakfast of idly, dosa, pongal, and chai. Great as usual. Then he headed out with our bellies full and morning hunger satisfied.

On the way we passed through many sugar cane and rice fields. We even managed to get a fresh piece of sugar cane to eat.

We arrived in time for a swim in the ice cold pool, a quick refreshment, and then lunch. After lunch a few of the kids took a run around the property, which is really out there and far removed from civilization. As I was watching Elise and Eman made dirt balls, Preston and Jessica started yelling “we found a scorpion!” Since I was 20 yards away I was a bit worried that they might try to imitate their favorite outdoors man and local Herpetologist Gerry Martin who sometimes shows the kids snakes and scorpions. But the kids knew well enough to keep their distance. “The small ones are the most dangerous!” they kept saying. When I got over to them I saw that it was indeed one of the small ones.

It quickly zipped back and forth illustrating its speed then zipped down a hole. We lifted a couple more rocks after that, found a couple more lizards and centipedes that I was informed were poisonous then figured we had enough good luck for one day.

Later that night we all hung out around a bonfire and on the porch and played games. At one point I headed back to our room, which by the way, you could consider rustic as it had an all open air bathroom. I found out that night that an open air bathroom allows a simple means for…. whatever.. to enter your living area. As I walked into the bathroom with the lights still off (they were attracting these big mayfly looking things) I decided to use the facilities. I walked closer and there staring up at me from the bottom of the toilet was a squirrel! I had a hotel attendant come and fish him out. In one motion he grabbed the squirrel and tossed it over the wall never to be seen again.

The next morning a few of us grownups and kids went of a nice nature walk that included spotting lots of farming projects, villages, and even gave us some interesting river crossings. After breakfast we headed out to the real attraction of the area, the waterfalls.

Gaganchukki

We took a few quick pics here and moved on to the next set of falls, Bharrachukki.

The stairs down were steep and slippery

The scene at the bottom was “normal”

We took a coracle ride

One of the coracle tenders was a Slipknot fan I wanted to take him back up the van and let him listen to Slipknot on the iPod. I wasn’t to sure he had actually ever heard them.

We crossed the treacherous stream to teh other side of the falls with Preston on my back

With all the obligatory activities completed we started the arduous journey back up the steps. Elise hitched a ride on yours truly. A cool coconut water at the top to help catch our breath and we headed home. All in all, a great adventurous weekend.

Stacy joins the millions of Indian’s using “two-wheelers” as transportation. She hitched a ride with our cook, Mrs. Pinto, to a party up the block. Yes, that is a margarita in her hand.

The only thing my bike has to do with silk is that when I go for rides on Sundays I see a lot of strange things. I have seen this on a few occasions but I never took a picture.

That is a sideways picture of a Silkworm growing thing. I don’t know what else to call it. They are made out of dried palm or something and are covered with silk worms. There are Mulberry bushes everywhere which I learned is what they use to feed these little guys. Then when the worm makes its cocoon they toss it in boiling water or something like that so that they can pull the silk into long strands. Hmmmmm…..

After so much excitement during October with holidays, a trip to Hong Kong, and Halloween Preston almost forgot his birthday. He had a smattering of celebrations all month and even into November. A dinner here, a little party there, a sleep over with his friend Jess to round things out. He was extremely suprised when his present was revealed. He has taken up golf practice in the afternoons and is really starting to like it a lot. So in the interest of fostering good habits (that we can do together on Sundays I was all for his grandparents gift, a set of clubs. When he ‘opened’ them he was a little excited.

The picture doesn’t come close to conveying his reaction. He did forget to breathe briefly.

Here he is opening one of his cards from grandparents shipped all the way from the US.

Now he’s all set up and ready to hike the course. We just need some dry weather.

Happy Big 8 Buddy!

I would really be keeping up with my blog due diligence if I at least posted something.