DAY 228

Today was the day of the Diwali party at work. We didn't go - I was too tired after travelling back from Punjab and I've got a cold ... and Oz wanted to go trick or treating instead. I love these patterns though. Tamsin - they remind me of your cake :-)

DAY 227

After we had finished work for the day we went to visit a nearby gurudwara or Sikh temple, that was built on the site where in the early 1700s two young boys were bricked into a wall, alive, by the Mughals for refusing to convert from Sikhism to Islam. They were nine and seven years old. Pretty crazy.

DAY 226

It's sugar cane season in the state of Punjab (Chandigarh is the capital). These men are making and selling gur on the side of the road - a raw form of sugar. Very popular in the winter apparently, to 'warm your body from the inside'.

DAY 225

Chandigarh is famous for a) being a planned city (India's equivalent of Milton Keynes) and b) its rock garden, created by an artist called Nek Chand, with sculptures made mostly out of recycled industrial waste.

DAY 224

While I travelled to Chandigarh, Ed and the kids went to see the Indian Formula 1. Apparently it wasn't quite as exciting as they had hoped. And they didn't get to see Jenson Button.

DAY 223

Hot chocolate at The American Diner. Almost as good as La Strada.

DAY 222

When I jumped out to take a photo of this, the man in the car next to us said 'What's so special about that?'

DAY 221

These lilies reminded me that we really need to try and go to Kashmir this time while we are here. At certain times of year, Dal Lake in Srinigar is carpeted with them. It must be amazing.

DAY 220

We also pass the beautiful Safdarjung Tomb on the way to school. We can just glimpse it over the wall and it always looks so magical.

DAY 219

On the way to the kids' school, we pass another school that has this statue of Rama in the grounds. You just see it through the fence, but today the gate was open so I snuck in to take a photo. Rama is an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and the hero of the Ramayana which I mentioned on Day 216.

DAY 218

Ed went up to the train station today to look into buying tickets for our Christmas trip to Goa. He took this of these guys selling everything you could possibly need for a long train trip. Look closely and you will see: padlocks, chains to use the padlocks on, razor blades, batteries, pens, hair clips... and of course packet paan, which isn't actually called that but I can't remember the right word. Little packets of mild stimulant/chewing tobacco - all hanging on the front of the stalls.

DAY 217

In the absence of any other photos to share from Delhi, I give you one last picture from our beloved Pushkar. Just as well, as I realised I hadn't actually shown you the lake, which is its primary feature. The tallest hill in the distance is the one we were on top of in this picture on Day 209.

DAY 216

These statues were outside a temporary shrine that was being set up for the festive season in Delhi. Diwali is almost upon us: the Hindu festival of lights and the celebration of Rama, Sita and Lakshman's return to their kingdom. If you're not familiar with the story of the Ramayana there's a good summary of it here.

DAY 215

One last photo from Pushkar...

DAY 214

I love this photo ... taken by Ed, in Pushkar.

DAY 213

I'm breaking my self-imposed rule of not posting photos of a place that we're not in on the days that they are for ... if that makes sense. But Pushkar is such a lovely place for taking photos and I haven't taken any in Delhi this week so ... here you go.

DAY 212

Things I love about India #212: lettering on signs. This is a good photo of the different types of signs and lettering styles that you can see all over the place but the prize has to go to the lassi cart for the best design and use of colour. Thank you Mr Lassi Wallah!

DAY 211

Today's photo has been chosen by Oslo. This is a small temple for Hanuman - the monkey god that helps Rama and his brother Lakshman as they rescue Sita from the demon Ravana.

DAY 210

Josie: this one is for you. Happy birthday and wish you were here.

DAY 209

We're in Pushkar for the weekend - a beautiful town set around a holy lake in Rajasthan. Ed and I have been coming here for years and it's funny being back here with the kids. It hasn't changed much since we were last here with Louie when he was one and a half.

DAY 208

I also love the curly Tamil script. I've got no idea what this says. It's on the side of a bus.

DAY 207

I'm in Chennai for work. There are many things that I like about Chennai, including the style of temples. This is the roof of one near the office. 

DAY 206

It's not a very exciting photo, but if you know my mug collection you will appreciate how excited I was about this ironing board that Ed found in the market. Thinking about importing them to sell on Catherine Hill.

DAY 205

This packet of crisps made my day today. 'Choice of millions' - in India it's probably almost definitely true. Tens of millions. Hundreds of millions.

DAY 204

DAY 203

Ed has discovered another market near our house which is very different to the one with the frozen yoghurt place. This man was dying cloth to match the swatch that someone had brought him (just behind him in the photo).

DAY 202

... and they came home to find an unexpected visitor just outside our house.

DAY 201

Meanwhile back in Delhi, the boys have discovered a frozen yoghurt parlour in our nearby market ...

DAY 200

No paddling, no drinking, no lying on benches, no damage of plants, no climbing, please keep clean, no hawking, no spitting, no unattended bags or articles. Got it.

DAY 199

This is the view from my hotel window. I like the two tone taxis. You can just see the harbour in between the buildings on the top left.

DAY 198

I've skipped a few days just to keep it up to date, but I'll go back and fill in the gaps when I'm back in Delhi. I'm in Hong Kong! Again! October 1st is National Day in China (and therefore Hong Kong). Apparently it's a tradition to have protests on this day, including this one by Falun Gong that I saw downtown.