Xin Chao!

It's only been 2 days but already I've seen a world heritage site and eaten the most amazing food so I can't wait for the other 8 days remaining! Halong Bay is just stunning beautiful - the calm water, the limestone formations - I was too chicken to swim after being warned about the massive jellyfish but still awesome - the only thing was the 3 hr bus ride there and back for jsut 4 hrs there but still definitely worth it! There are some phenomenal pictures and a video but will edit all that when I get back! till then....google!
The people on the tour seem nice tho predominantly from the southern hemisphere - NZ, Oz and SA as well. I'm the lone ranger from a country above the equator - Sorry! the tour guide is from France so with all the different accents, I'm barely talking.
Looking forward to a more relaxed day today with a massage, water puppet theatre,a cycle tour of vietnam and of course - SHOPPING! I am going to make a list of all the things I bought and then if I go shopping during the rest of this year - kill me!

Holiday - Celebrate!

It's been 5 days already and I'm loving every minute of it! Of course, I'm broke by now - I was supposed to have $200 in 'reserve' - it has now been spent and I might be breaking into money for 'Nam! Luckily for me, against my mother's extremely sensible advice, I carried the credit card so if I like something, Charge it, baby!!

I have only reached HKG as yet so spending quality time wit Cousin, baby, BFF and the bride [this time in person, not on chat!]...done loads of shopping, eaten yummy south east asian authentic cuisine, hit the clubs, saw the red light area - I'm just going to list it all out!

• Dinner at the Bride's friend's house
• Snack at Thai hut
• singaporean lunch
• Wan chai market
• Prince Edward Market
• Lunch at the football club
• Sneaker street in Mong Kok - spent 3 hrs over her looking for Onitsuka tigers and no they are not big bugs as suggested by my cousin in law!
• Wan chai clubbing area - also the red light district
• Lang Kwai Fong
• Causeway bay
• got my hair straightened
• North point

So many things!! So much fun! and tho I am missing home  - it's a l'il bit! I would rather like to have the boy here with me than be at home with the boy!

Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa.....

butI jaano one thing - I want Imran Khan - I'm dying to put him in my showcase - Ideally I would like to do more but having certain restrictions due to the boy - I have gotten permission to put him on display - Still it's one step on the ladder - who knows where it can go from here? He makes me want to stalk him!
but Certainly, the movie is certainly feel good!The setting, the clothes, the people, the story and the music...is fantastic. I've seen the movie twice in one weekend and I have to admit, the first time I might have focused more on 'Jai Singh Rathore - Ranjore ka Rathod' than the movie but still enjoyed it. The second time I saw it with the boy and he loved it - he is counting it in his top 20 and if he says it, then it must be good. It is really well made from the dialogue to the clothes to the acting. I cannot enthuse more about this film - I put up the photie of Imran Khan so you can see how drool worthy he is! Hee hee - there is this gujju character in the film with oakley's and parakeet hair! All the boy needs to do now is dye various parts of his hair blond on different days!

I attended a friend's engagement in Delhi on Saturday and he was dancing up a storm in his joy. The girl is really sweet and I suspect they are going to be extremely happy together. However I was in awe at the transformation over the years - he came from what he terms a small town to campus where he thought most of us were strange espescially the women - my god! we drink,we smoke and we wear clothes like that!! And that day, his general demeanour reminds me forcefully why it's wonderful that we live in an India of today, where we appreciate our small town roots and sensibilities and can still embrace a 'western' culture. It's no longer shameful that people speak Hindi instead it's infra dig if you don't!!I love living in a world where we cross a chasm of difference like it's a crack in the paving - it can be viewed by some people as bad luck but for most people it's just another step!

Back in the day...

I have just taken an enforced walk down memory lane - friends, and I use the term loosely, have put up photies of us from college and all the mad things we used to do. As I saw them, I had a pinch of nostalgia for the fun times we had , intense amusement at the clothes we used to wear but more than anything else,I felt extreme and utter horror at the hair we used to have!! I for one looked like a boy in quite a few of the snaps - the short hair and the jeans look does not work for me at all - even girls who have beautiful hair had these haircuts that do nothing for them!
The fashion statements are extremely hysterical tho - checks were obviously the coolest thing, we had them in all the colors and one girl in particular had them in every single color! The next was the bright colors - I'm still partial to them but not the colors and the prints at the same time - a friend had bright orange with smiley faces - I'm still convinced she wore her nightsuit out in public. We also had reflector glares - those shiny mirros don't transalate well in photies!! But one thing does come out in those photographs - the good times we had still generate enough goodwill that 12 very different girls who have had their fair share of fights, still manage to get together and laugh over who they used to be and enjoy who they are now with each other! In the very many comments that the girls have posted on the photies, there was a very true statement made, we were like grapes back then and we have all matured into very FINE WINE!