Damp Camping

Well, here we are in Tenzin's damp little house watching the pouring rain. Actually, we had a little sunshine today. The roof is leaking but like a miracle the bed is safe. Having our own kitchen has improved the kids' eating habits a lot. Still, it's pretty much like a camping trip right now. We have done a lot of house cleaning, etc. I think we must take a holiday from it and go to Mysore for a few days. Tonight are the quarter finals but I can't watch them. No TVs in the monk quarters. Tenzin slipped out to the new camp to watch though. We'll post a picture of the house later.

Fresh coffee

Finally we managed to check out the house. It's small but (Indian) clean and we can use two rooms. One is rather big with a high roof. There's a small kitchen and sort of a garden outside. The toilet is in a separate little hut with an Indian WC and only cold water. Construction work is going on next to it and pieces of rocks and cement keep hitting the roof. But it's better than the guest house. The only other person living there is Tenzin who studies at Sera Je Monastery. A nice guy. Most of the houses in the area are semi-detached and we are totally surrounded by monks. Then we went to the nearest town, Kushalnagar, to buy bed linen, pilllows, buckets, towels, etc and dumped it at the house. We will move in tomorrow. It will be a lot better for the children's food habits since we can cook our own food. I also found a coffee roaster and grinder in town. I mean, this is the #1 coffee growing district with plantations all over the place. Bought a kilo of premium fresh coffee and it smells good...

Monsoon stifles beach plans

Haven't had much opportunity to get on line during the past few days. In Mysore we called someone on the coast to find out about the weather. It seemed to be OK so we decided to get over there. In the first day we reached Muthanga National Park in Wayanad. We went inside in the evening and spotted some animals like wild elephants, bison, spotted dear and some monkeys. We stayed in a traditional house converted into a guest house in Tholpetty (Pachyderm Palace). As the only guest we were well taken care of by the manager/cook/guide Venu. Then it strated to pour. It's the monsoon after all. Still we pushed on to the Keralan coast where we stayed in an old weaving mill (Costa Malabari). When the raining ceased for a while in the afternoon we got some time on the beach. But the sea was too wild to even get close to. It must be a wonderful place to be in January. No signs of better weather so after only one night there we drove all the way back to Bylakuppe in Karnataka where my work is. It took seven hours with rain mostof the time. The children took it well, although they were disappointed to miss out on the swimming. After we arrived to the guest house in Sear monastery Esbjorn ate some noodles and was sick all night. Probably egg allergies. But he recovered the next day. The choice of food at the restaurants is really limited so we need to find cooking facilities pretty soon. I have looked at a place but it is probably to noisy. It looks like we will stay in my friend Thubten's house but we have not yet had an opportunity to check it out. There have been many other things to sort out such as police registration. I have been at the police office twice without managing to finish it off. Everytime they ask for another document. Bribes don't help. At least the SP signed, stamped and registered our permit today. All they need now seems to be passport size photographs. The two rooms we rent at the guest house are large and airy but a bit dirty. Anna and the children sleep in one room with the mosquito net and I have to sleep alone in the other and fight them off. Topay we did half of the laundry but it takes a long time to dry it in the humid climate. Subramanya, my research associate, has not been able to get me a SIM card yet so today I got my own. I will post the number later. When we read the email today Alice was happy to find emails from her friends Ellen and Linnea (and a photo of the former). I wanted to post some images but I think the connection s too crowded for upload right now. Maybe tomorrow...

Mysore day 1-4

Nu maste vi ga over till engelska da det bara finns sadana tangentbord i Indien.

After a very long and hard journey we arrived in Mysore on 18 June. The flight came into Bangalore around 5 in the morning and we had to sit at the railway station and wait until 11 for another two hours journey to Mysore. Subramanya met us at the station and drove us to Green Hotel (www.cardaid.co.uk/greenhotel). It's a good and safe place in the outskirts of town where I have stayed many times. It used to be a small summer palace and then a film studio until it becam a hotel with an ecological profile. We are staying in a cheaper annexe, though.

The second day we didn't do very much except rest, and buy some things that we had forgotten to pack. There is a shopping street near the hotel that is a lot less intense than the downtown arcades. Alice and Esbjorn is still eating only french fries, white rice, serials and bread- more or less- and also some nuts. It takes some time to get used to Indian food.

The third day (Tuesday) we visited the Maharaja's palace. Apart from the imposing building it's not much to see really. It was built about a hundred years ago and designed by a British architect. All the Indian tourists wanted to take photographs of Alice and finally we had to start saying no in order to get anywhere at all. Her blond hair and white skin is attracting attention. It bothers her but not that much.

Today we wanted to go swimming but the pool was too deep for Esbjorn and Alice. Instead we did some more shopping and internetting. The weather is pretty good despite the monsoon with rains mainly during the night. We decided to use that opportunity and go straight to Kerala for a week. First to a nature reserve in the montains (Western Ghats) and then to the beach near a town called Kannur. Both of these places can be checked out at www.costamalabari.com. Last night I stayed up to watch Sweden play England. The game started at 00.30 here. What a drama. Sweden played well in the second half, I think, but none of the strikers (except Allback) are at their best.

Packat & klart

Tre minuter över midnatt. Packning och städning klart. Timers på fönsterlamporna. En hård dag med skolavslutning och Esbjörns sista dag på dagis. British Airways kan inte garantera att de kan servera äggfri mat så vi får ta med oss alla Esbjörns mål.

Monsunen har nått Mysore

Tre dagar kvar. Monsunen har kommit till Mysore med regn och åska. Inget väder för en strandsemester, alltså. En fördel är i alla fall att nattemperaturen går ned.

Bra kalas

Esbjörns kalas gick bra. Det var strålande väder och det mesta gick lugnt till. Sedan var det fotboll. Matcherna så här lång har varit en besvikelse, tycker jag. Hoppas kvaliteten förbättras fort. Verkar som om monsunen når Mysore nästa vecka.

En vecka kvar

Jaha, nu är det bara en vecka kvar tills vi åker till Indien. Vad behöver man ordna innan dess? Fotbolls-VM är det ju också och i morgon har Esbjörn kalas. Jag har lite ångest över att lämna huset i två månader.