ayurvedic yoga eco ashram ✨🌱

no words needed for this amazing 7 day ayurvedic retreat. ❤

just what i needed before returning to Seattle on January 28th. ☺

river near the ashram

home for the week

daily meditation by the river

bangaluru wedding 🖤

congratulations Krissti + Nikhil~           

sparklers upon entry! 🎆

it all lined up perfectly for us to attend Krissti + Nikhil's wedding in Bangaluru in January~!  i met Krissti from book club through Saraswati and Monica. grateful that we can attend and witness the beautiful love that Krissti + Nikhil have for each other!! can't wait to celebrate them in Seattle next!!! ❤☺

here are some photos from the two days of wedding events [January 17 - 18]. we attended the mehendi (pre-wedding) party the night before the south indian Brahmin wedding ceremony in the morning the next day. got up around 6:30 to get my sari drapped! and we had to get on the shuttle bus by 8AM to arrive to the venue by 9:30AM. 

henna at the mehendi party

Mehendi Party [01.17.2o23]

Wedding Day | January 18th, 2o23 ❤

breakfast during the wedding~

the bride + groom having lunch after the wedding~

Saraswati officiated the western wedding ceremony that night on the rooftop of our hotel in Bangaluru. It was beautiful!!!

western wedding party~

The videographers/ photographers were amazing!! Check out this video they made. Please, excuse how awkward I AM. LOLOLOLOLOL. 😂

go go go to goa 🏖

golden sunsets 🌅 

i immediately felt a sense of relief once i got to Goa!! i was not expecting Delhi to be as cold as it was... i guess i assumed all of India would be hot!! haha. but yes, it is a large country with diverse climates, cultures, languages, religions, and foods.

agonda beach, goa

i was in agonda beach in south Goa, and everyday there would be amazing sunsets like the one photo i have above. everyone would gather on the beach to watch the sunset. some even braved the pounding ocean waves. 

eating local goan foods

i arrived first to Goa, while Aditi and Saraswati went to Chennai to visit families. once they arrived we walked around the small town to find some local Goan food.  it was delicious!! AND the prices were significantly lower once we were not on the main touristy street parallel to the beach. 

new friends who also live in Seattle~!!

before Aditi and Saraswati arrived, i met two new friends who are both professors for UW Business School in Seattle and Bothell!!! This amazing couple were staying at the same hotel i was staying at. They live in Shoreline, and it was a pleasant surprise to learn how many parallels in life experiences we all shared. They are on sabbatical too, and traveling as much as they can before their 1st born child arrives!! it was a very fortunate meeting, because you know that feeling where it feels like you've known someone for longer? that's how I felt with these two!! so lucky!! AND we planned to meet up once we are all back in Seattle. ☺

i kind of randomly chose Agonda Beach when I was looking at places to stay in Goa. I wanted a secluded small beach town. From the airport to Agonda Beach is about 1.5 hour drive!! and even though that was a long drive, i am very very happy that I stayed in Agonda Beach area. it felt like a very hippie chill place. it actually felt like i wasn't really in India. LOL, but I was!!

if you ever go to GOA, i definitely recommend checking out Agonda Beach... if i ever return... i would definitely like to spend some time in Panaji, Goa (north of the airport) and back at Agonda Beach (south Goa).

cows everywhere ❤

 

i love the beach life. 🌊🏖

a day in delhi 🌻

After the whirlwind adventures to get to Delhi... I did make it!! 

Slept for a few hours, and did a day trip around Delhi with my friend Saraswati. Originally, her and I and one more friend Aditi were supposed to arrive the night before, but Aditi and I had issues with our flights!!

We did NOT research about the Taj Mahal... and lo and behold they are closed on Fridays. So... Saraswati and I did a day trip around Delhi. 

And eventually Aditi arrived that Friday night!

When I first booked the hotel for Delhi, we chose a place that was cheap and close to the airport. Little did we know, that the hotel was not the same location as showed on Booking.com AND it had no heat!! We were freezing that first night, and after our day trip around Delhi... we decided to book another hotel with heat!! 

Here are some photos of some of the main sites around Delhi~

Humayun's Tomb

Lotus Temple

Qutub Minar

It was quite the adventure getting to Delhi, and the one day I spent in Delhi too!! ❤ Until next time... I still would someday love to visit the Taj Mahal... it just did not work out this time. 

That's okay... I'll be back!! ☺

getting to India~ ✈️

 Where do I even begin?!

8:30AM ~ I arrive to the Sihanoukville Airport ready to check-in for my flight to Vietnam! As I check-in they ask if I have a visa for Vietnam. I said, Oh! I asked and since I'm transiting through, they said I don't need one. The flight attendant checking me in, says NO... You need a visa or I can't check you in. 😰 I start panicking and calling the e-visa company I used in December. 

9:00AM ~ I'm on the phone with the e-visa agent. I need a visa NOW! Okay, m'aam. E-mail us your flight info. and passport photo page. I whip out my laptop and start getting the documents ready to send. I e-mail them. I get a reply back with the fee of $250 USD!!! and the e-mail reply saying they will send the e-visa at 10:00AM. My flight is scheduled to depart at 10:45AM.

10:00AM ~ I'm pacing back and forth, waiting and checking my e-mail for the e-visa. I go to the counter asking if I can check-in and I show them that I paid for the visa and they will send it. The lady said No, I need to see the visa before checking you in. No worry, it's fast. I smile nervously and say... okay. She said we wait 10 more minutes for you. 

10:15AM ~ Still no e-visa. I'm pacing back and forth still. The lady keeps looking at me... and then is talking to the security guy about me waiting for my visa still.

10:25AM ~ I finally receive an e-mail from the company and check-in my suitcase and run to the security gate. I still needed to go through security since I was flying internationally. Luckily, since there were no other flights... my flight was the only flight out at that time, I was the ONLY person going through security. The Cambodian Customs Guard asked me, why I'm so LATE? I said I needed the e-visa for Vietnam. He laughed. I said arkoun (thank you in Khmer), and ran to the plane. I was the last person... obviously... BUT made it!!! The plane took off shortly after I boarded. Left exactly at 10:45AM!!!

Flight from Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Minh

The drama continues...

12:00PM ~ Arrived to Ho Chi Minh, and go through customs and everything. Showed them my e-visa for the day just to transit through... No problems. I walk over to the Domestic Terminal and check-in my flight from Ho Chi Minh to Da Nang. Flight scheduled to depart at 2:30PM and arrive to Da Nang at 4:00PM. Flight from Da Nang to New Delhi was at 4:55PM. 

2:30PM ~ Boarded the plane, ready to go!! BUT don't take off until like 3:00PM. 😭

4:30PM ~ Arrive to Da Nang. I run to get my suitcase. I tried not to check-it in, but when I was in Da Nang the flight attendant picked me out in the line and weighed my suitcase and made me check it in at the gate!!! I was soooooo made... so I had to wait for my suitcase when I go to Da Nang. I run to the International Terminal and look to check-in, but it's too late and the doors were closed on the flight...

5:00PM ~ I'm talking to one of the other agents to book a flight to India... they said there's another flight to New Delhi in 2 days... no, that doesn't work for me. Then they said well, we have a flight tonight to Ahmedabad, India. I'm like where's that?! Then I look it up and it's not far from Delhi... so I book it, and go check-in. They help print out my India Visa, and I'm set to go to Ahmedabad, India!! 💗

Flight from Da Nang to Ahmedabad

01:04AM ~Arrived to Ahmedabad!! Had to leave the International Terminal and walked out to the Domestic Terminal. 

Landed in Ahmedabad!

01:30AM ~ I saw a window for Indigo Airlines, and talked to the person to purchase a ticket from Ahmedabad to Delhi!! I was able to get a ticket that departed at 04:05AM and arrive to Delhi at 05:45AM. ☺

AND that's how I eventually got to Delhi... 🤑💸

simply sihanoukville

After my 2 weeks on Koh Rong Sanloem island, I decided to stay about 1 week in Sihanoukville by Otres Beach. Sihanoukville is the coastal town, now city, that saw major development from Chinese investors. 

When I first arrived on December 14th, and was passing through to catch the ferry... I was amazed at how many tall buildings there were. I did read from Lonely Planet how this used be a backpacker's paradise with inexpensive local beach huts that lined the beaches, but now have been demolished and removed. I did find this interesting article about the construction boom and now construction stall that occurred / is occurring in Sihanoukville → https://futuresoutheastasia.com/sihanoukville-construction-update-2022/

Since I have been here for a week, I have noticed several abandoned buildings, and lots of signs in Chinese (*Even though I can't read Chinese, I can recognize the characters when I see it.) It is devastating to see how a place & people are exploited for another's greed and gain. 

I didn't stay in the main city area of Sihanoukville. I stayed as far south next to Otres Beach as I could within reason... When I walked along the beach path there are some hotels and abandoned buildings across the street. Folks drive their carts or park their carts selling foods, drinks, clothes & beach toys. The beach was super packed by Cambodians for the January 1st New Year weekend. It was a delight to witness everyone on the beach with their hammocks and mats... It was not a delight to see all the garbage and plastic on the beach and on the ground.  When I was on the island I asked my hotel host what folks do with the garbage on Koh Rong Sanloem, and they said they burn it all. No recycling any of the plastic or cans!! They just burn it... but when I was walking along Otres Beach I saw two children collecting cans... maybe here on the mainland they can exchange the cans for money?

Otres Beach

Sunset at Otres Beach

Phsar Leu Market in Sihanoukville