Beach resort in Kannur

Our family, Nora, and Kate all went to this wonderful beach. We stayed in this nice home stay that was 100 meters from the beach. I went to the beach about 2 times a day. It was so fun. Nora and I jumped the waves, it was so cool. We had fish and Indian food every night at the home stay

train to Mysuru - Dec 24

We got up early (which was easier thanks to jetlag) to take a 7-hour train ride across Tamil Nadu. Below in Chennai's main train station. 

After a little trouble finding our car, we settled in. We were in a fancier class, and we got fed for a couple hours straight. First course was cornflakes with hot milk. We're not taking to it, as you can see from N's expression, but T keeps trying. Mostly because they're full of sugar. 

Second breakfast:

The scenery was beautiful, but I'll spare you a bunch of terrible photos from a moving train. We passed near where B was born. 

In Mysuru, we saw the famous Mysore Palace, with piles of Indian tourists and school groups. Although not many people here are Christian, most schools seem to get Christmas holidays. 

Some of the other Indian tourists were excited to see white people, and we're in quite a few photos, some surreptitious, some talking to us. This father and daughter were very nice.

On a search for a functioning ATM, we watched a coconut salesperson hack open the coconuts for eating and drinking right there. 

After Mysuru, we had a 2-hour drive up into the hills of Karnataka, to Nagarhole national park. It was a bit hard on those of us who get carsick.

We're staying at the Bison, which is a rustic/fancy resort that is beautiful, right on the backwaters of Kabini River.

Tomorrow we start the safaris.

Mahabalipuram - Dec 23

We drove down to Mahabalipuram for some sightseeing. Chennai has doubled in size since our last visit, up to 10.5 million people, but the traffic wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. 

We saw the famous shore temple, but the heat and the super-powered sun and the crowds did us in, and we spent the afternoon with a delicious meal and the beach. 

Chennai - Dec 22

We've been without wi-fi for the last few days, but we're at the beach in Kerala now, and hopefully we'll catch up.  

The kids' room in our guesthouse. T and N moved their beds under the AC. It's been overcast and not too hot, thankfully. 

At dawn and dusk, flocks of parakeets flew in and argued loudly with the house crows. B is enjoying the balcony of our hotel watching them.

Supper at a restaurant where people stood by our table watch us eat. The staff was surprised that B doesn't speak Tamil to translate for them. Served on banana leaves. It wasn't too spicy, and I finally got the uttapam I've been looking forward to since we picked B up 11 years ago.

We've arrived!

We left Sheldon at 9am on Friday, and made it to our hotel room in the Mumbai airport at 3am on Sunday. This morning we got up and hopped another flight to Chennai. We're all dragging a little, but happy to be here. The kids are loving driving in Indian traffic without seatbelts. Although B sometimes has to cover her eyes. 

(This photo is especially for Margy, to contrast with our luggage from the trip to Ireland.)

Merry Christmas

We leave for India on December 20, so we'll be gone on Christmas.  We're planning to move our Christmas tree outside before we leave, so we decorated this year with popcorn, nuts, and cranberries for the animals. 

Merry Christmas!

Brinda's Horse Ride in the Connemara

B:

Me and my brother were riding a horse and we were tied to another horse. Then we walked down to a beach. We are in the Connemara. It's rocky and not a lot of people live there. It's in the west. It was a one hour drive there. 

The first horse is my dads horse,second is my aunt,third is my grandpa. 

                                    This is the beach we were on.

Neave is riding a horse. She rode in the pen. She didn't ride on the roads.

Tucker got a ribbon for riding a horse. And I got one too.