Monday, June 27, 2011

Mosaic love

This weekend was a hectic one!
My in-laws are visiting and they wanted to see the Iskcon temple. So we made the trip on Saturday.
We were visited by monkeys (Yes!!) at home. Thankfully no one was hurt but we all were in shock for a few minutes. Monkeys have descended onto our apartment complex from I don't know where and have been surprising people with home visits via the balcony!
Attended a birthday party on Saturday night.
Met up an old colleague from the US for lunch on Sunday at Ebony on MG Road. I have fond memories of the place and always like most of their food.

I also clicked these beauties that I picked up from The Orange Bicycle some weekends back. I fell in love with these mosaic pots that a local organisation from Mysore makes. And the super lazy person that I am I told the lady there I wanted some plants with least amount of maintenance. She gave me two cacti! :)

Here are the latest additions to my green dekor.




And in case you still haven't participated, my 100th post giveaway is still on till 28th June End Of Day. Hurry up and leave your comments on that post!!

Linking this in to Weekend Wrap Up on Colours Dekor.

UPDATED - I learnt recently that these mosaic pots and other very beautiful planters available at The Orange Bicycle are from Green Essence. Check more of their stuff out! Its fun, colourful and modern!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Trip to Kabini River Lodge in Nagarhole National Park

A few days back we did a "first-time" ever trip.
What was special about this trip? My parents, my in-laws, my younger sister and her husband, her mother-in-law and the 3 of us -  S, N and I went on this trip. This was the first time ever we all went out and spent time together. I had a lot of apprehensions and anxiety about how it would turn out. But much to my surprise everybody clicked well and we had a great time :)

We went to Kabini River Lodge, one of the many resorts operated by Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. It is located on the southern border of the Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi) National Park in Karnataka, India. The place was beautiful and lush green after the rains. Surrounded by nature it was very peaceful and relaxing. 

We stayed for one night and the package included 3 meals from a buffet, the entry fee for the national park, the jeep and boat safari and camera charges too. The rooms were in a colonial style structure and had beautiful gardens all around. The resort was once the hunting lodge for the Maharajah of Mysore.

The rooms were very spacious and had high ceilings. There was a lovely veranda outside the rooms looking onto a lush green garden. There were tyre swings and benches across the resort. The resort takes you out for jeep safaris and motor boat safaris. It is located on the banks of River Kabini and so the location is perfect. The river is very tranquil and calming.


On the jeep safari we saw elephants, including a tusker. According to the forest officials a tusker is a rare sight. It was drizzling when I took the picture below.


We also saw many herds of spotted deers.


Some vibrant peacocks.


and langoors, wild boars, nilgais, vultures,  and a teenie meenie turtle.

The boat ride was less eventful because of the rain. But we managed to see a baby tusker, kingfisher birds(the guide very aptly named them the "Vijay Mallya" birds), cranes, ducks and a variety of other birds (whose names I do not remember).


The resort has climbing nets where N and the adults had loads of fun! They have coracle boats for a ride if you would like to try something different. They also take you on nature walks around the resort - it seemed to be a big hit between older kids and adults too.

Some of the food items could have been better in terms of taste. Other than that the service was good, the rooms and sheets were neat and clean, bathrooms well stocked and the staff was helpful. If you are going there with little ones I would suggest you carry your own stuff for snacking in between meals and something to drink too. There is nothing around close by where you can shop for quick eats. But there is a mini fridge in most of the rooms so you can keep your own stuff in.
Overall I would rate the resort a 7/10 and the whole experience an 8/10. Feel free to write in to me if you have any questions or need other details about the place and to & fro journey.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

100th Post Giveaway!!

Hello!!!!!
I am back after a 2 week break and I have goodies for you :)
I promised here about the giveaway for my 100th post. And so not 1 but 2 lucky winners will get lovely gifts!!

The 2 lucky people will get one each of these handmade beauties to keep all their cosmetics while on the move!


These are handmade travel pouches made by Kanika Bahl of Anek Designs. I picked them up from one of my favourite stores in Bangalore - The Orange Bicycle. The bags are beautiful to look at and practical too.



I loved the vibrant green and magenta-maroonish cloth exteriors. There is a plastic lining inside to protect the cloth. Just the perfect size to keep all your trinkets, make up stuff and jewellery. So participate in the giveaway to get the artistic, beautiful and practical travel companion!

Here is what you need to do to win these beauties -

1) Leave a comment on this post and that will automatically be counted as one entry. However if you do not wish to participate in the giveaway but just leave a comment, please mention that in your comment to allow the others a fair chance.
2) Blog about this giveaway and spread the message. Let me know via a 2nd comment here with the link to the post on your blog - that will be counted as a 2nd entry. Leave a separate comment about the blog post to increase your chances in the lucky draw.
3) You do not have to be a follower to participate but if you like my blog please follow! I would be so happy :)
4) 2 random comment numbers will be picked up using www.Random.org to decide the 2 winners.
5) Readers from all geographic locations can participate.

The giveaway is open till 28th June, 2011. I will announce the winners within a day or two after that.

Hurry up and try your luck to grab these bags!!

Edited to add - Sending this to Patty's Weekend Wrap Up to spread the word :)

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