While the computer is giving me credit for posting this in late-November... that is only when I uploaded these photos -- now it's late December and I'm overdue for a posting. I've been on vacation in the US and haven't been diligent on keeping up with my life in India.
My friend Anthony came to visit me right before I left to the States. Anthony made a trip from Los Angeles for a record (short) 4 night stay. He arrived Monday evening and his flight left Friday evening. But... we had a blast and made the most of the time. I had a ton of work to do in the early part of the week but was able to take Friday off. Anthony particularly liked the Imperial Hotel (which I had expected). Pictured here is us sitting at lunch. In the winter (when it is cool enough to sit outside, yes you heard me correctly) they have this great outdoor dining space which reminds me of the 'Blue Note' restaurant at the Delano... sans pool, sans beach.. but with the Miami temps.
Anthony was just promoted at work... and I caught him reading this book on "television" at the local "Barista". I suppose he was just brushing up. I later bought it for our friend Manuel who just got a new job as well. It has helpful tidbits and rudimentary pictures. My favorite is a page that has a color picture of a t-v studio and the caption reads something to the effect: "Not everyone in television is on the screen... but there are people 'behind the scenes' as well". A helpful reminder... isn't it? I thought Manuel could learn from this too.
Anthony visited during Thanksgiving and we went to a great dinner party that my friend John (who I know thanks to my friend Jeffrey in Miami) threw. John works at the US Embassy here and brought together a group of twenty or so people for sit-down dinner. It was a pot luck. One of my favorite parts of this dinner was when everyone chatted about what they brought from home. It was all home cooked... but the funny part was that no one had actually cooked themselves... it was all made by our respective cooks (ahh, India). One of the things I've inherited from my family is the trait where we bring our cameras to an event... but never actually take pictures. I took this picture at "dinner" just before we all left.. in front of the door.
We went back to the Imperial for dinner on Anthony's last (4th) night. I like that almost everyone who comes to visit says they'll come back within the year to visit again. You know... the trip to India is such a reasonable one.
This is one of my new favorite places... it's about a 2.5 hour drive from Delhi in the state of Rajasthan. It's a 15th century fort that two guys bought and have made into a great hotel. It's part of a "chain" of hotels that these guys have done called "Neemrana". This place is the "Neemrana Fort Palace". We did a business profile piece on them... and stayed overnight. As they put it... "there are very few places where you can wake up in a museum". It is particularly beautiful at sunset... when I took this snap. Along with doing a wonderful job renovating the place (or palace)... they've mastered something that very few people have here... the great importance of "location". Angelinos have it right with Laguna Beach and Palm Springs... part of the great thing about those destinations is that they are easy to reach. With every minute spent driving in the car in India... your chances of getting in some sort of horrific car accident increases exponentially... so being just about 2 hours from Delhi is a major draw... I plan to go back.
xx