VISA.....VISA.....HAHAHA...IT'S TOO HOT!!

Wish you guys good luck for the visa application. The weather is too hot to queue up out side...isn't it. In Old Delhi yesterday was about 47 degrees and we still survived though until today......huhuhuhu, don't know how far more we can go.

Big kiss from NDH / Gros becs de NDH

Saturday and Sunday programmes

Saturday evening usually we make the breads for Sunday breakfast. It is not a tv that they are watching but the breads in the oven. As long as they are happy with it....fine with me.

La tresse and le pain aux olives among our favorites plus the jams from all kind of fruits. We even have kaya (Malaysian marmelaid made from eggs and coconut milk) too and fresh fruits and the omelettes. What a life............but we never complained:-).

Big kiss de NDH / Gros becs de NDH

Slum in Delhi ~ Sting Garden (Malaysian Version)

Visited a slum.

What is a slum?
A slum is a district of a city or town which is usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slums can be found in most large cities around the world. Through the terms are often now now used interchangeably, slums and ghettos differ in that ghetto refers to a neighborhood based on shared etnicity. Slums are also different from favelas or shanty towns, in that they consist of permanent (if low-quality) housing rather than less-durable shacks of cardboard or corrigated iron or newspaper.

Slum in Delhi ~ The present population of Delhi is about 13.9 million. Of this nearly 45% population lives in unauthorised colonies, rural villages and slums and JJ clusters. The current number of slum dwelling units is estimated at about 0.6 million and the population living in slums and Yamuna clusters in projected at about 3 million.

Out of the 0.6 million JJ units, nearly 62,000 units are estimated to be located in the river bed of Yamuna on both sides of its stretch along Delhi and on the and embankments of a few major storm water drain such as Najafgarh drain, Barapulla drain etc. During dry weather these slum dwellers use open areas around their units for defaecation. In ths way, the entire human walk generated from these 62,000 units along with additional waste water generated from their household is discharged untreated into the river Yamuna.

Big kiss from NDH / Gros becs de Delhi

Cool May....

Delhi ~ the weather can be very hot and these days we spend most of our free time at swimming pool. But the temperature of the water doesn't help much and will become much hotter soon. Still better then nothing!!!

But according to the weather forecast in Delhi, it is just unusually wet and cool May this year. Last weekend, the temperature dropped from 42 degrees to 22 degrees and when it's raining we spend time at home, doing the sudoku and watching tv. Somewhere on the south of India ~ the southwest monsoon hit Kerala on Monday and in europe it's hardly to follow the Roland Garros tournement that was just started last Sunday because of the rain while it supposed to be summer at the moment. Question is the climate change or not??

Big kiss from NDH / Gros becs de NDH

Thank you Tata.......

Sunday ~ 20 May 2007

The day before we just made a fun of Tata, the lorries which had a difficulties to climb up the mountain but this very day, it was Tata who brought us back home safely. Tata has been pulled the car for more then 300km back to the embassy. That was a part of our adventure and it was really FUN!!!

River rafting.......

Saturday ~ 19 May 2007

After taking a chai (Indian Tea), we were on the road and at the beginning we wanted to go to Manikaran - a place which is famous with its hot springs (hot enough to boil rice and apparently curing anything from rheumatism to bronchitis) but we have changed the plan to do a river rafting. Since it was raining the night before, there was a lots of water in the river and we believed that it would be fun. It was short (25 minutes) but FUN!! All the way through the valley, we could see the MAGIC HERBS, but we are really not a fan of it. The drugs are still illegal in this area and the police make regular arrests. Over the last decade over 160 foreigners have been arrested for drug-related offences and drugs are behind some of it the desappearances and murders of foreigners in the Kullu Valley. So, please becareful when you make a visit to Kullu Valley.

Slowly, we made a way back to Delhi and thought the we could find a place to stay on the way. At first, we wanted to stop at Bilaspur but the city doesn't have much to offer, so we continued. By the time we entered Punjab state, the car stopped for it self. It was too hot!! On the watch showed 6.30pm and it would be dark soon. Laurent managed to start again the car, but after 2km, it became hot again. He tried everything that he could but it kept repeating the same problem. We stopped in front of one restaurant by the road side and tried to fix the problem until 11.30pm. About few kilometres away, there was one hotel waiting for us and we made our way until there. We decided to solve the problem the next day. That night, after having a little beer.....we slept like a baby and forgotten the problem for a while.

Manali & Naggar

Friday ~ 18 May 2007

We visited a ski resort up on the mountain but never expected that the traffic on the top there was horrible. From 9.30am to 12.00noon, we stucked in a huge traffic jam. We've completely forgotten that it was a school holiday in India and with that they go up to the mountain to avoid the hot weather. Anyway, from that place, we went down to Manali and made a little visit in this busy city. Manali is situated in northern end of the Kullu Valley, the popular resort of Manali is the last major settlement in the valley. According to legend, Manu, Hinduism's Noah, alighted his boat here to re-create human life after floods and destroyed the world - Manali means 'Home of Manu'.

After taking our late lunch in Manali, we headed to Naggar. The lovely little village of Naggar, one of the nicest places in the Kullu Valley, is known for its castle, ancient temples and gallery of the Russian painter Nikolai Roerich. It's a superb place to relax - having a glass of red wine, tomatoes and mozarella cheese, a fish from the river and the fruits from the valley. Naggar lies on the eastern Kullu-Manali road but the hotels, temples and gallery are grouped around the castle at the top of steep 2km road.

Vashisht Village

Thursday ~ 17 May 2007

We started early in the morning and made a few stop to take the pictures, for some that we can take and a lots of what we have seen we can only keep in mind as a souvenir. The road to Kullu seems too long but we have been served with a beautiful landscape. It is magnificent!! Up there on the mountain, there is a bit of snow!! IT looks similar to the Alps in Europe.

Instead of finding a place to stay in Kullu, we headed staight to Vashisht and it is a lovely little village northeast of Manali with hot springs, old stone houses, ancient temples, great views but it's definitely a 'scene'and "delicious pizzas".....hmmmmmmp. The village was founded by the sage Vashisht Muni and there are several old temples dedicated to him and the god Rama.

The journey to Kullu Valley & Manali

Wednesday ~ 16 May 2007
We started our journey at 5.00pm to Kullu Valley and Manali(Himachel Pradesh). Arrived at Chandigarh at 11.00pm where we had to make a stop that night. The city offered a lots of hotels and guest houses. Chandigarh is a unique city. The Nehruvian idealism at its core is in stark contrast to the industrial development on the restaurants and other in-transit facilities have mushroomed as a result. The pollution-free air, the short distances, the wide tree-lined boulevards and avenues, the lake and the plush interiors belying the dull exteriors contribute to making Chandigarh a charming place for residents and visitors. Though the Le Corusier architecture tends to get monotonous, the easily defined localities, called "sectors", and general sense-of-organisation are fine compensations.

Mee Jawa ~ Javanese noodles

Ingredients ;
1 kg yellow noodles or egg noodles
1 kg medium prawns
300 gm sirloin beef (boiled)
4 eggs (boiled)
500 gm sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
50 gm brown sugar
2 - 3 heaped tbsp cornstrach
1/2 cup oil
2.5 l of water
3 shallots (sliced and fried until the colour turn to brown)
spring onion (chopped)
red chilli (sliced)

Herb paste ;
3 stalks lemon grass
6 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
4 cm ginger
6 cm galanga
5 red chillies
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander seed

Method ;
Heat oil and fry the paste till fragrant. Add prawns stolk, simmer and bring to a boil. Stir in the mashed potatoes and ticken with cornstrach and season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Serve with fried tofu, slices of hard boiled egg, prawns, beansprouts, fried onion, slices red chillies and spring onion.

To make prawn stolk ; Bring 2.5 litre of water to a boil and pour in the prawn. When prawns are cooked, dish tem out. Shell the prawns and keep aside for the noodles. Return the prawn shells to the pot to make prawn stolk. Continue boiling the stolk for another 30 minutes.

P/S : In the picture above I didn't use any prawn due to the hot weather in Delhi and you can add or remove what ever you like or don't like.

Have a nice try and big kiss from Delhi.

Kaba Reception ~ 27 April 2007

Nice reception with the people that we don't even know and with a lots of journalistes too. It came with the nice and beautiful Indian Danse mixed modern and classic. On the kitchen side, there you are the delicious foods.....ummmmmmph the smell also good.

Big kiss from Delhi

The butterflies for Clea ~ Les papillons pour Clea

Especially for Clea...for her 4 year old anniversaire ~~ Happy Birthday.

The colourful and beautifully landscaped park is home for over 6,000 butterflies from 120 species. It is only a stone throw away from the Bird Park.

Here you can learn about the life cycle and mating habit of the butterflies. There is a nursery and breading area, as well as an insect museum to enhance your knowledge about these creepy-crawlers. Comprising the beautiful landscape are flower and fruit plants and some rare herbs essential in the diet and pollinating activities of the butterflies.

Big kiss from Delhi.

Putra Jaya ~ A new political city in Malaysia.

Named after Malaysia's first Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, this landmark complex stretches over 11,320 acres (45.8km2). More than 70% of Putrajaya is devoted to greenery and water bodies with different gardens. The principle landscape is the 600 hectare (6km2)man made lake. The Putrajaya Wetland. Native wetland plants from over 50 local species were propagated in the 7 hectare (0.07km2) Putrajaya Wetland Nursery prior to planting in the wetland cells.

(Above are pictures of Perdana Putra and Putra Mosque taken on 15 April 2007)

Cameron Highlands ~ 14 April 2007

Sebastien and Corinne have arrived at KL International Airport at 6 in the morning. We had decided that they could take a train (KLIA Ekspress) to city centre as the travel wouldn't be so long (about 28 minuutes). Finally, we met at KL Sentral (Main train station) in the city. Felt funny to see them there in Kuala Lumpur but at the same time we were so happy to be together somewhere else then Switzerland.

Laurent rented the car for us to travel up to Cameron Highlands where both of them could have a nice sleep with the cold mountain air. After making a visit at the tea factory, we made the way back to Lake House Hotel about 7km from Tanah Rata. We took a shower and half an hour later we climed back up to Tanah Rata for a dinner. That night we had a "chinese fondue" or also called "steamboat". Happy with the foods until we finised the whole things. Before 10.00 o'clock, we were back at the hotel and slept till the next morning.

Sebastien et Corinne sont arrives a l'aeroport internationale de Kuala Lumpur a 6h00 du matin. Nous avons decide qu'ils prennent le train (KLIA Ekspress)jusqu'a la gare centrale de Kuala Lumpur.Le voyage ne dure pas tres long (28 minutes). Finalement, nous les avons rencontre a KL Sentral (la gare centrale) en plein millieu de la ville. C'etait bizzare mais en meme temps, nous etions tres content de nous retrouver ailleur qu'en Suisse.

Laurent a loue une voiture pour que nous puissions voyager a Cameron Highlands ou nous pourrions avoir un bon dodo avec l'air frais de la montagne. Apres avoir visite la fabrication du the nous sommes retournes au Lake House Hotel environ 7km de Tanah Rata (ville principale). Nous avons pris une douche et nous sommes remontes a Tanah Rata pour souper. Ce soir la, nous avons eu "la fondue chinoise" ou la bas on l' appelle aussi "le steamboat". Nous etions tres content de manger cette fondue lorsqu'il fait frais. Avant 22h00, nous etions deja rentre a l'hotel et avons dormi jusqu'au matin.

Big kiss from Delhi ~ Gros becs de Delhi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY....BON ANNIVERSAIRE!!

Bon anniversaire a tous et profitez bien!! Happy birthday to all and enjoy.

Gros becs de Delhi.....Big kiss from Delhi.

Francophonie Week 07'

C'est la semaine de la Francophonie et l'ambassade est aussi la a s'occuper de certains evenements avec les autres ambassades francophones. Il y a un peu de travail mais tout va bien.
Les jours passent tellement vite et cela fait deja sept mois que nous sommes a Delhi, INCREDIBLE INDIA. Nous avons commence a connaitre notre petit magasin, le marche et aussi les amis, et le weekend, nous rendons visite aux differents restaurants de Delhi. Bien que Delhi aie beaucoup plus de restaurant compare a Abuja.....mais Abuja nous manque aussi enormement!! Mais cet ete, tous nos amis serons partir d'Abuja donc peut-etre qu'il est temps de tourner la page.

Le climat a change radicalement a Delhi....il fait vraiment chaud aujourd'hui quand hier il faisait encore frais. On s'habitude...hahaha!!! Laurent n'est pas vraiment content avec moi aujourd'hui car je lui ai courru derriere en lui demandant de mettre l'air conditione. Il commence vraiment a faire chaud. On bouge un peu.....il y a les transpirations qui sortent aussi vite mais heureusement qu'il n'y a pas d'odeur comme les locaux.......hahaha.

Laurent comme toujours est trop occupe et cela lui plait de faire ce qu'il doit faire....heureusement pour lui!! Quant a Meenz, elle va a gauche a droit avec ses copines pour manger......,decouvrir des nouveaux magasins et la plupart du temps elle ne fait que de papoter pendant toute la journee avec ses copines.

Big kiss from NDH
Gros becs de NDH

Sightseeing in Delhi ~ Red Fort

It takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to reach the Red Fort from Chanakyapuri and of course it depends also on the traffic. But this part of Delhi is always busy for example on the opposite of the Red Fort, there are so many small shops selling all type of things and it makes us wondering that which part of India that doesn't have a shop or people around??

HISTORY
The Red Fort was the place for Shah Jahan's new capital, SHAHJAHANABAD, the seventh muslim city in the Delhi site. He moved his capital from Agra in a more designed to bring prestige to his reign, and to provide ample opportunity to apply edge of Shahjahanabad, and gets its name from massive wall of the red sandstone that defines its eight sides. The wall is 2.5km long and varies in height from 16m on the river side to 33m towards the city. Measurements have shown that the plan was generated using a square grid of 82m.

The fort lies along what was once the course of the Jamuna river (it has since changed its course), that fed the moats that surround most of the wall. The wall of its northeastern corner as adjacent to an order fort, the Salimgarh, a defense built by Islam Shah Sur in 1546.

The Red Fort was conceived as a whole subsequent modifications have not taken away from the overall unity of the scheme. In 18th century, however occupiers and looters damaged some sections of the palace. After the Sepoy mutiny of 1857, when the fort was used as a headquarters, the British army occupied and destroyed many of its pavilions and gardens. A program for restoring the surviving parts of the fort began in 1903.

Big kiss from Ndh
Gros becs de Ndh

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you who celebrate their birthdays this month. Enjoy and have fun!!

Bon anniversaire a tous ce qui fetent leur anniversaire ce mois. Amusez vous bien!!

Big kiss from NDH
Gros becs de NDH

Sightseeing in Delhi ~ Qutub Minar

Qutub Minar is situated in Old Delhi City and takes 45 minutes from where we are staying. After 6 months that we settled down in Delhi, finally we have time to get to know Delhi by visiting the monuments and also the museums. Well, we started with Qutub Minar.

In 1199, Qutub-Ud-Din raised the Qutub Minar either as a victory tower or as a minaret to adjacent mosque. However, only the first storey was completed by Qutub-Ud-Din. The other stories were built by his successor and son-in-law, IItumish (1211-36 AD). The cicular stories in white marble were built by Firozshah Tughlaq in 1368, who used marble to face the redstone. From a base of 14.32m it tapers to 2.75m at a height of 72.5m. Its a red sandstone tower covered with beautiful and striking carvings and is inscribed with verses from the holy Quran. Its projecting balconies with inscriptional decorative bands on different storeys heighten its decorative effect. With a height of 72.5m and 379 steps, it is the highest stone tower in India, as well as one of the finest Islamic structures ever raised and Delhi's recognised landmark.

Big kiss from Ndh
Gros becs de Ndh

HAPPY HOLI...04 March 2007!!

Holi is the most colourful festival of the Hindus and falls on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun according to the Hindu Calendar which is the month of March as per the Gregorian Calendar. This Holi festival has many elements of primitive and prolific rites and reveries that have defied civilisation and prudery. During the three days of the festival, particularly the whole country, towns, cities and villages ~ go gay with merry makers, streets, parks, public places are crowded with people, daubed in diverse colours, looking funny and ridiculous. Children and youngsters vie with each other in being original and use fast and sticky colours. It is all a mirthful abandon for them.

This festival of joy, mirth and buoyancy is celebrated when both Man and Nature cast off their winter gloom. Holi heralds the arrival of SPRING ~ the season of hope and new beginnings and marks the rekindling of the spirit of life.

Happy Holi from NDH
Joyeuse Holi de NDH