Ben's Birthday Blast

He said it was the "best birthday I've had in years". Turning 29 on Sunday Ben got the pleasure of meeting a 3 year old elephant while on a "photo opportunity" drive with his friend, Vishal. Of course we also had dinner out (where he enjoyed shrimp, a rare treat). And we had family over later for cake and cold drinks. The temperature that day....a cool 110 degrees! Ben's smiles tell the rest of the story. :)

Trip to Dehradun Part 2

I mixed up these two blogs (the other one should have been first). But here are the pictures from our trip to Musoorie, about 12 miles up in the hills east of Dehradun. The roads were very windy with lots of hairpin turns. The major source of cultivation is done by terrace farming, which we saw many beautiful examples of.

Take a look at the "roadside snack bar". There are lots of them and they all have soft drinks and chips! :) The King of Nepal has his Indian palace at the top of one hill.

And we stopped at a quaint barista in Musoorie to warm up (it was raining and cold!).

Trip to Dehradun

We went to Dehradun to visit our friends, the Salmans. They took us to several beautiful places. We visited to Sahastra-Dhara (Thousand Streams: Sahasradhara Waterfalls, located 14 km from Dehradun, is famous for its natural beauty and medicinal value. It is also a popular picnic spot. People come here in large numbers to enjoy the natural beauty and to bathe in the waterfall).

we saw these beautiful forest parrots perched in Flame-of-the-forest trees.

Mrs. Salman and I are in front of the school where she works.

And the flower garden is their own, a relaxing place to sit and sip tea.