Growing Lemongrass from Stalk

Recently I tried making a lemongrass cooler at home and it turned out refreshing. I also learned that I could easily grow my own batch of lemongrass with the store-bought stalks.

I took 2 stalks, chopped off the green leaves, and removed the tough outer layers of the stalk without damaging the root. These I kept in a glass filled with 2 inches of water which I changed everyday.

Within a week, the stalks started sprouting some roots which made me very happy. I then planted it in soil. In another 10 days it started sprouting baby stalks from the old stalks. I was ecstatic. I would be making a batch of lemongrass cooler in another 2 weeks with home-grown produce.

One thing I failed to consider though was my cat. I would have assumed that citrus would repel him but apparently Lemongrass has a catnip-like effect on most cats. Who knew?

I'm still hoping that some more sprouts appear. I can keep it out of kitty reach for it to grow enough to accommodate both our needs. Or it will be back to square one.

Zentangle Upgrade

I had been using a regular gel pen for my Zentangles previously, and although it was alright for larger patterns, it didn't do too well for detailed work. It also didn't give smooth, even lines.

Recently a friend recommended micro tip pens and it has made all the difference. The different sized tips make it easy for detailed drawings and for filling in spaces. It is much more stable and even. They also come in coloured inks - I plan to get them once I enter Phase III.

UPDATE: I made a kitty sister poster as well.

All you need is love

Finally made a coloured Zentangle and moved on from the small squares. Rummy and Bing make an appearance as well.

UPDATE: Framed at it's new home!

Where has all the etiquette gone?

Maybe it's the decreasing personal interactions, or just lack of sensitivity, but people now don't seem to have the time for basic civic responsibilities. To be fair, most are blissfully unaware of these responsibilities, even though the same people would expect the rest of the world to know and follow them.

Talking in the theatre and driving styles are whole different stories each. There are those who bring babies to late night shows when they are at their crankiest best, those that insist on bringing underage kids to adult movies, and of course those that can't stop passing "witty" remarks at every scene for the whole theatre to hear. In the words of Shepherd Book (and I paraphrase) - there is a special hell for these people.

People are now more cynical of even helping people who are in obvious and genuine need of help, case in point, when the victims of a brutal crime were left almost naked and seriously injured on the side of the road, no one stopped to call the police or even give them a piece of cloth to cover themselves.

We live in cities where people rarely return your smile even if you see them everyday, and people who won't hold the elevator for two extra seconds even when they see you running to get on. Eve teasing has become something women have to accept as a way of life. Holding open doors for people in need is a thing of the past. No matter what damage or inconvenience someone is causing the other, action will not be taken till they feel like it.

Children too are picking up on this. Adults go by the notion that children's actions are excusable just because they are children and don't understand anything. So, if a child playing in the main driveway runs into a car slowly backing up, the driver is put at fault. Not the parent who was busy chattering away while the child was running amok. It's alright if a child rips apart your plant, or damages something in someone else's house - because they're children. Apparently, so are their parents!

Many such minor episodes culminate to a higher level of apathy and cynicism. We have become wary of people asking for help. A security guard at our building who would always greet us, asked my husband for some money to treat his son for malaria. My husband said he'll pay for the treatment if he just shows us the blood report of the child. The report never showed up. The next time someone asks for money, with what faith would we give it to them?

At the end of the day, when it all gets too much, it helps to concentrate on the goodness of people, no matter how few and far between they are. Be watchful and grateful for the simple joys that creep into your life unnoticed. Because the new year will only bring you so much happiness as much as you bring to it.

And because I don't want to start the year's first blog post bitching about life, here's some cute.

Greetings for the new year

It's been so long that someone has sent an actual letter or postcard, that I felt I should send something out myself! I remember the excitement of getting mail in the mailbox, with cursive writing, maybe a little drawing at the side, and some doodles on fancy letter paper. Emails are a great way to keep in touch, but nothing beats the rare letter or greeting.

UPDATE:

Amboseli

We had gone to Kenya in 2009 so this post is a little late. But I just realized that I missed posting about Amboseli after having written about Nairobi, Nakuru, and Masai Mara. So here it is, finally.

We drove down from Nairobi and most of the route was excellent (some sections of the road were still being built - should be all ready by now). However, construction for the rest was still underway so we did see some flat tires on the way (including ours). It took us roughly about 4 hours to reach Sentrim Lodge where we were staying in tented accommodation. The only difference was that it didn't lack any modern-day luxury. You could hear the chirping of the birds as they woke you up in the morning, and the distant rumble of the larger animals was the lullaby that put you to sleep.

We had gone in August and the temperatures dipped to singles digits in the evenings. Days were pleasant as well. On a clear day, Mount Kilimanjaro would make an awesome backdrop to this beautiful landscape. However, during our 2-night stay, it made an appearance but briefly.

The landscape is flat and so vast that it is not possible to see every detail from the assigned track even with good binoculars. But, the authorities strictly enforce the ban on vehicles that wander off the track. That way the rightful residents can go about their business without much intrusion. Don't let that dishearten you. You still get a front-seat to some awesome moments.

Our safaris were always eventful. The highlight had to be a mating pair of lions. It pays to stop and take in the atmosphere, because you will rewarded with wondrous sights. We happened to see this ritual only because we saw a lone baby elephant and stopped to say hello. While our guide was explaining how this baby could be under threat from lions looking for a meal, we see a pair trot by. They flirt, and mate. We wait for about 40 minutes with them just 20 feet away form us. They mate again and go off into the sunset.

Another incident was the case of the scratching elephants. Even though we had seen more elephants during this trip than we could count, we wanted more. So when we saw another pair, we waited while these pachyderms crossed the street, and went straight to a rock and started scratching their asses off on it. They did this for a good 5 minutes then went on their way satisfied, giving us a hearty laugh.

Amboseli is known for its elephants, and we found out why soon enough. Elephants everywhere you go, of all sizes, just roaming free without a care in the world. One of the herds encountered two lions resting in their path. They closed ranks and moved in a group cautiously, protecting their young. In the end, the lions had to get up and give way to the mighty tuskers. So much for the King of the Jungle. Here, elephants obviously rule.

Then there were other denizens of the forest who made brief appearances throughout our trip.

 If there were no fauna in sight, then we took the time to marvel at the flora and the awesome landscape.

The sunsets were quintessentially from an African Safari picture book

 And the moonlight was even better:

Jordanian Expedition

We were told that we would get a visa on arrival, but the immigration people were extremely rude and even after showing complete booking details, they reluctantly stamped a visa and said we were to stay there for no more than a week. It was not a good start to the trip.

We had pre-booked a self-driven car from Reliable Car Rentals. The car looked decent, reasonably clean. We were assured it is 'reliable'. They had someone drop the car at the small, congested, over-crowded airport. He was the first friendly face we saw in that country. The ATM at the terminal wasn't working so we had to walk to the other terminal with our luggage to withdraw some local currency. There was a limit of 200 Jordanian Dinars (JD) with which we paid for the car.

We drove into the city (a fair bit away from the airport) and felt it was just the opposite of our experience in Turkey. There were barely any people walking on the streets. The houses or offices were sand-coloured blending with the desert landscape, and the small windows had heavy grills. It almost looked like a prison. Or maybe it was the unfriendly reception at the airport that made us think that way. We checked into our hotel in Amman and were not inclined to step outside at all - even to buy a local SIM card. We ordered room service - even though it was very expensive.

The next morning, we left early to go to Petra. We were told to take the King's highway but even with the GPS it took us ages to find it. There was no one we could ask. Finally at a signal, we asked the car next to us who also didn't know what we were talking about, but the lady in the backseat rolled down her window and asked us to follow them. They would show us where to turn. Finally we were on our way. It was to be a 5-hour journey with a stop at Madaba to see some historic sites significant to Christianity. But once again, no one understood why we were there and we could not see any tourists either, so we weren't able to figure out where these sites were exactly. We drove on.

There are no sign boards for Petra. The signs point to villages on the way, so you need to have an idea of the route - kind of like joining the dots to make the picture complete. We didn't even bother to stop for food. We were still not comfortable here. Once we were in the desert, we couldn't see anyone around for miles. Just sand and rocks as far as the eye could see. This is when it hit us - if anything went wrong with the car, we would be stranded in the blazing sun, with no shade, no water, no food, and no one around for miles and miles. We should have bought a SIM card. Although I don't know how much of a help that would've been.

One of the places we stopped to ask directions, we met a young guy who spoke some words of English. He asked us to drop him to the next village which would be on our way. He hopped in and tried to chat as much as he could. When he reached the limit of his vocabulary, he dialed his friend who told us that we are not too far from our destination. He seemed friendly and harmless. He smiled a lot and seemed genuinely happy to have us in his country. At another place we stopped at to ask for directions from a man next to car, the man could barely speak English but gestured us to follow his car. He would point us to the turn. I guess it was only the airport staff that were morons.

Finally, we saw sign boards pointing to Petra. We had booked ourselves into Marriott. It took us a while to figure out how to get there. The hotel is about 10 kms from the main site but is offers such a spectacular view of the mountains that we were glad we booked this place. Since we had a car, we didn't have to worry about getting to Petra either. The hotel looked a little deserted though and the restaurant was closed by the time we reached. The coffee shop was open thankfully and we had a burger.

We decided to brave the sun and have a quick look at Petra. The we would go again the next morning as well. The 1-day pass is 55JD but if you take a 2-day pass it's just 60JD - so it makes financial sense to take that. It also gives you enough time to look around at places you missed on your first visit.

As we entered the main gate, there were horses to take us to the Siq - supposedly included in the ticket price - but they still charge you 2-5 JD. We decided to walk since we were not to keen on overworking the poor animals. The 1km walk to the Siq seemed to take forever in the sun. There was no shade. But the Siq was just magnificent. The red stone carved by nature and the glorious shade it offered was a thing of beauty (refer to the poem Petra).

 As we neared the end of the gorge, we got excited even more because we knew what came next thanks to Indiana Jones. As you walk the last few metres, you can see the Treasury building revealing itself in parts through the narrow crack in the gorge. And when you come out into the open, a magnificent structure stands before you - still capable of taking your breath away even after 2000 years.

After ogling at this masterpiece, we moved ahead. It was just too hot to explore all the spots, but we somehow made our way to the museum (which wasn't a big deal, so we could've skipped it). We decided to return early morning the next day to beat the sun and the pesky sellers selling everything from jewelery, and silver items, to rides on camels, donkeys, horses or horse carriages. The animals looked tired from the heat and work. We went back to the hotel to enjoy the sunset from the lobby balcony. All our meals were at the hotel. We didn't venture out anywhere apart from the main site.

The next morning we woke up early and had a quick breakfast. We were at the gates by 7am. The walk this time around was a breeze. There were barely any tourists or locals around, so we could admire the place in peace. We had planned to walk up to the Monastery after the museum plus some 800 steps.

We crossed the Street of Facades that has tombs of important people from the city, including the royals:

The theater, reminiscent of the Roman ruins we had visited in Turkey:

 The Great Temple:

And finally the steps leading up to Al Dier - the Monastery:

The steps are not well-formed all the way through and you need to be careful while walking up. It is even more dangerous for those making their way on a donkey. One wrong step and down you go. The views get better as you go up. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, with resting time in between. The Monastery is much larger than the Treasury, but not as magnificent. It was worth the trip nonetheless.

 The walk down was much easier. We also took a detour to the Byzantine temple with its mosaic flooring depicting the land of plenty that Petra once was.

We didn't have the energy or patience to visit some of the other sites like the High place of sacrifice, which also involved lots of steps. But we were happy with what we saw. By 2pm, we left Petra and headed to the Dead Sea by the King's highway. This time, we jotted down all the village names that we would have to cross. By this time, the GPS was also behaving and had a better idea of the route.

We reached Movenpick Hotel and Spa in about 3 hours. The lobby was crowded like a fish market. It took us 30 minutes to check in. Since the holy month of Ramadan was just around the corner, people were taking a break now as they would be fasting for a month in a week's time. We were handed a map of the resort at check in. It is a 90,000 sqft resort and beautifully laid out. We walked up to the sea for a quick dip in the waters where you don't drown, and the sunset.

We had initially planned to get a massage as the icing on our cake that was this glorious 2-week vacation. But at a minimum of 100+ JD, we decided to just rub the therapeutic clay ourselves from the beach and get a massage back home. Since this area is lined with resorts, there was no point in venturing out for food. We ate at the restaurants here which was brilliantly expensive, but at least the food was good.

Being almost 500m below sea level was not a picnic though. It was very hot and just walking up to the restaurant left us panting for some cool air. I refused to eat in the open air and wanted the air conditioner. We realized it was no help, and worked against us because it became like an oven inside.

Breakfast was lavish but crowded by the time we got there. We just went for another quick dip before 11am and didn't leave our room again till sunset. We left late in the afternoon for the airport. late check-out was not an option as the crowds from the city were still pouring in. We reached the airport in an 90 minutes. We drove super slow because our flight was late in the evening and we didn't want to go into town. And considering that the airport was so badly equipped, we preferred to spend as much time in the car as possible.

We dropped the car of at the airport parking (which took us another 40 minutes because of the crowd), made our way to the check-in counter and immigration (where the officials again made jibes at our expense - morons) and into the over-crowded waiting area. We were starving so ordered a set-meal from KFC. It was horrible. To top it off, we were informed that our flight was 3 hours late (this was a recurring theme on all our flight to/from Jordan as we were in transit at Amman even on our way to Turkey). The immigration officials needn't have given us a warning to get out in a week - we were more than ready to leave in 4 days.

Verdict: Even though the place and the people we met in Jordan were nice, the airport experience and the attitude of the airport staff left us very bitter. We would not recommend this place to our friends unless they really, really, desperately want to visit Petra.

And yes, the furry pageant from Jordan: