May Miscellany

Hello there! Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend! Here are a few snapshots of how this month's been going! 

Franny has learnt to kneel over the window sills of the new house. She amazed us with her patience to keep standing on her two hind legs for twenty minutes at a stretch. Now thats some feat! We spent the weekend shifting the Sista's belongings to a new and bigger pad and then decorating it up too. I went giddy with happiness when the gurl said I could do what I pleased :)) I'll may be put up pictures of the house for you all to see someday. 

Oh yes and I must let you in on the the event of the month. After much cajoling and convincing by the Mister and the Sister I did finally buy the MacBook Air 13 inch! YAY!! And boy this machine sure is a dream to work on. Not to forget my pretty little 11 inch VAIO that I'd had for over four years. I didn't think the shift would be that easy and smooth, but hey so far haven't got stuck anywhere, thanks to the numerous "how to" videos on Youtube :) 

The sewing table has been busy with the messenger bags and then some more jewellery rolls for the shop. I managed to whip up a messenger bag for me-self too. These are up for sale in the shop. 

I'm quite unhappy about giving my school reunion a miss this weekend. Everything was planned way back in February including the tickets. I cancelled them with a heavy heart and paid a hefty penalty...but hey what's not meant to be isn't meant to be right! So I'm trying not to fret about it too much :)  
Another batch of fresh Alphonso mangoes arrived this afternoon and boy are they gorgeous. We've been able to lay our hands on some great stuff this season. All thanks to a humble mango farmer Mr. Bhagwandas. He's been kind enough to deliver a fresh batch home every two weeks. Gorging on these babies has been the only best part about this hot and sticky summer. I'm praying harder than ever for the rains. 
See you soon!!

XOXOXOXO

Runa

Happy Mother's Day!

Shop Update

Passport Pouches are up for sale in the shop this week. Perfect if you're planning a trip alone or with your family. These can carry up to 3 passports at a time. I love the simple construction and these are so handy and fit in really well in your jacket pocket or waist pouch. These pouches measure 5.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide, are well interfaced and use a magnetic closure. These would make lovely gifts for the frequent and organised traveler. 

See ya!

XOXOXOXO

Runa

Mister's Birthday Weekend @Machan (Lonavala)

Easter this year and the Mister's Birthday fell on the same weekend. Since we had just two nights, we decided to go not too far from the city. So on a recommendation from a friend, we booked ourselves at the Machan Resorts. Its very convenient to get there by train or by road. Whilst going, we took the train till Lonavala station and a cab dropped us to the resort. While coming back we cabbed it all the way. Both ways it took us about 3 hours. 

 Not the best weather to travel to this place. Its was dry and scorching. The setting is lovely, but the heat did get a bit unbearable during the day. 

 This is a dried up lake that fills up during the monsoons. July to February should be the ideal months to be here. 

 I carried all my stuff in my cargo duffle made specially for this trip. Look how lovely the colours look. 

 The decor of the entire resort has been done very tastefully. I couldn't help notice little details that added a real lovely rustic feel to the whole place.

 This is what the reception hut looks like. We arrived at the resort by noon and had to wait till about 3 pm to get our rooms. So if you're visiting, make sure you don't get in too early during the summers, else when the weather is cooler, you can spend time roaming around the resort, eat some fabulously cooked lunch while you wait to check in.

 We were welcomed with glasses of chilled Tang and wet napkins, which were such a respite in the heat. Pardon my commenting on the heat soo many times, but that did really get to us.

 Want to spend some time reading, you could get some basic books on birds and nature here at the little reading nook at the reception.

 This is the restroom and the floating concrete tiles caught my attention right away

 . 

 The dining area used only for dinners. Lunch is served in a little shady corner with trees all around. 

 Since the resort is eco-friendly and green, here's where the get their electricity from. Impressive eh? There are no electricity or phone cables in this area. And not too far from the resort are huge estates owned by renowned Maharashtrian Politicians. Ha!!

 This was how lunch was served every day. Lovely eh? And yes I must add the food is delicious. it had a very homemade and fresh feel. The staff needs to be informed earlier whether you'd like to eat a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian meal.

This is how yum the lunch looked everyday :) 

An elevated platform, made of bamboo strung together near the lunch area where we ate lunch and generally lazed around.

 Alright!!! So finally we get to our room called the Canopy Machaan. 

 Extremely tastefully done rooms. Air coolers and not air conditiners in each room. Our cooler was non-effective in the sticky heat. The nights ofcourse were a sharp contrast and we had to ask for comforters at night. Though the cabin is made from solid wood inside, there is a nice canopy inside the room made with white sheets. Well  beautiful to look at but at night we had a rat come in through one of the gaps in the wood and create havoc inside the canopy. We had a tough time sleeping at night. One does come prepared to live in the jungle but not when you're promised a luxury stay at extremely high prices. 

By the end of the second day we were yearning to get home, cause we hadn't slept for two nights and the heat was terrible. The first day was spent roaming around the property. We went for a short walk in the evening with a guide who gave us some basic information on a couple of trees and insects. We really missed bird watching and star gazing. We were told that the naturalist was away on a personal emergency. I'd taken along our first pair of Canon binoculars that we'd bought for the trip. The peace and quiet is great here, except when you have noisy neighbours that play blaring music till late at night. Also make sure you ask in advance whether there are any families with young children next door :) We managed to catch up on a lot of our reading though.

It was definitely a different experience, but I wouldn't want to go there again. The staff is very nice and helpful but the owners and the management (Who are anonymous by the way and no staff member will let you in on the secret), came across as a little curt from their reply I got on my review at Trip Advisor.

Well, we were home by Sunday afternoon and overjoyed to be hahahahaha Hope you find this post helpful if you're planning a trip here sometime. 

Luvs,

Runa