Reshma is in France celebrating her birthday today! Since we could not be with her there, I have put together a surprise video to wish her a fantastic birthday. This will be Reshma's second birthday in a row in Fontainebleau, a little town known for it's famous chateau, and scenic forests. It is also the home of INSEAD, Reshma's business school.
Hope you like the video Reshma! Make sure you watch it in HD :)
Whistler was a must as I missed the Olympics. We went snowmobiling in Whistler and stayed one night at the Delta Suites. At one point, we went as fast 89km/h! The weather was wonderful. It was barely zero degrees Celsius and snowed all day. We checked out Buffalo Bills night club afterwards. Neil, Shilpi, Amar, and Dorian made it out.
We had the pleasure of visiting Cambodia for 4 days during the P1/P2 break - We flew into Siem Reap where we spent 2 days, and then rented a group bus to Phnom Penh.
Siem Reap was the capital city and home of the 12 Century Ankor Wat temple that was built as the state temple and capital city. This temple is the symbol of Cambodia and appears on the national flag. We also visited other temples like Ankor Tom, Bayon, and Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider Temple). The "floating village" of Kompong Phluk was a must-see - the village is built high on stilts for the flood season. We visited a primary school there and gave the students books and pencils.
Phnom Penh is the capital today, and is a growing city. We had a chance to share a sunset boat cruise with a group of friends...thanks Lucinda and Jeff for organizing! The Royal Palace was okay.. we ran into some interesting challenges with the dress code - apparently shawls are not allowed so ladies make sure you cover your shoulders some other way. Bought some neat souvenirs such as paintings from the Russian Market. The most important place to visit (and saddest) was the S21 genocide museum (Toul Sleng). During the Khemr Rouge regime (1975 - 1979), this high school was converted into a prison. It is estimated that between 1.5 to 3 million Cambodians were killed during this period...a very heavy experience visiting the museum, but very insightful into the history of this country.
The food in Cambodia was amazing - we ate at some great restaurants which had a blend of European and Asia food. Also, finding vegetarian food was quite easy. All in all, this trip was fantastic!
We flew to Yogyakarta, Indonesia for the weekend. The highlight of the trip was to watch the sunrise at Borobudur. Borobudur was built in the 8th century and is the largest Buddhist temple in Indonesia - it is located between two twin volcanoes and two rivers. We started at 3:30am from the Phoenix Hotel ("Ponik" for the locals) and were at the top of the temple by 5am to watched the sunrise - it was spectacular!!
We also visited the Bird Market (Ngasem), Water Castle (Taman Sari), and Prambanan which is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia built in the 9th century. The locals we met were very friendly and always smiling and willing to help. FYI: there is an entry visa fee and an exit fee for Indonesia so be ready to pay that.
As part of Russian Week at Reshma's university, we headed down to New Asia located on the 71st floor of the Fairmont Singapore Hotel. The views were fantastic and the drinks were just as expensive ;)
A collage of pictures from the past week as we celebrated Chinese New Year in Singapore. Pictures from China Town, The River Hong Bao Carnival, and One North party.
Celebrated Chinese New Year along River Hong Bao in Singapore. The fireworks started at midnight and lasted for about 5 minutes. I added the Singapore national anthem as the background music. To the right is Marina Bay where the Merlion is and to the left is the River Hong Bao Carnvial where they have nightly performances to celebrate the year of the Tiger.
To cap of Latin week's craziness, we headed down to Club Movida located inside the St. James Power Station. The theme of course for Latin Week was Carnaval. Everyone dressed in their very creative carnaval outfits!
Kuala Lumpur was awesome. Took the Nice Shuttle Bus there from Singapore. We had a chance to stay with Hemanshu's cousin Ketul, his wife Archana and daughters Maher and Kiana. Some of the places we checked out included the Thean Hou Temple, National Mosque, the soon-to-be capital Putrajaya, KL Tower, Petronas twin-towers, and Batu Caves where the world's largest Thaipusam Festival took place that weekend! Eric, our Taxi driver, was great - he even played the Michael Buble DVD for us in his car :)
To cap off a crazy week of orientations, courses, and initiations... the school coordinated a final party at Cafe Del Mar on Sentosa island. This place has changed significantly from our last visit 7 years ago. No one was allowed to stay dry. If you were dry, you were thrown into the pool!
We met Yee Ning in Singapore over 7 years ago during our student exchange program with NUS. Yee Ning since moved to Singapore from Seattle so we get to hang with her in Singapore again! Happy Birthday.
So we actually did end up going to Helipad after all! One of the INSEAD students had arranged a VIP list and we were on the "helipad" outside all night overlooking Clark Quay. We also got to see some fireworks. The helipad was on the 6th floor and not the 50th floor as I had imagined it but we had a great time. Good times..
We made it to Singapore finally! After a week of hardcore searching, we chose the first place we saw... check out some pics of our new studio along with a BBQ that the students coordinated.
Yet another year has gone by. We worked extra hard this time because we had to change the venue since Canada Place was unavailable due to the Olympics. Sutton Place was an awesome venue and the party went off without a hitch. This was the third party I helped coordinate and also my last day at work in Vancouver! More pictures at this link.
Team Mari Behn raised $4,511 this year thanks to 45+ donors (just to Hemanshu) and 16 team members! Even with a later start and the tough economic times, people generously donated and participated in the Run for the Cure!
In two years Team Mari Behn raised $11,854!!THANK YOU for all your efforts and making a difference for the fight against breast cancer. Also, a big thank you to Nanubhai and Vik for their continued contributions and support.
We had a great time at Zeph and Iris's wedding and reception. Bruce and Fong Yee (the MCs) had coordinated some impressive games. One had Zeph wearing a panda head and searching for Iris blindfolded. The other game involved them mimicking kisses from other couples. Reshma and I demonstrated the Spiderman kiss with the assistance of Paul and Rob. Zeph mimicked it well, although we were afraid that he may injure himself :)
PaTIo PaRTy VII was a blast! Thanks for making the 7th iteration of the party a memorable one. We celebrated summer with friends, volleyball, sangria (coconut Havana Club rum, vine, and fruit), and lots of food. We also celebrated Hemanshu's 29th birthday with 2 mango cakes.
Ohh La La Paris... the city of lights! We had a great time eating, drinking, and checking out the sites. Unlike the previous Europe trip, we took it easy this time and tried to also spend some time at parks - eating baguettes, drinking vine, and enjoying the sun. Nous nous sommes bien amuses, et nous esperons de retourner a Paris tres tot!
Sis was on the Today Show! More often than not, moms are so busy taking care of their families and other obligations that they forget to pamper themselves! So in honor of National Women's Health Week, iVillage teamed up with Estee Lauder and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to give two of their patients, Snehal Mehta and Angelita Gentile, a personalized styling for its Health is Beautiful initiative. Check out her makeover pictures here.
Our grandmother (Ma), Hemanshu’s mum’s mum, passed away on April 29th.
Ma always had a smile on her face and was one of the most modern grandmothers I have ever met. She also used to understand and read English so it was fun testing her! I used to love bugging her when she was absorbed into watching her special Hindi TV shows :)
Ma is with Daddy now. May god rest her soul. We love you Ma. Here are the pictures from the time Ma visited New Jersey and Vancouver.
Our grandmother (Ba), Hemanshu's dad's mum, passed away on February 21st. Luckily dad made it there earlier and was able to spend a week with her before she left us... unfortunately mum did not make it there on time.
My grandparents used to live in Khartoum before they moved to India. Since we used to live in Port Sudan, they used to often visit and she was responsible for teaching us religion and reading/writing Gujarati. Later on in life, I had the chance to help her with her English studies. She was am amazing cook and loved us unconditionally.
Ba will be dearly missed by all of us. Here are the pictures from the time she visited Vancouver for our wedding.
The final numbers are in! We raised $7,343 to find a cure for Breast Cancer. The team was at 147% of the $5,000 goal. As promised, my dad and I shaved our heads because we met our outlined goals to raise $3k and $5k respectively.
Many thanks to all the team members, friends and especially the sponsors who made this possible. Special thanks to Vik, Nanubhai, and Seema!
Cancer is a terrible disease and has contributed to alot of pain and suffering. Your support and contributions will make a huge difference.
Yes, our very young looking Dad is actually 60 years old! We shaved his head in preparation for the Run for the Cure run. Read that blog for more information. We celebrated his birthday with his closest friends and family.
Alicia Keys was awesome! We first saw her in 2002 at GM Place. This time she was at the Orpheum and she rocked the house. As Reshma says "She is cool you know, she is funky, street, I love her". That was by far the best concert this year. Even better than Michael Buble, however, Reshma can't make up her mind.
Janet Jackson was pretty good. Not comparable to the Velvet Rope concert in 1998 but that's also because she was 10 years younger and really fit back then. But hey, I'll always be a fan of her music!
Congratulations Leah and Cory! What a great wedding and a fantastic way to end off the summer. This was by far the most chill couple we have ever seen when it comes to wedding planning. Both the ceremony and reception were a blast.
Arthur and Fong-Yee got married at the UBC Boathouse which was a nice intimate venue overlooking the water. Afterwards we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Richmond which had almost 10 courses! We've never seen that much food before!
Went zip trekking and whitewater rafting for Cory's stag. We had an awesome time. Probably the most active stag I've ever been to... we were beat by the end of the day!
After three years of selling software at Faronics, I am exchanging my "Senior Account Manager" title for "Product Manager". Sales was an amazing experience but I couldn't resist the opportunity to have more control over what goes into a product. I'll be in charge of two software suites: Power Save and WINSelect.
Another SFU couple joins the wedded group... it goes like this:
1. Paul & Anita 2. Us 3. Chisa & Eko 4. Arthur & Fong-Yee - this summer! 5. Leah & Cory - this summer! 6. Simran & Theoni - next year!
Chisa and Eko had their reception at the Brock House which is a beautiful house built in 1912 and is situated right on Jericho Beach. It was a fireworks night so some us walked over to the beach to check them out.
Interesting history: The house exchanged hands three times until it was sold to the Federal Government in 1952 and was occupied by the RCMP, Vancouver Sub-Division Headquarters Staff, until 1971. On May 1, 1975, the property was turned over by the Federal Government to the City of Vancouver as part of the transfer of the Jericho Waterfront Lands.
Simran finally proposed to his beautiful bride-to-be, Theoni :-) They had a nice cozy get together at his parent's house. Don't they make a nice couple? Theoni is Greek so we plan to break plates at their wedding - against her wishes ;-)
Interesting fact: Maxine's hideway used to be a brothel and there used to be a tunnel that connected Rogers Mansion, now Romano’s Macaroni Grill; the Rogers Sugar magnate liked to have his own secret point of access to the brothel.
In the 1930’s, it was used as a hideout for two of America’s most wanted fugitives (one of whom was captured by J. Edgar Hoover himself.) When times got tough, Madame Maxine used the lower floor of the beauty school as a brothel, hence The “Bordello Room Lounge."
We jetted off for a week of sun and fun in Cancun! It has been almost one year since our last vacation, so we were eagerly looking forward to the trip. We had a fantastic time relaxing on the beach and exploring the area. Our resort was awesome! We stayed at H10 resorts - Ocean Turquesa. Our key highlights of the trip were: partying at Coco Bongo & the City (amazing night life!), visiting the ruins in Tulum, and saving baby sea turtles...they were adorable, and Reshma found two little turtles that we returned to the Ocean. We miss Mexico already and want to go back!!!
Posts
