My gutsy friend, Winnie

Today's entry is rather special for I will be covering a different topic, not of any adventures on India living but rather I will be featuring a guest blogger. Winnie Chen is a dear friend of 8 years now, and she resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A couple of weeks back, Winnie updated on Facebook that she will be doing her first stand up comedy performance as a personal challenge. That instantly created a ripple of reaction among us friends, all singing the same tune, rooting for her.

The show was on 9 Feb and had a good turn up of 300 people. For many of us who were unable to attend the comedy show in support of Winnie, we had asked for there to be a recording.

High life of a beach bum

Today I'm blogging from Phuket, we are midway through our Thailand holiday. The weather is lovely, with bright sunshine all day long. Our daily routine involves going for breakfast and straight off to the beach for at least 5 hours of sun, sand and a swim. We are spoilt for a selection of beach with 3 close by, barely 10 minutes drive from our villa. The beaches here are pristine with superfine white sand, water is a blue-ish green hue with amazingly warm temperature.

Beach with crystal blue water 

Gorgeous view from my deck chair

Beach essentials

Ready, steady go!

The India Assembly Elections heat is on, with barely 8 more hours till Maharashtra polling booths open! The streets in the past few days have been filled with politicians, campaigners and supporters organizing various rallies. Just when one thought the traffic in Mumbai couldn't get any worse hah!

We were out for V Day lunch and I was lucky enough to catch a procession taking place. I whipped out my camera to do some filming, and as you can see the supporters got excited and started slowing down and posing for my shoot which caused additional slow down in traffic haha! I felt it was wise to stop my home videos then.

The Government has declared polling day (17 Feb 2012) to be a bank holiday. MC is pleased for it gives him the opportunity to begin his packing for our beach holiday, due to kick off in 2 days time. The next time I write, I'll be sipping my sunset cocktails while basking in the sun. Sawasdee Krap readers.... 

Eating Around Mumbai

MC & I are big foodies, we enjoy good food and are always game to try new cuisines and restaurants. My gfs have been asking how the Indian food is here - honestly missies, I can't really tell as I've only eaten it twice in the 50+ days that I've been here. Once was at a baby naming ceremony where the vegetarian food was served and the second time at Ziya in Oberoi Hotel. Without a doubt, Ziya won hands down as the best Indian I've had here. Famous chef, Vineet Bhatia owner of Michelin star Rasoi London does consultation work for Ziya.

Knife sharpening 101

These are our Indian knife sharpeners, men who cycle around residential/ commercial areas offering knife sharpening services. The whole mechanism is very simple consisting of a regular bicycle with an additional attachment of a grinding wheel placed on the bicycle's frame.

To sharpen the knife, the blade would be placed on the grinding wheel and the man would do stationary peddling to get the wheel spinning. As the wheel spins, the friction caused would sharpen the knife's blade.

I've been asking the security guards to ping me when these men come around as I have a couple of blunt knives but so far no luck. Not sure what the rates are but am sure it's really cheap. Was lucky enough to catch a knife sharpener at work when we were out for lunch. He agreed for me to video him working so here you go!