The wedding tradition in this village is that the grooms family purchases all the clothes and personal items that the bride may need in her new life as a part of her dowry. These items are then displayed at the grooms parents house, during the week leading up to the wedding, for the entire village to view. The dowry items included beautiful silk saris and scarves as well as little things like a toothbrush, hair bands, handkerchiefs and even pajamas.  Everything and I mean everything was on display for the 2000 friends, family and villagers to walk by and evaluate the dowry.  I can't imagine knowing that the entire village would know what my PJ's were going to look like!  

In preparation for the wedding we had our palms decorated with henna.  Kingsley was not sure this was a good idea as some types of henna can last weeks even months on the skin.  I of course did not listen and had both palms decorated with a beautiful henna design.  The girls doing my henna assured me it would be gone in 5 days...it actually took almost 3 weeks for it completely fade! 

Dressing up for the rehearsal dinner at the grooms parents home. It was so fun to be part of the family celebrations though I found it particularly stressful trying to eat with my freshly henna covered hands while wearing such a beautiful outfit. 

The food we were served during the wedding was all vegetarian and absolutely delicious, but without napkins or utensils we were at a loss as to how we were to actually eat it.  We seriously did not see a knife, fork, spoon or napkin (excect for the small packet of tissues I brought along with me which were rationed out with great care) the entire trip so we had a pretty steep learning curve on eating with one's hands. The first and MOST important rule is to ONLY eat with your right hand. The left hand is used for...other things... and must always remain below the table.  At the start of every meal we were given a fresh damp palm leaf which served as our plate and placemat. A smart strategy when feeding over 2000 guests as it eliminated the need for doing the dishes after each meal. 

As you can clearly see we broke the - eating with your right hand only - rule many times much to the shock and horror and even sometimes amusement of our ever present village audience. 

After our first lunch we were given a tour of the kitchen where the cooks made food for over 2000 wedding guests using two large fire pits. It was something to behold. Watching the back breaking labor that went into each of our meals was humbling but I don't think I will ever feel comfortable eating with my hand(s). 

A few months ago Kingsley and I received a very special invitation to be part of one of Kingsley's co-workers South Indian wedding.  It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that we just couldn't pass up so on the weekend of Sept 7th we flew to Trichy unaware of what an eventful weekend lay in store for us. 

Savoring our last Starbucks at Changi airport prior to flying to Tiruchirappalli a small city in Southeast India.  

Arriving in Trichy we were greeted by the driver of the Royal Castle Bus which was decked out with neon lights and a disco ball inside.  

From the airport we drove about 2 hours south to a tiny rural village where the groom's family home was and the wedding celebrations were to take place. 

Kingsley and Al (groom)

Meeting Al's extended family who graciously welcomed us into their home. 

On sunday Sept 8th Kingsley and I were invited to attend his friend and co-worker Al's wedding in India.  We were honored to be part of such a special event.  Below is a short video summary of our South Indian Wedding adventure. 

We had the most wonderful time in Bali on our 3rd paragliding trip with the Temple pilots. Though we come from different backgrounds - our shared love of flying and having fun has bonded us forever to our friends at Temple Pilots. 

For the prior two trips we stayed in Kuta to be close to the action but this time around we stayed in sleepy Nusa Dua which was a nice change of pace. 

A few snapshot highlights from the trip. 

Kingsley and I had one night where it ended up just being the two of us and had a romantic dinner on the beach at Kendi Kuning.  I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is staying in Nusa Dua. It was our favorite restaurant from the trip. 

Our first morning in Bali we arranged to have a 90 minute himalayan yoga session with David West which was fun. It was interesting to learn this paticular series of postures and of course I enjoyed working a bit more on my headstand and even tried my first handstand! 

Kingsley and I were fortunate enough to be invited to join the Temple Pilots again for their annual Bali Paragliding trip.  We have enjoyed some amazing friendships over the last few years of paragliding and love that we have been embraced by the crowd.