Well I am safely in Bangkok....but I will start my real first post here with my recent trip to America.First of all I should say that my mother's health has not been good. She suffered from Ovarian cancer while I was in College in the early 90's and at that time had a hysterectomy along with the removal of her ovaries as well as some radiation treatment.Several years ago (3?) while on a vacation with my father she discovered a lump, I believe on her neck. When she returned from the vacation she was checked by her doctor and the conclusion was that her cancer had come back...around 15 years later.She went through a really heavy Chemotherapy sessions and lost her hair. I happened to visit at the time, and was really proud of how she (such a fashionable and hip woman) dealt with that.About a month after her chemo sessions ended it turned out that the cancer returned, and for the last several years she has been trying one drug after another to no avail. She has gone through several clinical trials. During a particular one she had to be rushed to the hospital and stay for several days as the drug had practically shut down her kidneys. When I arrived home August 7th, my mother had just begun another clinical trial at the Karmanos cancer research center in Detroit. This meant that she would have to go up 3 times a week, and the drive was an hour and twenty minutes each way.I was quite happy to drive her to keep her from tiring herself out by so much driving, but it was a bit intense for me having just come from India...I drove her up the next morning after my arrival, and had a really difficult time to adjust to the time difference and catch up on sleep!It turns out that this clinical trial was not helpful either, and she ended up with more side effects than anything else...she developed massive swelling in her legs and feet, as well as neuropathy...a sort of numbness/pins and needles in her feet and hands. She was feeling tired all the time, and couldn't stand for long periods...or do her favorite thing...shop for long periods.Just before this she also had several sessions of radiation treatments as the cancer was appearing on her skin in the form of a blotchy rash, mainly on her chest and back.Well, in light of her physical condition, my mother had a desire to take one last "family" vacation. She mentioned it last year when I was visiting that she would like to go on a vacation with my brother and myself and my father. For some time she was set on going to Africa, for a Safari. It didn't really work out with me being in India (I couldn't just meet them in Africa...I'd have to fly from India to America, and then to Africa..which was really stupid), plus she decided that that trip and climate might be too difficult for her physically, so she changed her mind and decided on Alaska. The plan finalized into one week on a cruise ship, one week on a land tour.
We flew to Vancouver, Canada and were met by the cruise company and taken to the ship. My brother Ryan, who was flying in from Arizona, would meet us later that day on the ship.We had adjoining rooms that were very nice with beautiful balconies. Because we were on the concierge floor, we had chilled bottles of champagne (of course that didn't interest me....) and fresh fruit and flowers provided daily. I shared the room with my mother, who was very tolerant of me (with my puja rituals etc. every morning). I had a little cabinet next to the balcony that I kept my Giridhari in, and ever day he ate lots of fruit and other goodies that I brought with me. Ryan and my Father shared the next door room.The ship launched later that afternoon, and would sail all night and the following day. the day after we would reach our first destination, Ketchikan.The dining in the evening is reserved tables. There is a set menu you order from, and they had vegetarian choices of every course of the meal.Our companions at the table were a couple from Florida, Robert and Nancy, and a mother and daughter from North Dakota, Hillary and Barabara. Because the dining room is a little nicer, there is a dress code, and two formal nights as well. I was a bit relieved to find our waiter was an Indian guy named Sukender Singh. He was really helpful in making sure that all of the vegetarian items were ok for me to eat (as they sometimes included eggs)...in fact they made many things especially for me when the regular items were not appropriate. One night they screwed up (the pasta was with eggs) so I ended up eating Indian Vegetarian food at Sukender's suggestion (there were many Indians on the trip...and I guess they couldn't be with out Indian food for a week...so they cooked indian stuff for them...which was really sad in my opinion...because the food was really excellent...and it really limits your experience if you just eat what you normally do...ie. Indian food.) Sukender was really excited to find out that I lived in India...and he was from Gurgaon, which is a suburb of New Delhi, so we lived only a few hours from each other.The crew on the ship was really international. Everywhere you looked there was someone from a different country. Their name tags also indicated what country they were from. I think I heard that they had people from 50 different countries. Our assistant waiter was from Bali, and he was so cute...smiling all the time. He also did some really bad tricks for us one evening after the meal when everyone had finished their deserts...Our cabin assistant (the guy in charge of cleaning and room service) was from Goa, and his assistant was also from India. He was really happy to find out that I spoke a little Hindi, and would always greet me every day in Hindi and ask me how I was doing, really enjoying my answers!
