The Doings of Mike and Carol

Our blog posts have moved to 500px...

2011-09-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

... and can be found here: http://500px.com/weberpoint/blog

Be sure to hit "READ MORE" at the bottom to see all of the images.

Blog is moving...

2011-08-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

...to 500px. We plan to post from Greece and Italy this September (internet allowing).

weberpoint on 500px

Mt Rainier from Weber Point

2011-08-01T13:56:00.001-07:00

Mt Rainier from Weber Point
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A glimpse of summer. Finally.

A very soggy Fremont Parade

2011-07-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

A constant rain did not do much to dampen the usual enthusiasm of this year's parade, though the crowds were a bit thinner. Here then are some of my takes on the day.

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.011-07:00

ZhuJiaJao Watertown
Originally uploaded by weberpoint
It's our last day in China and most people (including Art) have already left for the states. The three of us who are left decided to spend our last day in the "best preserved" ancient part of Shanghai City. ZhuJiaJao is about 40km from the city center. It was built on a series of canals over the past thousand years, though most of the development occurred during the Ming Dynasty. The only modern improvements made since the site was "preserved" were the addition of toilets, information signs, souvenir shops, too many restaurants to count, and a large parking lot for the tour busses. You get
my point. Fortunately for us, today was wet and cold so the number of other visitors was at a very low level, and we had a great time walking the streets for about five hours. This town also has the friendliest dogs we have encountered in China. They are also uniformly small. The ones in the picture are full grown. I leave tomorrow at 6am, and will be home by noon (plus 15 hours in time zone changes).

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.009-07:00

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.007-07:00

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.005-07:00

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.003-07:00

ZhuJiaJao Watertown

2011-04-07T04:47:00.001-07:00

Yang Shuo Mountains

2011-04-06T08:49:00.007-07:00

Yang Shuo Mountains
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Landscape photography isn't really my thing, and I have a hard time
composing effective images when I am confronted with scenery such as this.
To be in the middle of it is just an overwhelming experience. It's far
easier to just take it in than to interpret it in a photo. That being said,
I think the best time to visit this area is about 15 years ago. The once
sleepy little town of Guilin is now a major city. The backpacker crowd
would usually head out to Yang Shuo to get away from the crowds. Now Yang
Shuo is a major tourist area - it has two McDonald's and a pedestrian
shopping street that is packed with crowds at night. Further down river is
the relatively unspoiled hamlet of Xing Ping, but it too is quickly
succumbing to the crowds.

Yang Shuo Mountains

2011-04-06T08:49:00.005-07:00

Yang Shuo Mountains
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Yang Shuo Mountains

2011-04-06T08:49:00.003-07:00

Yang Shuo Mountains
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Yang Shuo Mountains

2011-04-06T08:49:00.001-07:00

Yang Shuo Mountains
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

We All Want to be Art Wolfe

2011-04-04T10:04:00.001-07:00

We All Want to be Art Wolfe
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Art took us down to the Li River this evening to shoot the cormorant
fishermen. This is not the same place that he shot his iconic photograph
several years ago as that location (formerly an isolated sand bar) is now a
built-up marina used to ferry tourists on river rides. This place is
changing fast. We found a location a few miles away and paid a couple of
fishermen to pose for us. During the 30 minutes or so of good low light, we
managed to get several shots that we are happy with. I did not try to
recreate Art's shot as that would require getting flat on the sand with the
camera at ground level. Water buffalo use that beach to drink. and other
things.

We All Want to be Art Wolfe

2011-04-04T10:03:00.005-07:00

We All Want to be Art Wolfe
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

We All Want to be Art Wolfe

2011-04-04T10:03:00.003-07:00

We All Want to be Art Wolfe
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

We All Want to be Art Wolfe

2011-04-04T10:03:00.001-07:00

We All Want to be Art Wolfe
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

More Yuan Yang Markets

2011-04-03T07:24:00.009-07:00

More Yuan Yang Markets
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

It's raining here in Guilin - or more accurately Yang Shuo about 20 miles
down the Li River from Guilin - so today was a bit light on shooting.
Meanwhile, here are some photos taken in the markets of Yuan Yang. The
woman in the green hat is Hani, and the woman at the meat table is Zyi. Now
you know the difference.

Tomorrow, we are going to walk the banks of the Floating Lotus River, and
then photograph the cormorant fishermen at dusk. I think we are all going
to try to recreate Art's famous photograph on that subject. This may be the
last opportunity for us, or anyone to try this as the traditional fisherman
have all but disappeared from the rivers here. The area is rapidly
modernizing and the old ways of fishing no longer make economic sense - even
with the tourist interest.

More Yuan Yang Markets

2011-04-03T07:24:00.007-07:00

More Yuan Yang Markets
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

More Yuan Yang Markets

2011-04-03T07:24:00.005-07:00

More Yuan Yang Markets
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

More Yuan Yang Markets

2011-04-03T07:24:00.003-07:00

More Yuan Yang Markets
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

More Yuan Yang Markets

2011-04-03T07:24:00.001-07:00

More Yuan Yang Markets
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang

2011-04-02T11:57:00.007-07:00

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Our flight from Kunming to Guilin was delayed six hours. I am finally here,
but it is 3:00 in the morning and we are leaving at nine. Too tired to
post. The short story is that these rice terraces have been continuously
cultivated for 1,300 years by the Hani and Zyi tribes people. More
tomorrow. Look at the pictures.

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang

2011-04-02T11:57:00.005-07:00

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang

2011-04-02T11:57:00.003-07:00

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang

2011-04-02T11:57:00.001-07:00

The Rice Terraces of Yuan Yang
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Brief Stop in Mongolia

2011-03-31T23:26:00.007-07:00

A Brief Stop in Mongolia
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

On Wednesday, we took the six hour drive (it took 10 hours) from the City of
Kunming to the hill tribe area of Yuan Yang in the southern mountains near
the border of Viet Nam. Along the way, we stopped for lunch near a small
Mongolian village called Xing Meng. Why there is a Mongolian village in
southern China is a long story. Sufficed it to say, that they have been
here for 900 years. This provided us with our first opportunity to shoot in
a rural village, so we descended upon it like an invading horde. sorry, I
couldn't help myself. The images here are from that village. I have no
idea what game the men are playing here, but it involved a lot of shouting
and the exchange of money.

Over the next two days we will be shooting the rice terraces and villages of
Yuan Yang.

A Brief Stop in Mongolia

2011-03-31T23:26:00.005-07:00

A Brief Stop in Mongolia
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Brief Stop in Mongolia

2011-03-31T23:26:00.003-07:00

A Brief Stop in Mongolia
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Brief Stop in Mongolia

2011-03-31T23:26:00.001-07:00

A Brief Stop in Mongolia
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Cursed with Pleasant Weather

2011-03-29T02:26:00.007-07:00

Cursed with Pleasant Weather
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Huang Shan is famous for its fog and clouds swirling among the granite
spires. It's that feature that draws millions of visitors each year, and
earned it a spot as a UN World Heritage site. What we got when we arrived
was sunny weather. The scenery itself if breathtaking, and well worth the
visit no matter what the weather brings. Unfortunately, cloudless skies are
bad for photography. All of the pictures that I took pretty much suck.

The other remarkable feature of Huang Shan, also known as the Yellow
Mountains, is its stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. Due to the topology of
the area, going up or going down is the only way to go anywhere. Friends
who know me will recognize that I am not a big fan of stairs. I'm more of
an elevator kind of guy. If you look closely at the first photo (or last -
I don't know what order blogger will put these in), you will get an idea of
the kind of terrain that we were travelling on for two days. The next photo
is a close-up from the first.

Even though these mountains are rugged and remote, there is quite a bit of
construction at the top. There are at least six hotels and several
restaurants. The materials for building all of these structures was brought
up from the base of the mountain (4,000 ft below) on the backs of porters.
Basically, one brick at a time. The construction is continuing as there is
a great demand from the ever increasing number of visitors (mostly Chinese).
Huang Shan may even lose its World Heritage designation because of this
build-out.

Today, we flew to Kunming, in Yunnan province. Tomorrow, after breakfast,
we will be on the road all day to the remote border region which is home to
several hill tribes and to the terraced rice paddies. It is very unlikely
that I will have internet access for the next three days, so I will probably
post next from Guilin. I could be wrong about the internet - I had it at
the hotel on top of Huang Shan.

Cursed with Pleasant Weather

2011-03-29T02:26:00.005-07:00

Cursed with Pleasant Weather
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Cursed with Pleasant Weather

2011-03-29T02:26:00.003-07:00

Cursed with Pleasant Weather
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Cursed with Pleasant Weather

2011-03-29T02:26:00.001-07:00

Cursed with Pleasant Weather
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Visit to The Pearl Tower

2011-03-27T06:49:00.003-07:00

A Visit to The Pearl Tower
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

We had an afternoon to kill before boarding our overnight sleeper train to
Huang Shan, so we headed across the river to East Shanghai to visit the
Oriental Pearl Tower. This is a TV antenna tower with observation platforms
built onto it a different heights. They are in the shape of pearls. The
top observation level is at 1143 feet, but we only went as high as the one
at 863 feet. There is also a much larger one at 300 feet, but it contains
nothing more than a video arcade and some small children's rides. It was
well worth a visit.

Last night we took the sleeper train - it turned out that it was a 'local',
which meant that it stopped at every station between Shanghai and Huang
Shan. I didn't get much sleep. Today and tomorrow we will spend in the
mountains - our hotel tonight is at an evaluation of 6400 ft. More on that,
plus pictures, tomorrow.

A Visit to The Pearl Tower

2011-03-27T06:49:00.001-07:00

A Visit to The Pearl Tower
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Visit to The Pearl Tower

2011-03-27T06:48:00.003-07:00

A Visit to The Pearl Tower
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Visit to The Pearl Tower

2011-03-27T06:48:00.001-07:00

A Visit to The Pearl Tower
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

A Cold Night on the Bund

2011-03-25T06:40:00.003-07:00

A Cold Night on the Bund
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

This is quickly becoming one of the most photographed skylines on the
planet. It is easy to see why. Even during the day, this collection of
cutting edge architecture would make George Jetson proud. At night, though,
is when the new Shanghai really shines. It is almost mesmerizing. We would
have stayed and photographed longer, but it was cold and windy. Really,
really cold. Tomorrow, we spend more time in old Shanghai, and then take
the overnight train to Huangshan (The Yellow Mountains). It's going to be
cold there, too.

A Cold Night on the Bund

2011-03-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

A Cold Night on the Bund
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

Low Communications Capabilities

2011-03-24T23:41:00.001-07:00

Low Communications Capabilities
Originally uploaded by weberpoint

It seems that China blocks all access to both facebook and blogger. The
only reliable way that I have of posting pictures is to Flickr. My pictures
can be seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/weberpoint/ There is
apparently a backdoor to blogger through email, which I am trying now.
Since I, myself, cannot get on my blog to check to see if this works (or how
the post looks), I am a little uncomfortable using this as my posting
mechanism. If you can read this, I would appreciate a comment on the first
image that I posted from Shanghai just to let me know that this works.
Thanks. I am now off to the Bund for the afternoon.

Flickr

2011-03-24T20:08:00.001-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Basic Survival Gear

2011-03-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have almost completed revision 6 of the packing for my upcoming trip to China. I would guess that about 35% of what I am taking consists of clothes, toiletries, hiking boots and other sundries. The rest is all photo gear. What I've laid out here is all the major bits - the gear that I will take as carry-on. Not shown is the laptop and all its accessories. They go with me on the plane too. There's an equal amount of stuff that consists of cleaning supplies, filters, chargers, etc. that will get packed in my luggage.

In a nutshell, I will be bringing two camera bodies, four lenses, 52GB in memory cards, a little red car and a tripod. And a rain cover for my camera gear. If it rains, we still go out and shoot. Since we will be traveling mostly to rural areas, internet access is not guaranteed. I will post when I can.

ArtEast 24 Hour Art Marathon

2011-03-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

I'm too old for all-nighters

This week... Zombies!

2010-07-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was in Fremont to shoot the Summer Solstice parade (for th 4th year in a row). This is a colorful and lively event that has been put on by the locals of this north Seattle community for the past twenty-something years. It attracts a large crowd from all over. Mostly, I think, to see the nekked people.

This weekend I will be going back to shoot the Red, White & Dead Zombie walk in which Fremont in which our local un-dead will try to recapture the Guinness record for most zombies performing Michael Jackson's Thriller- a record that was taken away last year by some folks in Scotland. This year, Fremont is going for 10,000 zombies. That's what I call a photo op.

Great Trip... only lost one hat

2010-02-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready to start my 34 hour trek back to Seattle. I have about 4500 images with me - most of which I have not had time to even look at - and a suitcase full of very dirty and very sweaty clothes. The food was great, I didn't get sick, and I think that I even gained a little weight (which is probably worse than losing the hat). I learned a lot from Art and his assistant Gavriel Jecan ( a world-class shooter and Nat'l Geo. contributor). I just hope that I can continue to apply these lessons when I go shooting on my own. We'll see.

Note that two of the images above are ones that you probably will recognize. It is the iconic photo of Angkor Wat at dawn. I took about 50 images that all look pretty much the same. Add that to the images of the other 200 photographers that were also there at 5am, and you have one very-well documented sunrise. You should know that sunrise is the most populr time to shoot the temple because a good portion of the structure is now covered in green tarp as part of the ongoing maintenance. It's not so pretty in the daylight. You should also know that there is a secret to getting a good spot in which to shoot the sunrise. You want to be down front, at the shore of the small lake so that you can catch the reflection of the temple in the water. The way to do this is to come there the previous afternoon and pay one of the vendors that has set up shop nearby to save you a spot. They will then go out at 4am, before any of the tourists arrive, and set up chairs in your preferred spot. When we arrived at 5:30, most of the spots in front of the lake were already filled and there was much jostling for room. We just picked our way through the crowd down to the front row and claimed our spots. Our place-holder had coffee waiting for us. I think this service cost us $1 each.

Angelina Jolie Was Here

2010-02-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Angkor Wat is a very special place. I think so, and so do the tens of thousands of other visitors that I met today. It has to be special to put up with this incredible heat. It is very easy to see why the Khmer abandoned this place 600 year ago for a nice place on the coast. In any case, we are getting some good images and still having a ball. And we are still dead tired at night. Hence the short and not-so-witty posts.

We are up at 4am (6 hours from now) to go shoot the sunrise at them main complex.

Back in Pizza Town

2010-02-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 days, we have been in the small town of Tam Loc, near Ninh Binh. We have been fortunate to have found three really good Vietnamese restaurants at which we have taken all of our meals. The problem with this is that they are all Vietnamese restaurants, and we are sick of Vietnamese food. As a result, one of our favorite meal-time conversations is about this great pizza restaurant that we found on the last night in Ha Noi and how we were going to eat there on our last night in Vietnam. Tonight is the night. Dinner is in two hours.

We had pretty much exhausted the photographic opportunities in and around Tam Loc, so we are all happy to be moving on. Tomorrow morning we fly to Siem Reap in Cambodia and spend the next three days exploring Angkor Wat. Because of its popularity, Siem Reap has been turned into a world class tourist destination, featuring a dozen five-star hotels, and great restaurants. And, of course, gazillions of tourists. We all know this, and we are prepared to deal with it, but we are not looking forward to the crowds. Art has hired a couple of monks to accompany us so that we can pose them in different parts of the temple complex. He is also trying to see if we can rent a water buffalo. This is how he rolls.

Since tomorrow is mostly a travel day, I won't have much to report until the day after (unless we have some adventures at the airport).

More Ninh Binh

2010-02-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Today was another good (and long) day in and around Ninh Binh. In the morning we went to a preserve to see the endangered Duoc Langur. Instead, we managed to see four not-so-endangered langurs of a different type (Erika - help me out here) on a cliff about 200 meters away. The image above is an extreme crop from a telephoto lens. The rest of the day we visited various temples and rice fields and managed to sneak in a 2-hour and much-needed nap in the middle of the day. We have one more full day in this region before we head back to Ha Noi. We're still dog-tired, but having a blast.

Ninh Binh

2010-02-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Ninh Binh, in north central Vietnam is another visually stunning place to visit. It's sort of like Guilin, China but without the cormorants. We spent the morning rowing down the river with its three caves, and the afternoon walking along the dykes in the rice paddies. This evening, Art gave another lecture - this one focusing on the development of his work and style over the years.

We are all having the time of our lives, and we are all exhausted. Basically, I'm too pooped to post. Just look at the pictures.

Ha Long Bay

2010-02-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Ha Long Bay is one of those truely mystical places that has to be seen in person to be appreciated. Depending on the light and the weather, it can look like Valhalla, or Mordor. It is the primary destination for all tourists that come to Vietnam. Fortunately, it is large enough that it is possible to get away from most of the boats and find yourself alone with the landscape. There are also some magnificent caves here.

We cut our visit to Ha Long Bay short by one day as heavy clouds have rolled in and it has begun to drizzle. It is beautiful to look at in these conditions, but very difficult to photograph. So, today we drove south to Ninh Binh which will be our headquarters for the next four days. As you can tell, there is internet service here, but I cannot access my email... which sucks big time. Tonight, Art Wolfe critiqued our images. This was both humbling and motivational. The man is a God.

It has been a long day, and I'm pretty pooped. I hope to have more time to compose something coherent tomorrow.

Today, we had Mexican

2010-02-02T06:15:00.001-08:00

Although the Vietnamese food here is very good, we decided that we needed a break, so we headed to Hanoi's only Mexican restaurant. The place was an outdoor cafe in a a walled garden. Proper Mexican motif. Even the menus had the proper south-of-the-border flourishes. Unfortunately, this was only a Mexican themed restaurant... all the food was traditional Vietnamese. Oh well.

Today was another long day that started in the main market at 6am. Except for a two hour break before lunch, we were out on the streets until 6pm. What I'm saying is that this is turning into a working vacation. The day ended with a lecture and slide show of Art's work. This was really good stuff, and the hour went past very quickly. Today was a good day.

Tomorrow we are off to Ha Long Bay where will be staying three nights on a junk. I'd like to say that it is a luxury junk, but I'm not that hopeful. From there, we will head south to Ninh Binh for a couple of days. This is a very rural area with few um... amenities. In any case, I probably will not have internet service for the next few days. If you don't hear from me in a week, please call the US Embassy.

Final note: Most of us passed on Dinner tonight as we were more tired than hungry. Art and a couple of others decided to go out anyway. They just came back, and they brought me pizza! I am so happy!

Chuc Mung Nan Moi

2010-02-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Hanoi, and spent the entire day out walking and photographing, and more walking. Art is going to kill us, unless the traffic here kills us first. There are seven of us in the group, altogether. Art and his friend Gavriel, a couple from Seattle, a woman named Ziggy from Zurich,and Terry from New Hampshire. And me, of course. It looks like it is going to be a good group.

I'm quite surprised at how good the food is here. i have never been a big fan of Vietnamese food, but apparently, the Vietnamese have a knack for fmaking it.

Anyway, I am totally pooped, and we are getting up at 5am to go visit the morning markets. More later. BTW, Vietnam suppresses access to facebook. Bummer.

Another Temple, Another Market

2010-01-31T01:15:00.000-08:00

I set out a bit earlier today in order to miss the most intense heat. First stop was Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn. I didn’t quite make it at dawn, but it didn’t open until 8:30 anyway. This is a real populist temple in that you are allowed to walk, and even climb, all over it. There are stairs that take you almost to the top. Unfortunately, you need to take these same stairs to get back down again. I stayed on the ground. Next up was Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This is a very impressive (and at the same time, very silly) 150 ft long statue of the Buddha lying on his side. The statue is housed in a building that is not much bigger than the statue, so it is hard to find an angle in which you can take the whole thing in at one time. Kind of adds to the drama, in a way. Between wats, I came across a dried fish market. Surprisingly, dried fish smell worse than fresh fish.

The culture shock for the day came when I went to the Siam Paragon shopping center in the afternoon. This place is huge. The food court is bigger than all of Bellevue Square. It even has two McDonald’s (one at each end) to keep your walking time down. Altogether, an amazing and disorienting place.

Tomorrow morning, at 5am, I am off to Hanoi.

I'm not complaining... really!

2010-01-30T00:38:00.001-08:00

Whenever I travel to someplace that is really hot and humid, the only thing I can think about until I acclimate is how hot and humid it is. Such is the case with Bangkok. I knew it would be this way, but still. The nice thing about Bangkok is that it is built around the Chao Phraya River, and when you are on the river there is a nice breeze and the weather feels about perfect. This might explain why it seems like the entire population of the city is travelling on the river at any given time. It’s a visual feast. Today, I traveled up the river, first to visit the Grand Palace, and then further to the northern outskirts of the city to the flower markets in Thewet. The Grand Palace was, well Grand, as you would expect, but also very crowded. We were here 20 years ago with the kids when they were pretty little, and it hasn’t really changed.

The flower markets that I had been told about sell mostly fish and meat. I suspect a translation error in my communications somewhere along the line. In any case, this was a more satisfying excursion as there were no tourists and fewer crowds. The people (mostly women) in the stalls were very friendly and were happy to let me take pictures. Even the men, who did not so much work the stalls, were friendly. I’m not sure what I will be doing tomorrow, but I am sure that it will involve being on the river.

I Bought Myself a Present

2010-01-12T16:50:00.001-08:00

No, not the Chia Obama. This was a present from some friends. I must admit that I find this thing to be vaguely offensive, yet strangely compelling. I guess that I've always secretly wanted a Chia pet; I just didn't expect to get one in the image of my favorite president. In any case, you can see that it is growing nicely.

My real present is an opportunity that popped up on the Wednesday before Christmas: a photo workshop in Vietnam and Cambodia with Art Wolfe. With Carol's encouragement, I decided to sign up and go. I will be leaving on January 28th and will return on Feb. 15th. I have my visas, and I'm already packed. My dedicated readers (all three of you) can be assured that I will be posting regular entries during the trip.

Santa Fe is Cool

2009-09-25T20:57:00.001-07:00

We spent a full day in Santa Fe. This is a town that is powered almost exclusively by art galleries and by the rich folks from Dallas who don't realize that we are in a recession. They refer to Santa Fe as the Texan Alps. We spent half a day walking the length of Canyon Road which is lined, on both sides of its 1 1/2 mile length, by art galleries. Some of the art was actually pretty good, but there was way too much bronze statuary. I can only assume that this stuff is popular in the Dallas suburbs. Carol was really hoping to find a Santos statue to add to our collection but she got discouraged by the prices for the better pieces. I think it's a sign of artistic sophistication when you can't afford the art that appeals to you. Santa Fe has some really good restaurants, as well.

From Santa Fe to Sedona is a seven hour drive. It took us fourteen. We stopped in almost every town along the way to look for vestiges of old Route 66. It was a very confusing experience for me to try and reconcile my memories of traveling on this road 49 years ago with the reconstructed nostalgia-fest that Route 66 has become. I took a lot of pictures, but I am not particularly happy with the results as I seem to have lost focus on what I wanted to capture. We did find Radiator Springs and its WigWam Motel, howerer; aka Holbrook, AZ. We also stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park. The petrified part was not all that interesting, but the park also included parts of the painted desert, and that was pretty spectacular. We were pretty tired by the time we got into Sedona. We'll have more to say on our stay there, later. Tomorrow, we are off to Barstow, CA, and we will be hitting the Route 66 mother lode along the way. It will be another long day.

Wyatt Earp Slept Here...

2009-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

...and so did Doc Holiday, Jesse James, Bat Masterson, Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Zane Grey, and Fredrick Remington. But not all at the same time. The place I'm talking about is the St. James Hotel, located about 2 miles outside the town of Cimarron, New Mexico. How all of these people found this place is beyond me as it is in the middle of nowhere. But they, and many others (mostly outlaws) did find it, and 26 of them died here over the years in gunfights. You can still see bullet holes in the tin ceiling of the saloon. When the proprietor added hotel rooms above the saloon, he had to reinforce the floor so that the guests would not be inconvenienced (i.e. killed) by the exuberance of the saloon patrons below. Wyatt Earp and his brother Morgan met up with Doc Holiday here, on their way to Tombstone where everything turned out OK a few days later. Buffalo Bill met Annie Oakley here for the first time and offered a position in his wild west show over dinner in the hotel restaurant. Zane Grey wrote his novel Fighting Caravans while staying in room 22.

From Cimarron, it is just a couple of hours to Taos, where we spent the night. We stayed in an upscale hippie-inspired resort/spa/healing center where everyone spoke in slow soothing voices. The room was really nice and Carol enjoyed the pool and hot tub, and we had a fireplace in our room. The town of Taos, itself, was a bit of a disappointment to me. I really can't see what the big deal is, other than as a jumping off point to all of the really cool places to see in the vicinity. Places like Taos Pueblo which really was worth the visit. We took the high road from Taos to Santa Fe and stopped off at another Pueblo (pueblo means Indian community) and a couple of historic old chapels, including the Santuario do Chimayo - a very special place.

Down Under Cripple Creek

2009-09-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

One of the photos is from “Garden of the Gods”. An incredible rock formation that we visited in late afternoon and early morning the next day. Quite dramatic and lovely.

After our walk at Garden of the Gods we spent the day traveling through aspen mountains and visiting ghost towns and gold mines ending up in Cripple Creek Colorado. Cripple Creek gold mines pulled more gold out of their mines than all the gold gathered during the California Gold rush. The town is at about 10,000 ft, the deepest mine at 3,500ft down from the surface. The type of gold mining is called “hard rock” mining, which based on what I saw and heard in the Mollie Kathleen mine that I visited means a lot of dust, and even more earth shaking noise.

I went down in a small cage that held 6 or 7 adults. We started out with drama, as one of the tourists fainted and we had to pull her out of the cage before going down. Mike was smart as usual and thought that only one of us should “experience” the mine (they still actively mine for gold in it-which means mostly the use of dynamite on the levels where they don’t take the tourists). So he stayed topside and I went down 1,000 ft to the 10th level along with about 10 visitors and one miner. Needless to say it was one of the most exciting things I have ever done. He demonstrated all the equipment from the 1800;s to the present and we could hear the explosions above us as we walked and rode through the tunnels(whether or not they were mining when we were there I don’t know. But the mine is for sure active during the Nov to Feb non tourist season where they continue to pull out gold each day. I was “pumped” when we got to the surface. As you can see from the photo of me “emerging”.

Antelope Freeway (twelve miles*)

2009-09-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we drove from Missoula to Billings, MT. This turned out to be only about halfway across what turns out to be a very large state. We ate dinner al fresco at a really good steak house in Billing's historic district. Great food. BTW, it turns out that every town and city in Montana and Wyoming (and probably Colorado) has an "historic district". I think that this just an excuse for not cleaning up the downtown areas.

Today was our big travel day - about 500 miles from Billings to Cheyenne, WY. We still found time to stop for a couple of hours at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. It used to be called the Custer Battlefield but the Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, and other indian nations that were involved in the battle got really pissy over that name so, in a fit of political correctness, the name was changed in 1991. They have done a really good job in explaining and making sense of what was a very chaotic series of skirmishes. Well worth a visit. The rest of the day was spent on the road and we arrived in Cheyenne about 7pm. Not much to report about the drive except that we saw many herds of pronhorm antelope. OK, so no big deal, but we thought it was cool enough that we kept pointing them out to each other for 500 miles. Like I said, there was not a lot to see in Wyoming.

carol here...I just loved the geological formations-hills of rock, shale piles, carved butte tops that looked like forts or castles with their tops cut off. While trying to explain some of the formations to Mike his only comment was that Geology was the "easy" science for slackers in college...well, I think he appreciated my tutorial as the drive did get a little boring at times. My absolute favorite section of the 500 miles was the Montana sections in the north. Wyoming is definately flat....looking forward to Garden of the Gods tomorrow.

We had another great meal tonight at the Capitol Cafe in downtown Cheyenne. Things were going great until Carol pointed out that since Cheyenne was once Dick Cheney's home town, that he probably had eaten here. That sort of put me off my dinner.

*Firesign Theatre - look it up

Road Trip

2009-09-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

We're off to L.A. by way of Wyoming. This routing will also find us driving through Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The idea is to travel as much of old Route 66 as we can find. I'm really looking forward to visiting Radiator Springs. Actually, Carol has gotten a head start on me as she has been in Montana visiting family for the past week. I will catch up with her on Thursday. Don't expect much for the first couple of days. We will be going through eastern Wyoming which has nothing (NOTHING!) of interest to see. If we spot a buffalo, we will stop to take a picture, otherwise we will be doing the speed limit (+10 mph) until we hit Colorado.

Shooting the Moon

2009-07-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

Last June, I went to Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle to shoot the full moon rising over the city. I wasn't the only one there. Apparently, many other photographers had gotten the word about this full moon business. Now, I know that the moon is full for a couple of nights each month, but only the Strawberry Moon (in June) rises such that it appears behind the cityscape when taken from this spot. It was a lot of fun, and I took dozens of photographs in the hope that one would turn out nicely. It had to, because there are no do-overs... until next year.

Art is Popular When it Rains

2009-05-12T22:15:00.001-07:00

When you take a vacation trip to New York, you will invariably make plans to visit at least one of the great museums that the city has to offer. The heavy hitters in this category include MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). Each of these has something unique to offer. The Guggenheim has got the funky Frank Lloyd Wright motif, MOMA has its modern art and photography collections, and the Whitney has got edgy cool. And the Met is just plain big. But, sometimes the choice of which one to visit comes down to which one is closest. If you happen to be in Central Park, then the Met wins, hands down.

I said the Met was big. I mean really big. Like it has five restaurants, big. Its permanent exhibits include room after room of Dutch masters and impressionists. There are two rooms with nothing but Cézannes. All fabulous stuff, but after a while, it becomes a bit overwhelming. I found myself adding up the presumed values of all of the paintings that I liked. When I hit $500 million or so I started to replay the museum heist scenes from The Thomas Crown Affair in my head to see if any of the schemes might actually work. I don’t think so.

After three hours, it was time to leave. On returning to the entrance lobby we observed that there were now about five times as many people milling about as when we arrived. Then I looked outside. It was pouring. Obviously, the appreciation of great art is directly proportional to the nastiness of the weather. In any case, the rain gave us a good excuse to try out the museum’s wine bar.

Keeping America Safe from the Spanish Armada

2009-04-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the day Saturday visiting Fort Worden and Fort Flagler on the Olympic Peninsula. These forts, along with Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, protected the entrance to Puget Sound from foreign naval invasion. It is not really clear to me who the threat was back in 1898 when we built these fortifications but since we were fighting a war with Spain at the time (we won, BTW) I can only assume it was them. In any case, the forts are actually massive concrete gun emplacements. They took ten years to build and the army began disassembling them almost as soon as they were completed - sending the guns off to Europe to fight against the Germans (but not the Spanish) in World War I. The army finally gave up on the idea of protecting Washington's waterways in 1976 and turned the forts over to the state for use as parks. The state turned the barracks, mess halls and other Victorian-era buildings in to conference centers but they were stumped when it came to re-purposing the concrete bunkers. In the end, they decided to put up informational signs and historical markers and then just turn the public loose on them. The graffiti artists answered the call.

There Are No Squirrels on Maui

2009-03-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have no idea whether Maui has squirrels, or not, but I doubt it. If there are squirrels on Maui, I’m betting that they are not indigenous. They would have had to be introduced – possibly by the same guy that released European starlings into New York’s Central Park in the 1850’s. The jerk. I’m sure that I could definitively answer the squirrel question with a quick Google search, but I’m too afraid of being disappointed by the answer. At this juncture, I’m prepared to stick with my original assertion regardless of the facts.

There really is no good segue from Hawaiian rodents to still lifes, but I made a couple more, and here they are. I think I now have this whole ‘low-key’ approach down and I’m ready to try some other lighting techniques. Once I get more comfortable with artificial lighting (particularly strobes), I will be ready to move on to portraits. I’ll probably start with the dogs before I move on to people. BTW, ‘low-key’ refers lighting that accentuates contours by throwing deep shadows. It is usually accomplished with one, or maybe two, lights.

I’m also pretty sure that there are no bears in Africa.

Rainy (snowy) Day Stuff

2009-03-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

I am so bored that I have taken to photographing toasters. Not really bored, but I am too spoiled to go trudging out into the wilderness to take pictures when it is this cold outside. I prefer to endure hardship when its warmer. Anyway, I have decided to try my hand at still lifes. A still life is usually an artificial arrangement of objects that stays put and doesn't talk back. Usually they are constructed indoors where it is warm. The key to a successful still life is an artistic and appealing arrangement coupled with dramatic and creative lighting. This is very time-consuming to get right. A perfect activity when there is a blizzard (drizzle) howling outside.

So here are a couple of examples of what I have been up to. I will probably do more because it is supposed to stay cold for the rest of the week. I have bought a new studio strobe to help me get the lighting right (you can never have too many strobes). It should arrive next week.

All Chilled Out

2008-12-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I was looking forward to before we left for India was to get my hands on Canon's new 21 megapixel prosumer camera, the Canon 5D Mark II. As it turned out, the camera was not available in stores until the first of December, which is about when we returned. So, even though I no longer had a rationale for this camera, much less the budget now that my portfolio has tanked, the first thing that I did when I got home was to go aout and buy one. I did this in the firm belief that a better camera will take better pictures. We'll see. The next thing I did was to try and take some decent pictures with it. That's not so easy. One of the reason that I like to travel is that I get to see new things. This helps to focus my 'vision' and provides opportunities for getting, what I think are, decent pix. Driving around the old neighborhood (and this includes most of western Washington) does not provide the same stimulus. In any case, I headed out to the Snoqualmie Valley in search of... something. I usually find something new every time I head to the valley even if it's not particularly photogenic. I did not get much this time, either, but I did see a flock of snow geese in a field, just south of Monroe. Not a great photo, but it is the best that I have gotten so far with my new camera.

All Done

2008-12-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Abo's for this image from the beginning of our trip.

Back in Obamaland

2008-12-02T04:01:00.000-08:00

After a sixteen and a half hour flight from Mumbai, Carol and I (and Paul and Puki) have arrived safely back on US soil... or, at least in New Jersey. We had showers at the club room and we feel pretty good, if not a little tired. We board our flight to Seattle in a little while and we should be home by 1PM today. Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. Cheers!

Of Boars and Bats

2008-11-30T23:37:00.001-08:00

Carol here. This is probably my last post as we leave tonight on our Continental flight home via Newark. We separated from the group last night at the Mumbai airport, some leaving from the airport that night, others going into the old part of the city near the Taj hotel that has been under siege to stay at its sister hotel the Taj President and others to continue on to south India for more travel. We are staying at hotel near the international airport. In reflection about our travels for the past four weeks I find it hard to properly compose my thoughts for a final blog. India is so alive with images for me. As we left the caves on the last official touring day in Aurangabad we drove down the narrow road from the plateau and a family of wild boars (a boar with huge tusks, a sow and 10 piglets) raced up the hillside brush. Later as we watched out the window fruit bats flew alongside the bus with what looked like two foot wingspans. Here we were driving past villages, watching mothers cook dinner and children play in the dust while bats accompanied our bus. The many special memories we have of the conversations with local people, from children to shopkeepers and village men, are as vividly detailed as the sight of the boars running and bats flying. My memories of India will always hold the special beauty of vibrant people and colors as well as the desperation of the poverty, even more intense with knowledge that terrorism will have its ugly impact on this wondrous country. Our last days with the local hawkers at the caves were palpable with the desperation of their efforts to sell us something, anything in the knowledge that we might be the last tourists they would see for a long time. In Ajanta, nine tours had been cancelled, in Mumbai at our luxury hotel it was a ghost town in the lobby and restaurants, tourists having fled Mumbai leaving the boutique staff pleading with you to come into their shops. (Mike here: The hotel has 90% vacancy and we had our choice of rooms on the Club floor. Our personal butler practically hovers outside our door.) The American economic crisis had already hit India a severe blow, now terrorism had brought it down even more. We hope that its resilient people can find ways to survive. We want to remember the fruit bats and tigers, Hassan who sold me my carved wooden camel as we rode along in a camel cart, the bell maker’s daughter who helped us navigate the paths in a village, the silversmith who sold his tribal jewelry on Ebay, the toddlers that played peak a boo with me and most importantly the women that embroidered and wove, that always were working whether carrying rock for road construction, water for washing, or caring for the goats and cattle, their children and families.

Spelunking For Photos

2008-11-29T07:58:00.000-08:00

Today, we visited the Ajanta Caves, which are just like the Ellora Caves that we saw yesterday, but different. The main difference is that Ajanta is off the normal trade routes and is located in a narrow gorge high up on a canyon wall. So, after the original craftsmen had finished building the caves, or not finished the caves in some cases, the place disappeared in history for 1100 years until a British cavalry officer discovered them in 1817. His name was John Smith. We know this because he carved his name into the 2000 year old carvings with his bayonet. Anyway, the 1100 year time-out had distinct positive consequences. You see, since Ellora was on the main trade routes, those caves were continually being visited. Not just visited, but lived in. During the monsoon season, people would move in with their cattle to escape the flooding. They lit fires inside the caves, and the smoke from a thousand years of barbeques obliterated the paintings that covered the walls. Ajanta’s paintings survive, and that is why we went to visit them today. Our local guide, Sanji, was superb in describing, in great detail, the stories that are represented in the paintings. At least that is what I have been told by others. I wasn’t really paying attention. I was trying to take photographs of the paintings in almost total darkness. They do not allow flash photography or tripods into the caves here. I had to prop the camera against pillars and then hold real still for the 3 second exposures required. I did my best. Anyway, the Ajanta Caves are a huge tourist draw, especially with Buddhists from Korea and Japan, and the place is usually packed. Not today. We were told that nine tours had cancelled just today. The hawkers are not happy. Neither were the palanquin porters. The porters usually do a great business carrying the old, the infirm, and the Americans up the zillion steps to the caves from the entrance.

All of the women on our tour are in love with our local guide, Sanji. Many want to adopt him and take him home. The others want to help him find a nice girl to marry. In case any of our readers are looking for a nice Hindu boy to marry, Sanji holds two advanced degrees, including one in law with a specialization in intellectual property rights. He speaks four languages, and is learning Mandarin. He is working as a tour guide while he gets his law practice going. He’s 28 and he comes from a good family.

Army Men With Guns

2008-11-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

It seems the Indian government is taking this whole terrorist thing very seriously. When we arrived at the airport in Bhuj for our flight to Mumbai, we had to go through two extra security checks just to get into the airport – showing our passports both times. There were soldiers (or, as Indian TV refers to them: “army men”) with machine guns on the tarmac. Here in Aurangabad, there were armed security guards at the locked gates of the Taj Residency Hotel when we arrived. And, on the drive today to the Ellora Caves we had to stop at two security checks. They even searched the bus.

I'm including some miscellaneous pictures that have accumulated over the past couple of weeks.

Spectacular

2008-11-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

The Ellora Caves are a series of 34 temples and other structures that have been carved from rock in the hills above the town of Ellora. Outside Aurangabad. They were built from the 2^nd century BC to the 11^th century AD. Over that time, tastes (and religions) changed a bit. The earliest caves are Buddhist, with later ones being Hindu and Jain. The scale of the structures is immense. Photo’s won’t do it justice at all, but we will try to share the incredible skill involved in carving these complex temples from the top down into the basalt rock. Note that all of these structures are carved from a single rock. In other words, they were not constructed, but chiseled away, starting from the top. They're amazing. BTW, the Buddha in the first image is over 25 feet tall.

Carol here. I had some fun exchanges at the Ellora caves with the hawkers that are persistently harassing you to buy their wares. I usually start by telling them I will not buy anything but would love to engage them in conversation. We speak in in English and I ask about their families and life. They tell me how good their wares are. I usually end with telling them that if they want to give me a gift of their wares that would be nice. They then ask if I would like to reciprocate the gift giving with a $10 bill (American dollar of course). Actually one man gave me a small bracelet that he wanted to have me bring to my niece (kalai). I gave him an Obama political button that started up a whole other conversation. Sorry (Dad), but everyone in India loves Obama. Another man gave me some old coins that he found with a metal detector and I gave him some American change and gum for his kids. Nice conversations. Everyone involved in the tourist industry from street hawker to hotel staff is especially kind and thoughtful and friendly. This Mumbai “trouble” as they call it has such an immense impact on the Indian economy with regards to the tourist industry. We travel tomorrow to the Ajanta caves which are further out but even more delightful-which is hard to imagine. We will post every night till departure day on Sunday. Then it’s a long journey home.

Aurangabad: The Definitive Spelling

2008-11-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Aurangabad and are all tucked away at the Taj Residency Hotel. This is a wonderful place. For one thing, they have hot water – something that our last two hotels lacked. We will also be taking the morning off to sleep in, swim in the pool, and otherwise decompress from the events of the last 24 hours. I think we are all just becoming aware of how stressed we have been with the tragic, sad, and scary events that have occurred. This hotel will be a good place for us to all chill out as it has many of the western amenities that we find comforting. Like the bar downstairs that serves black Russians. We are now off to get a good night’s sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rann Means Wasteland in Gujarati

2008-11-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

[Written two days ago]

Maps of India, made prior to the 19^th century, show a large island sitting in the Arabian Sea off the northwest coast. This island, shaped like a turtle, was known as the Kachcch (Kutch). The island was separated from the mainland by a shallow marshy area. In 1819, a monster earthquake hit the area and the sea was filled in and the Kutch became permanently attached to India. This newly created land area is called the Rann. Nobody really cared. The land is salty and desert-like and not much will grow here except cumin and castor. They do grow a lot of both here. Cumin from Kutch is supposed to be the best in the world. Whatever. In any case, this is where we are for four days. We spent the first day at the Rann Riders Camp, where we stayed in huts. It was actually very nice. The accommodations were rough, but the experience was worth it. At night, I saw more stars than I have seen since I was a kid. We got up before dawn to search out the elusive wild asses of the Little Rann. Actually, our guides knew exactly where to find them but they thought we would enjoy riding around the bush in jeeps for a while. We did.

Back at the camp, we got to see two different wedding couples having their official portraits taken. One couple looked like they were in their early twenties, and they looked a bit unhappy. The other couple were 10 and 11 years old. They looked confused. Both couples were nice enough to let me take some photos. They all live in the nearby villages.

Then, we were off to Bhuj, the capitol of the Kutch region. In 2001, this town of 180,000 suffered a major earthquake (yes, another one) in which 90% of the buildings within the old city walls were destroyed or damaged, and approximately 17,000 people died. They don’t know the exact count, as they have not recovered all of the bodies. Some still lay within the piles of rubble that are everywhere. Recovery efforts have been very slow. In parts of the city, it looks like the earthquake happened yesterday.

On the bus today, we learned more about life in the Kutch. I have determined that this area is actually a natural disaster testing ground. In addition to devastating earthquakes, the area suffers from category 4 hurricanes on an annual basis, flooding on an unprecedented scale, and summer temperatures that reach 52C (126F) during the summer. Rumor has it that there are plans to install an active volcano in the area.

Anyway, the reason we are here is to visit some of the many small, and very primitive, villages in the more remote regions of the Kutch. We even needed to get special permits to go to these areas because they are within the security zone near the Pakistani border. The villages are known for their handicrafts – principally weaving and embroidery. I am quite sure that Carol and Puki will be showing you samples of their work when we get back.

Carol here. The embroidery is spectacular. The finest needlework I have ever seen. Today we visited a women’s co-op that was established to give the women direct access to the market for their work. Originally the husbands or men in their life would sell their embroidered clothes without much money reaching its way to them. Now they can bring their designs to the coop, get money for supplies and sell their work directly to the western market. In addition they get health care and education. Like Mike said there is devastation from the earthquake everywhere. Buildings in rubble piles and new construction in pockets around the heaps. The villagers that survived have made great efforts to get their city back together again. The government also has provided incentives for industry to establish in Gujarat-possibly to the detriment of the handicraft arts that have been here for centuries. It will be interesting to watch what happens to the small villages as car manufacturing (the TATA Nano car), etc. takes hold of the work force. Many of the craftsmen will lose the next generation of craft artists.

Tonight we wandered the bazaar and looked at the silver workers and goldsmiths working by kerosene lantern light. A small girl was crying as her mother held her for her first earring piercing. Little does she know that the gold put in her ears tonight would be the beginning of many pieces of fine gold jewelry she will wear up to and including her wedding night. The young newly married couples Mike mentioned from the Rann Riders Camp in Little Kutch were wearing large strands of gold medallions that the families proudly pointed out to us were real gold. (see photo) The bride wears her dowry in full view for the wedding. At one of the craft villages we learned that in the tribal communities the married women wear close to a lb of silver on each ankle in the form of ankle bracelets and another lb of silver on her necklace . At certain anniversaries the weight goes up, and this in effect becomes her retirement money-always worn day in, day out. I guess it would take a lot for a woman to run away with all that weight on her…

Off to a “cocktail” party in the Abo room for the group. Luckily two other travelers got permits today for vodka and gin. The permit process was very much like Mike’s experience-taking multiple employees and government workers and about 45 minutes to complete. Though we have all gotten in the habit of speaking in terms of “units” of alcohol (you can buy 10 beers per week on one permit, but ony 1 large bottle of vodka per week on one permit) we are diligently upholding the tradition of cocktail hour, sharing my Trader Joes “mixed nuts”, the mango juice someone else buys on the streets, and the Lay’s potatoe chips “American Style” that another will find at a truck stop. After a few drinks we thoroughly enjoy replaying the day’s adventures.

Mumbai Shuffle

2008-11-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

We made it to Mumbai domestic airport and we are now waiting for our connecting flight to Auragabad (suspect spelling). As we sit here we can watch the final assault on the Trident Hotel on our choice of 6 wide-screen tv's. It's a bit unreal. They also have free wi-fi so I have my laptop on my..uh, lap. It's getting really warm. Anyway, we will post again once we get to our final destination. With pictures!

Latest News

2008-11-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

We will be continuing with our tour, but with some modifications. The Mumbai airport is still open, so we will be flying to Arungabad (I have no idea how this is spelled) through Mumbai as planned. However, we will stay in Arungabad for two extra days and then return to the Mumbai airport to catch our scheduled flight home. We will miss the two days of touring we were supposed to do in Mumbai, but that would not be much fun now. If the situation changes, the tour will make all necessary arrangements to keep us safe. Thanks to everyone for their notes of concern. Be assured that we are in no danger here. I will post more in about 12 hours.

PS - The Taj hotel in Mumbai that was attacked is not the same one that we were scheduled to stay at.

We're Safe

2008-11-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

We wanted to let you all know that we are still safe here in Bhuj. We are scheduled to fly through Mumbai later today on our way to Aurangabad, but now those plans are up in the air. As we learn more about the situation (and you in the states know far more than we do at the moment) we will let you know.

Quickie Update

2008-11-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

We are still in internet hell, but I thought I would let you know as much as I can. We had a great (but long) day. We went north to the tribal areas and visited some primitive villages (handicrafts). Since we were within the security buffer at the Pakistani border, we needed to get permits to go there. We saw tanks! Much more later. I sure wish I could post some of the photos that we have been taking. We will surely be able to do so tomorrow night.

This Sucks

2008-11-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

We are in Bhuj, the capitol of the Kachcch (Kutch) district, and we have no internet. The manager of the hotel here has dial-up internet, but this is hardly the same thing. In any case, we will be very hard pressed to post anything until we reach Arugaband in two days. There, we will be staying at a Taj hotel. Taj hotels always have internet. This is too bad, because we have lots of great stories (like the wedding of the 10-year old girl and her 11-year old groom - I have pitures!). And the wild asses, and the Rabati tribesmen, and other stuff. Lots of fun. What is not a lot of fun are the last two hotels that we have stayed in. Total dives. We are not happy. Paul and Puki are not happy. We will be happy in two days. And we will have lots of stories and pictures. Pray for us.

I Come From Obama

2008-11-22T07:36:00.000-08:00

People here are always asking us where we are from. When we say: USA, they almost always reply: Obama! Now, we just tell people that we come from Obama. This seems to make them happy.

We have spent three days in Ahmedabad. Not my favorite place, mostly because the hotel sucks. Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Dasada, which is out in the country somewhere. We will be staying in huts in the middle of a game reserve. The highlight of the reserve is the presence of wild asses. I'm not really sure what the big deal is, but we will be going on both an evening and then a morning safari to see the assess in their natural environment. These must be very special assess. Anyway, I doubt that we will have intenet service until we get to Bhuj the day after tomorrow.

Ben Kingsley Was Here

2008-11-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

Ahmedabad was the home of the Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu to his friends). It was from his ashram across the river that he began his famous Dandi march in 1930 to protest the salt tax and to win independence for India. We got to visit the ashram today and I must admit that I was a bit disappointed; it doesn’t look like the one in the movie. I suppose, though, that things might have changed over the past 80 years. For instance, I think that the museum dedicated to Gandhi’s life probably was not around back then. Ditto the gift shop. Still, it was actually moving to see the room where Gandhi lived for 10 years while he plotted the overthrow of the British Empire.

You may recall my mentioning that Gujarat is a dry state. It turns out that there is an exception for foreigners, who are permitted to consume alcohol in their hotel rooms. This explains why every hotel contains a fully-stocked liquor store. How convenient. Not quite. In order to purchase alcohol, you first have to get a permit. This process starts by going to the store and showing your passport and filling out a form. You then take the form to the hotel reception desk to get the form stamped by the hotel manager and to get a photocopy of your passport and visa. When you return to the store with these items you must then fill out another (two-page) form. Then you must return to your hotel room and wait. The liquor store manager will then call the liquor control agent who will come to the store and approve the application. When he is satisfied that all is in order, you get the summons to return. The agent then determines that you look like the fella in the passport, fills out some more forms, and the asks for 70 rupees for processing the application. He does not give change. With the permit in hand, you can now buy a single bottle of alcohol. Note that a beer is the same as a liter of vodka. I went for the vodka. So, 40 minutes later I now have a bottle of Smirnoff, but no mixers. The liquor store only sells liquor. Hopefully, Carol will show up shortly with the tonic.

I am including a picture of the Taj Lake Palace Hotel that was taken from our room at the Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel in Udaipur... simply because I really liked Udaipur and our room there. Sigh...

I am also including a picture of our bus. We basically live on this bus so it is a big part of our lives at the moment. It is a good bus. It has no Christine-like personality issues, like the bus on our last trip.

We Got Video

2008-11-20T05:59:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I had made a short video of the Aarti ceremony in Varanasi on Carol's point-and-shoot camera, so I thought that I would share it. You have to go back to the post titled "That Varanasi Feeling" to figure out how this video fits in. Hope you enjoy it.

Playing Catch Up

2008-11-19T01:33:00.002-08:00

With our 3-day interruption in internet service, our postings have gotten a little out of order. For those of you who prefer your travelogues presented in a more linear fashion, I thought I would provide a bit of a recap of our trip over the past few days. We left Pushkar on the 14^th and travelled east to the Ranthambhore National Park, where we spent two nights. From there, we travelled south to the city of Kota (no, I had never heard of it before, either), where we stayed in a palace that was owned by the last maharaja of the area. Half of the palace is now a hotel while the maharaja’s 96-year old daughter lives in the other half. It was a very nice place, but I don’t think they have updated the facilities since it was first built. I like to think of it as primitive luxury. We saw the fortress at Kota, and then saw the fortress at Bundi the next day. Nice fort. But what I really liked was the vista of blue houses in the town. I’m sure the blue has some deep significance but I’m clueless as to what it might be. We also stopped at a small unspoilt village that was far off the nearest road. I got some pictures that I really like from that place.

From Kota, we travelled to Udaipur, stopping on the way to visit the fortress of Chittor. This is one monster fort, covering 8 square miles. It is so big that it includes a town of 3000 people, a complex of palaces, and a wildlife preserve. Over the past 8 centuries it was attacked and overrun four times. It’s my personal theory that these attacks were all successful because the invaders could get inside the fort before the defenders even noticed they were there.

A short (and quite possibly inaccurate) history lesson.

As the British expanded their influence in India beginning in the 17^th century, they discovered that it was impossible to exert direct authority over the whole country. So they cut deals with many of the local rulers (of which there were hundreds). The maharajas agreed to pay taxes to the British and keep the peace. The British, in turn, paid the maharajas a salary. Everybody was happy. In 1947, when India became independent, the new government agreed to continue to pay the current maharajas their salaries during their lifetimes. Most everybody was happy. One person who was not happy was Indira Gandhi, and when she became prime minister, she reneged on the deal and cut off the salaries. The maharajas were not happy. It turned out that most of them were also broke. They still owned palaces and fortresses, but no longer had the financial means to maintain them. The more enterprising maharajas cut deals with the luxury hotel chains and turned their palaces into resorts and their fortresses into museums. This is how we came to stay in the palace at Kota, as well as the one here in Udaipur.

Tonight we will take a boat ride on the lake and tomorrow we leave the state of Rajasthan where we have been for the past two weeks and head to Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. We are supposed to spend three days there so I can only assume that it’s for a good reason.

UPDATE - I have just learned from our guide that Gujarat is a dry state - no alcohol may be consumed there. I expect that my postings may suffer as a result.

Holy Cow

2008-11-18T20:17:00.001-08:00

Let’s get something straight: cows are not holy. No one worships them. In fact, everyone pretty much ignores them. This is because the cows do not belong to them; they belong to somebody else. A lot of the cows seen roaming the streets are the property of someone. For a poor family, the cow may be their most valuable asset. That doesn’t mean that they take care of them. Usually, they can’t afford to feed them – especially when they are not producing milk. So, during the day, the cows are set loose to fend for themselves, usually eating garbage, or whatever else they can find. In the evening, they will find their way home again. If they are producing milk, the family will usually find a way to provide fresh hay and feed. Things are even worse for the bulls, who really only have one job to do, and it’s a part-time one, at best. The end result is that these animals wander the streets all day, clogging traffic, eating garbage, sitting in doorways, and generally behaving in ways that would make Gary Larsen proud. The free-roaming days of the cows may be coming to an end, however. At least in the big cities. There is currently a lawsuit pending in the Mumbai (Bombay) courts that will determine if the owners of new high-rise apartment houses can legally prevent renters from keeping cows in their apartments. I think it has something to do with the elevators.

Sorry 'Bout That

2008-11-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

We have been in the internet wilderness for the past few days and have been unable to post (or read email). We have now come back to civilization complete with full wireless connectivity. We are, as I write, sitting in our lakeside room in Udaipur at the Fateh Prakash Palace, overlooking the lake palace. We have a bunch of things to write about but, for now, we are too busy spoiling ourselves with the view, the food, and the gin and tonics. We will have more posts for you by this evening.

Quick note to Erika: we have not seen any more Rhesus macaques since we were in Agra. The Langors, however, are everywhere. I got some baby pictures for you.

Tiger, Tiger, Wherefore Art Thou

2008-11-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Carol here, we are in Ranthambhore tiger preserve on our way to search for tigers the first night. Having arrived 2 hours late (bad roads again) for the afternoon safari, we dashed to our Condor ( a large open topped bus that seats 19) and rushed into the park barely missing a few cars, pedestrians and boars along the way. 1 hour of viewing beautiful lakes with ruins of a massive fort (actually, a royal hunting lodge) in the distance on the hills and we had to leave the park or get locked in with the tigers. We all opted to leave. But the next morning our group headed back into the park at 6:00am. The main group got zone # 3, Abo’s and Ross-Rainwaters headed off in a smaller jeep to go to zone #6 for bird watching. Only there weren’t many birds-it was a savannah environment with stone outcroppings that the jeep zigged and zagged over. Beautiful quiet morning ride. Then we came upon the hyena’s. Huge and prehistoric looking-almost the size of deer-they were beautiful. Our guide made hyena noises so that they would turn towards our cameras. They seemed quite serious. After they suspiciously wandered into the woods we went in search of other game. Saw Sambors(the largest Indian deer(kind of like elk) and much smaller spotted deer. The huge Blue Bulls-which is one of the world’s largest antelopes. Then more driving and strange animal noises from the guide. Lots of tracking (a tiger was in the area, but not to be seen yet…) We saw gazelle, crocodile, boar, and one fresh “kill” with tracks…tiger was not to be found this morning. (Mike here: We were not that disappointed in our morning’s outing until we heard that the rest of our tour group saw a female tiger close up. The tigress posed for pictures, gave a brief description of her life in the park, and then signed autographs. )

But we had an afternoon safari with the group still to come. Who by the way, all saw a female tiger walk along side their Condor vehicle that same morning, spray the nearby trees and wander over the hill-so the ross Rainwaters and Abo’s were feeling a little left out…We headed off with the knowledge that since the morning was a successful tiger safari, the early evening safari would primarily focus on birds. Heh, we love birds (but oohh that tiger spotting would be nice too). Lucky for us we saw owls, osprey, sea eagles, kites, furry necked storks, sandpipers, kingfishers, stilts, red wattled lapwing and yellow wattled lapwing, Indian Darter, crows, pond herons, vultures, pea fowl and of course peacocks. Thank god. The group was somewhat sated with their birding and the guide was able to listen for the Langer Macaqes danger calls. Of course I had a secret weapon in one of our group (Steve) who has wonderful tiger energy-spotted it the first day of the tour. I asked him to Please….get us another tiger-he offered the guide 1,000 rupees if he could find one. 1 hour before the park was to close on our last night in Ranthambhore we went speeding off to a lake filled with rushes and tall grasses. Inside this vegetation a large male tiger was wading, quietly approaching the far shore and some prey( well it’s a good theory anyway). First I saw the tail. Then one ear. Then part of a rear end with beautiful orange striping. Then nothing but reeds. Then part of Mike’s shoulder and then another ear of the tiger. As he moved through the grasses my mind filled in the gaps-he was huge and we were very happy. A wonderful day in Ranthambhore.

Tigers? Not So Much.

2008-11-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

We spent a day in the bus, Mike and I, trading spots on the back bench for naps. Lots of small villages, bad roads, crops (mustard is a biggie) and women working. Everywhere the women are working, from hauling water in pots on their heads, to rock carrying for road work, weeding and hoeing the fields, tending the animals and making cow pies into wood stove fuel. The men sit in circles and smoke, hang around the shops and watch the village television and take naps on woven beds that sit outside beside the house doors. Occasionally you see the men urinating beside the road. We discussed the inequality of work at great length on the bus, but Mike and the other fellows thought we were being sexist.

8 hours later after a delightful potty stop beside the road in the bushes(only a few of those thistle thingies stuck to my pants) and a surprisingly good Indian lunch at a tourist bus stop, we arrived in Ranthambore and hopped on the condor vehicle for our safari into the tiger park. Unfortunately we were late getting to the hotel and so had to speed at breakneck pace through town honking at all traffic coming our way till we got to the park for a quicky 50 minute tour before dusk drove us out. I guess you wouldn’t want to be stuck in the park after dark so they have strict rules. Mike and I have arranged for a private jeep tour into another area of the park where we hope to have some photographic opportunities that might be a bit less hectic without our fellow 16 travelers along.

Right now we are listening to gypsies performing outside our room (we are so lucky to have drums and singing so close-yeah, ask me in an hour how I feel), we’ve had a very good dinner and have sorted the laundry for tomorrow. Off to bed. Hopefully will be able to post some delightful tiger shots or at the very least a few Sambor or spotted deer photographs that will take your breath away. Tomorrow we have a 6:30am safari and an evening safari with shopping and swimming in the pool in between. Kind of a relaxing day comparatively speaking of course. –Carol

Mike here: We just got back from our morning “safari” into the Ranthambore National Park. In order to keep the tourist jeeps from outnumbering the animals, each vehicle is randomly assigned a zone within the park in which may travel. We got zone 6. We did see hyena, antelope, gazelle, etc., but no tigers. Still, it was a very pleasant drive and we hardly saw any other vehicles. I will post again after our afternoon safari.

A Million Hindus Can't Be Wrong

2008-11-14T05:06:00.001-08:00

Pushkar: where a million people come to party… without alcohol. The annual Pushkar fair is a seven-day event. The first five days are centered around the trading of cattle and camel races and the last two are devoted to deep spiritual worship. The full-moon of November is when Brahma created the world. It’s actually a very long and involved story (cows get a shout-out), and quickly gets very complicated and confusing. In other words, the Hindu creation story is a lot like modern India: chaotic. The town is arranged in a semi-circular arch around a small lake. In the center of town, facing the lake is the temple to Brahma. During the two days of the full moon, people come down to the lake to bathe and pray. Molahti (our guide) says that bathing once in the waters at Pushkar is worth ten times bathing at Varanasi. Up until now, I had not realized that there was a point system. In any case, about a million people take advantage of the 10-for-1 offer and descend on this town of 40,000 each year. Since there are obviously not enough accommodations for everyone, tent cities spring up everywhere in the countryside surrounding the town and the lake. Our little tent village is nicer than ~~some~~ most.

Because our camp is a couple of kilometers from town (and it’s 90 degrees), we have to take camels, or camel carts into the fair. I have never been this close to this many camels before. You begin to notice differences in them – some are definitely cuter and nicer than others. They actually have very soft fur, and the like to be petted (at least the nice ones do).

At the fair, it is shoulder-to-shoulder humanity. Most of the women (and some of the men) wear very bright and ornate outfits. This would be a great place to get some good people pictures, except that everyone is shoulder-to-shoulder and there is very little room to maneuver a camera. I tried my best.

We are now in Ranthambore (the tiger park). This is gonna be cool!

Into the Wilderness

2008-11-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

Carol is supposed to write today's post, but she is busily repacking everything in the firm belief that this will create more room in our luggage for all of our recent purchases. BTW, this is the last time that I will mention shopping in any form. Carol says that it is no longer funny... OK, here she is:

Varanasi has a lot of pilgrims and holy men (thus the TWO photos of holy men included). They are different holy men, though Mike thinks maybe they just rotate from corner to corner. We spent yesterday visiting a bead factory (purchasing some items for Cathy B as well as xmas gifts) and then off to visit the inaugural Gandhi Arts and Crafts Fair. This mostly consisted of booths with assorted crafts from around India, though they looked fairly lonely and drab in the forced environment of booths as opposed to their natural setting of a street market. Of course the minister of Arts and Crafts was there to cut the ribbon and open the fair. some of our group were photographed shopping with the headlines "foreigners flock to the Fair" (though flocking was an overstatement-we came in groups of 3 or 5 at a time). there was a ferris wheel and some other children's rides, kitshy toys for the kids, food booths (dave K would have loved them) and of course the requisite porta potties (see photo of the cement cubicles freshly poured for the fair).

After dinner we had a birthday party for Donna Porter in the Kabob restaurant complete with a Japanese tourist that performed magic tricks with a string that he wrapped around the necks of females at our table. The waiters were all dressed in what looked like prison garb or plumbers uniforms, the group had a split opinion on that.

This morning I got up, got a taxi and went back to the Arts And Crafts fair only to find the merchants still asleep. So we wandered around the Muslim butchers quarter. Watched meat being cut into steaks, kabob and made into hamburger. Saw a string of hearts and one of livers. Even passed some goats feet that looked like they were on their way to soup. FORGOT my camera, so had a friend take a few shots. Mike would have loved the photo ops, but alas, he had decided to wander the streets around the hotell...boreing. But he did run across a snake charmer. I took all the above photo's except the top holy man. You are required to vote on which holy man shot you like the best...the donkeys and the dogs were all busy doing what they do best. Other photo's came out wonderful too, but Mike says I am not to spoil you all.
Tomorrow we have Pushkar and won't be able to post...tenting it a bit I hear. Having a wonderful time. Another great day planned for tomorrow.

Mike again: Today was another travel day (back to Delhi from Varanasi). Tomorrow we will be on the road again, this time to Pushkar which is eight hours away by bus. Pushkar is another religious center located around a sacred lake. I know this place is seriously religious because no alcohol or non-vegetarian foods are allowed in the area. I don't think there is a prohibition against wireless internet service, but since Pushkar is located in the high desert and we will be staying in a tented camp, I am not hopeful that we will be able to get online for the next few days. So, if you do not hear from us for a while, DON'T PANIC. Our next stop after Pushkar will be Udaipur on the 14th. I know they have the internets.

Morning on the Ganges

2008-11-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Our guide continues to remind us that Varanasi is one of the oldest cities on Earth. When I asked "how old?", she replied "very old." So, either it is so old that it pre-dates written history, or it should just be thought of as very old, and left at that. This is India, after all. In any case, this is one of the most fascinating places that I have ever seen. When walking down the very narrow back streets, you can see parts of very ancient temples melding in with more recent buildings (recent meaning anywhere from the 15th to the 19th century). In other places it can be seen where the construction of buildings was altered to make allowances for pre-existing trees - the buildings seem to bend out of their path. The whole visual effect of the place reminded me a bit of the drawings of H.R. Giger (the guy who designed the sets for Alien).

We started off this morning at 5am to take a boat ride on the Ganges to watch the sun come up. Dawn is a very spiritual time of day here. People come down to the river to bathe and to say prayers and make offerings from the shore. Out on the river are scores of boats, filled with tourists, taking pictures of the scene. It didn't feel nearly as tacky as that sounds; mostly because I was one of the tourists. The sun came up just after 6am, but we could not actually see the sun until it was well above the horizon. The smog is that thick. It does make for pretty pictures, though.

That Varanasi Feeling

2008-11-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's been another 12-hour day, but we are now in Varanasi. Our one-hour flight from Delhi involved the usual dramas you may have come to expect, and took about six hours door-to-door. We are here during the Ganga Mahotsav festival that is held each year in October or November to correspond with the full moon. I'm not entirely clear as to the purpose of the festival, but it attracts gobs of people to this otherwise relatively small city. We spent the afternoon at some archaeological museum. Paul found it fascinating. I didn't go in. I stayed outside and photographer the hawkers that hung out to mob the tourist buses. This evening we ventured down to the banks of the Ganges to witness the nightly Aarti ceremony. This is a traditional event, but it has become much more elaborate in recent years. They even have fireworks now. Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world and is the religious center for India's Hindus. The vibe in this place is something special. It's gonna be fun, and a great place to take some people pictures.

Arts & Crafts

2008-11-09T01:16:00.000-08:00

Above are the pictures from yesterday's arts & crafts adventure. Carol and I bought an elephant water pitcher from the world famous artist (I really should learn his name), and Dinu and Puki also bought a really nice piece. You can see our pitcher in one of the photos above.

Delhi Death March

2008-11-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Molhati (our 74 year-old tour leader) is trying to kill us all with 12-hour days - much of which is spent sitting in the soul-crushing traffic of Delhi. This is my whiny way of saying that we are just too pooped to write much of anything tonight. Most of the day was actually a lot of fun (until the I-don't-care-if-I-die numbness from fatigue took over). We spent the morning at the studio of a world famous potter that you have never heard of. He put on an amazing demonstration of pot making that made it seem so very easy to do. It isn't! Then the artists in our group (including Puki!) got to try their hand at throwing pots. I have the pictures. Later, we went shopping (blah, blah, blah) and then onto an artists colony. There is some amazing talent in this country. You will never hear about any of these people either. Pity.

Anyway, I will post pictures and more lively details tomorrow from Varanasi. Go google it - I'm too tired to tell you about it.

Good night.

PS: I found a charger for our phones... in case any of you were worried.

Back in Delhi

2008-11-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

Ok. So, like the Taj Mahal is the most photographed building in the world (followed by the Eiffel Tower and Bill Gate's house). And, as many people have said (well. actually, just Bill Corr), it is much more impressive in person than in the pictures of it. My first thought on seeing it was that it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. My second thought was that I had brought the wrong lens. There was no way that I could get the whole thing in with the telephoto that I brought with me that day. Fortunately, we also had Carol's camera with us. The rest of the day, including the seven hour drive back to Delhi was pretty much a blur as I was not feeling well. The good part about not feeling well on a seven hour car ride is that I slept through most of it.

Today was the first day of the "real" tour with the full group. We did the obligatory city tour of Delhi and took in a bunch of forts and monuments. Pretty interesting, actually. When your city is over 2000 years old, you tend to collect lots of old and interesting stuff. The only disappointment of group was the Red Fort. B-o-r-i-n-g. Tomorrow we begin the artsy-craftsy part of the trip where we get to play with clay and make pots at an artist's studio... or something. My main goal for tomorrow is to locate a Nokia phone charger to replace the one that Carol... I mean the one that got accidentally broken, somehow.

Out of our group of 18, there are four women named Carol. From now on Carol Abo's name is Puki.

Erika has identified the monkey as a rhesus macaque. She says they bite.

Road Rash and Radishes - by Carol

2008-11-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

We started out this morning not at dawn as we had planned, but a little bit later to save us the 45 minute wait in line to enter the Taj Mahal at dawn. Instead we were able to walk right in, smell the frangipanni flowers, look through the mist and feel the warmth of the sun reflected off the white marble of the Taj. A lovely site and according to our guide the number one Wonder of the World thanks in large part to the 1.1 billion Indians voting on their cell phones for their "favorite" world wonder. Mike, Carol, Paul and I oohed and aahed over the inlay of semi precious stones in marble, and fought off the advances of "professional" photographers who did not seem to notice that Mike's camera was even more professional then theirs...
Then off to Fatre Sikre, a city of the same population as London that was built and lived in over a 14 year period only to be abandoned suddenly with no record of why, leaving it up to the imagination of historians. I took many photo's as "research" for my book club book "The Enchantress of Florence" by Salmon Rushdie that I am presenting this summer(highly recommended). The majority of the book takes place in this magical city. Carved sandstone walls, flower patterns in screens, of course some of the oohing was over the massive 6ft bees nests that had formed at the top of the mosque gate entrances. It was hot, hot, hot. But we found the city fascinating. Not to mention the incredibly poor roads that led to the city and out leaving us with a 7 hour drive back to Delhi.
Highlighting the drive back - a stop at the birthplace of Krishna thanks in large part to the adventurous nature of Carol Abodeely who said yes to almost all the drivers suggestions. We entered through a "Harvest Festival" experience of tall reeds and straw with stand up cut outs of Krishna and his parents and then moved on to swaying in a mass of worshipers in the temple as the crowd became overwhelmed at the appearance of a direct descendant of Krishna (at least that is what I think the guide said). Of course we were the only westerners to visit. Lots of flies. Lots of pilgrims. Lots of memories.
The road home was long and filled with near misses in the minibus, camels, dogs and people darting across the road. potholes and diversions b road crews. My favorite roadside spot though was the appearance of a Blue Bull and his "harem". These are native antelopes as large as horses, I have never seen anything like them anywhere in the world. The were a wild herd...

The Road to Agra

2008-11-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Carol and Paul arrived safely last night, and this morning the four of us began our four-hour road journey to Agra. It took six hours. There were plenty of sights to see along the way, however, (like cows, camels, monkeys, wrong-way drivers, etc.) so I don't think the anyone got bored with the drive until about the 5th hour. I spent most of the time on my phone checking out various websites (or mini-sites) for election news. Both Erika and Austin texted us the news when Obama went over the top.

After we checked into our hotel, we took a short ride to see the Agra Fort. I would give you a quick rundown on the history of the fort but, frankly, I wasn't paying too much attention. What I did learn is that the fort covers over 150 acres, it was constructed over 200 years starting in the 1500's, and that even though it looks quite formidable, it changed hands several times. The British ousted the last Moughal ruler without firing a shot in 1880. Actually, the British felt that taking a fort without firing a shot just wasn't cricket, so after the Moughal surrendered, they decided to fire a ceremonial shot to make it look good. They weren't trying to hit anything, but they still managed to put a ceremonial cannonball through an ornate marble wall. Modern day guides take great delight in showing off the results of their poor aim.

After the visit to Agra Fort, we stopped by the Oberoi Hotel for a drink. This is a hotel that is so fancy that they have managed to get the police to block off the public road in front of the hotel in order to keep the riff-raff (i.e. non-guests) from getting too close. We sat on the hotel balcony, which has a great view to the Taj Mahal, drank our gin and tonics and watched the sun set into the smog.

Tomorrow, if are off to see the Taj Mahal at dawn, make another stop at some other place (I really should read the itinerary), and then drive back to Delhi to meet up with the rest of our group.

Note to Erika: I need help identifying the monkey. It looks different from the Langor Macaques we saw last time.

Shopping? Already?

2008-11-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

We had a driver pick us up from the airport last night to take us to the hotel. This is quite common here. In fact, there is the huge parking lot just outside the arrivals hall that is dedicated to hired car parking. Huge, but not huge enough, as there are always more cars than available parking spots. The result is that the cars end up parked bumper to bumper, two or three deep. The Indian solution to this problem is for the drivers to leave their cars with the brakes off and the transmission in neutral. When a driver needs to move his car from somewhere in the middle of this pile, he simply pushes one or two (or, in many cases several) cars out of the way until he has a path to the exit. Its sort of like those sliding number puzzles.

Carol did all of the planning for our first day of exploration in Delhi. Much to my surprise our adventure consisted entirely of shopping. Not quite true: as Carol patiently explained it to me, she was just "checking prices" so that she would later know what to pay when she got serious, later in the trip. So even though she didn't actually buy anything today, the net result for me was the same: no interesting photo ops. We did have some fun trying to get back to our hotel from the downtown areas where we spent the day... maybe I should back up. We started off deciding that we would not pay the hotel's exorbitant rate of $30 for the use of an air-conditioned car and driver for the entire day, but instead use taxis and tuk-tuks to get around. Getting downtown was easy - an hour in a taxi to go 10 miles cost us $4. It was when we tried to get back that it got interesting. Indian taxi and tuk-tuk drivers have always been an entrepreneurial lot. With the recent severe down-turn in the economy, they have become a bit more desperate and aggressive. After experiencing the less-than-honest navigation skills to two tuk-tuk drivers in our inter-city travels, we decided to call it quits for the day. We ended up in a rather serious negotiation with one driver and his agent (did I mention that all the best taxi drivers have agents?) over the cost of getting us back to our hotel. The bidding started at $12. Thanks to Carol's superior negotiating skills, that she honed in the small craft villages of West Bengal, we got the final price down to $5. Carol would like to add at this juncture that I totally wimped out during this critical process. I like to think of it as delegating responsibility.

Mandatory Arrival Post

2008-11-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

As we began our descent into Delhi, The captain informed us that the temperature on the ground was 82F (at 10pm), the weather was clear, and the visibility on the ground was 1 mile... yes, it is very smoggy in Delhi. Much worse than two years ago when we were last here. Anyway, we have arrived and showered and are getting ready to turn in. Not much to report - too pooped. Tomorrow, we will take it very easy and just wander around on our own and try and get our sea legs. The Abo's arrive tomorrow night, and then it's off to Agra and the Taj Mahal on the 5th (or the evening of the 4th for you guys).