Well, we’re back in San Francisco and I’m happy to report that I’m (almost) over being jetlagged. It was such an amazing trip and I just want to thank everyone who made it possible (especially my family in India who were the kindest, most gracious hosts and showed us a terrific time).

I started the journey by laying out a few things that I was most excited for about our trip to India, so I thought a fitting close would be outlining a few of the things that I enjoyed the most from our “presidential tour of India” (as my cousin Tarun so aptly called it). Here goes:

• Spending time with my family whom I never see (this one gets a * because it’s that important)
• Taking an overnight train and five hour car ride to the monastery…and having it be worth the arduous journey
• Drinking coconut water from a roadside stand, then eating the fresh coconut
• Reading White Tiger and watching Slumdog Millionaire right after our trip and having a greater understanding of what was going on (both are recommended)
• The heat. Call me crazy, but to me, it was perfect weather.

Things I could have done without:

• United and Air China

So that’s it from me — stay tuned for more pictures later today. Thanks for following us and commenting…it’s been a blast

[Oops... I wrote this last week but it didn't get published. We're both home safe now!]

We’re still here in Goa (which should be re-named “paradise” because it pretty much is). For all of you who are enjoying the snowy streets of Michigan or New York, we’d just like to let you know that it’s 30 degrees Celsius/85 degrees Fahrenheit here (yes, that was gloating you heard).

We’ve been trying very hard to relax here (poor us). I seem to be a lot better at this than Jamie — I found a smutty romance novel at the resort “library” and am tearing through it while lounging poolside.  Jamie can sit for about ten minutes before he gets antsy and wants to try something new.

One of today’s “new somethings” was waterskiing (I should clarify that Jamie waterskied while I took photos from the speedboat).  He was actually pretty good, and even managed to dismount onto the beach very gracefully! The onlookers were very impressed.

 

However, it would be remiss of me not to include this glorious video I captured of one of his wipeouts.  Do enjoy — I certainly did while filming

In the third act of the play that is our trip to India, the Krishnamurtis (my mom’s family) play a starring role. We had a brief (too brief) stay in Bombay (Mumbai I suppose now) where we hung out with Shyam Mama and Suresh Mama (my mom’s brothers), Shivani Auntie, and my cousin Tarun.

Though we didn’t get to live out our dream of becoming Bollywood extras, we did take a really awesome night tour of Bombay in a double-decker bus (apologies for the lack of inspiring photos — my camera doesn’t do night shots particularly well). Of all the places we’ve been thus far, Bombay architecture seems to be the most reminiscent of its former British overlords (Victoria Rail Station is a particularly striking example).

The other theme of the past two days has been the ingestion of mass quantities of food (I’m definitely realizing where I inherited my insatiable appetite from.) In Bombay we went to Soam, where we had truckloads of classic Gujurati food. Jamie remarked that he wasn’t yet tired of Indian food and I can see why. We’ve sampled a monumental array of different dishes from a variety of regions in India, so each meal is a new culinary journey (Padma, Tom and Gail would be proud).

The next morning we pushed off to Pune where the good times (and the binging) continued with Gowri Chitti (my aunt), Murali Chittapa and his folks, and cousins Madhuri, Tejas and Tara.

We ate dinner at a really nice restaurant with AMAZING food. The décor was modern Indian and beautiful, with the exception of a hideous Kingfisher beer statue complete with zinging lightning bolts. When the check came and we were all sufficiently stuffed, I filled out a comment card (these cards are very popular here — feedback seems to be of the utmost importance) noting the wonderful food and the possible removal of the tacky statue (I was half joking). As we were leaving, the waiter stopped me and asked me I would kindly clarify my comment card and point out exactly which statue did not meet my approval — I was busted. Gowri Chitti hastily choked out a far more polite response than I uttered under my breath (”that statue is hideous”).

I hope that the good food will continue for the remainder of our trip, but I think I can safely say that I will not be filling out any more comment cards…unlike the States, it appears they are actually read here.

As I write this post, we are winding through the precipitous mountains of Himachal Pradesh, in a car artfully commanded by our driver Pema. Himachal Pradesh is poised at the foothills of the Himalayas, and the terrain allows for stunning snapshots as well as potential carsickness.

We’ve spent the past two days learning about Tibetan Buddhist culture by exploring Dharamsala/Mcleod Ganj (home of the Dalai Lama) and staying at the Sherabling Monastery. When we were wandering around Mcleod Ganj, we realized that the hippie shopkeepers in Berkeley are making a pretty penny marking up hemp ponchos and “Free Tibet” swag. Up here a “Free Tibet” hat goes for about 50 Rupees, or a dollar.

Sherabling is located about four hours from the nearest major train station (Pathankot) and the fresh, clean air there was a welcome reprieve from the smoky, smoggy city. As we meandered through the monastic buildings and surrounding trails, I was struck by the variety of intense colors — the green and brown of the tiered rice paddies, the slate of the rocks in the dried riverbed, the deep red and saffron of the monks’ robes, the electric lime of Jamie’s fleece, the rainbow of Tibetan prayer flags billowing in the breeze. I was glad that we were able to take day to sit back and enjoy the beauty in our surroundings.

Sadly, amidst all of that beauty, I must confirm that my worst fear has come true — Crocs have completely permeated global society. I saw a monk sporting a pair with his robes at the monastery this morning. Thankfully, there have been no Ugg sightings yet so there is still hope for mankind.

Check out our new photos and Trippermap! (We’ll try to get more up when we find a faster connection!)

Today began with a quick elephant ride up to the huge fort in Amber (a 400 year old fort) just outside Jaipur, along with all the other tourists (most of whom are actually Indian). I felt bad for the elephants the whole time, especially when I saw one of the elephant drivers with a sharp metal spike — it definitely seemed like some sort of torture device.

At the fort I was most intrigued by the ornately mirrored walls of one of the rooms, while Jamie was mesmerized by the advanced plumbing, cooling and air filtration techniques used throughout the compound by the Rajputs (he watches way too much Modern Marvels). We also hiked up a long steep path to the top of the fort and got a great view of the city (I felt like we earned the lunch that followed).

Now we’re back at the hotel and excited for some chill time

The good news is I got to India…the bad news is my baggage didn’t. It got stuck in Beijing but will be delivered to Lataa Chitti’s (my aunt’s) house.

Not deterred, I raided Lataa Chitti’s closet (3 AM - photo at right), Mehar Singh drove us to the train station (4 AM — the title of this post is derived from the incredibly annoying and repetitive message that played over the station’s loudspeaker when trains were delayed) and we hopped the train to Jaipur (6 am). The service on the train surpassed our expectations (on time, lots of legroom… way better than Amtrak!). When we got on board we received tea and biscuits, a copy of the Hindustan Times, followed by a delicious lunch of vada, and sambar (Jamie looked confused so I showed him how to eat them).

After getting off the train we met up with Jamie’s family (David, Rusty, and brother Dan) at the luxurious Le Meridien. From there it was off to the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar and the Palace of the Winds.

The Jantar Mantar is an astronomical/astrological observatory, which includes a huge (27 meters high) sundial which can tell time up to 2 seconds. It was also interesting to see the dials which are used to calculate the ascending star sign in Hindu astrology. My grandfather was an astrologer and I’ve been hearing about Hindu stars and signs since birth so it was very cool to see how the calculations are made.

  

Jamie is currently en route to Delhi right now, via London (eat some salted cashews for all of us, J!) Unfortunately, thanks to a canceled United flight (with no notice), I’m still in rainy San Fran (BOO!).

When I arrived at the airport this morning they informed me that I couldn’t fly to Delhi via Beijing without a Chinese visa because my itinerary said I was staying in Beijing for over 24 hours. What?! A 28-hour layover? That was definitely NOT in my original plans. But apparently United/Air China canceled my original Beijing to Delhi flight and without telling me, booked me on a flight that left the following day (moral of the story: think twice before flying United).

Rather than camp out in the Beijing airport and risk deportation due to lack of a visa, I’m just flying to Beijing/Delhi tomorrow morning…certainly not my ideal situation. The good news is, while this sets me back a day, it doesn’t interrupt too much of our itinerary. As soon as I get to Delhi, we’ll hop a train to Jaipur to meet up with the Ruth clan.

Just hoping that Jamie can survive a day in Delhi left to his own devices We shall see…

Well, sort of. We’re finally leaving rainy San Francisco tomorrow (on separate flights, going opposite ways around the world), and should arrive in India in the wee hours of Thursday morning. That means all 75 minutes or so of my Christmas will be spent in Heathrow Terminal 5, while Ramya gets a little longer to enjoy the holiday during her layover in Beijing’s airport. Incidentally, all Ramya and I wanted for Christmas this year was ramen and over-cooked pubfood, so this is going to work out really well.

Enjoy our first video as we set off for India (and Ramya almost breaks her back before we even get there).

God(s) know(s) the Taj Mahal has been photographed millions of times (and we’ll snap a few of our own) but we also want to know what images you think we should capture while we’re in India.

From the artful to the obscure (and downright ridiculous) we’ll do our best to fulfill your requests — just leave them in the comments

Jamie said I had to post something or I would lose my blogging privileges, so here is a short list of things I am excited for on our trip:

• Seeing my family!! (especially my cousin Bhargav whom I have yet to meet)
• Overnight train rides (umm, not really, but the stories should be good)
• Visiting the Taj Mahal and other touristy places I’ve never been
• Roadside carts, mango juice, Grand Sweets and Thumbs Up cola (the best soda in the world)
• The sweet smell of cow dung and auto exhaust
• Not having a cell phone or email for 2 weeks (I know you’ll miss me)