India: Happy New Year

We were kind of losers for New Years. Had to get up pretty early the next morning, and we were still not sleeping right. By 10 o'clock Patrick and I were done, and left Gaby and Joe to bring in the new year.

The fireworks at midnight woke us up, wished each other a Happy New Year, and then went back to bed.

Also something you don't experience in the US for New Years . . . even though we were in a relatively isolated little village, tradition states that bells need to rung every hour after midnight - so we really didn't sleep that night.

India: Malaria

I think I already told you that I was poked a prodded before coming to India with a handful of drugs and vaccines. The only major concern was malaria, since there is no vaccine. The best cure is a preventative of not being bitten by any mosquitos - unfortunately it has the nasty side effect of causing slasher nightmares.

I was expecting mosquito netting in our hotel rooms, but we really don't have open windows in Delhi and Jaipur. In Ranthambhore, however, we did have some water drainage problems in our bathroom, and we saw a mosquito in our bathroom.

Yikes.

India: Banyan Tree

This picture kind of stinks because it doesn't show you what's really going on, but this is a banyan tree, the national tree of India. We came across a HUGE one, while we were in the National Park. The interesting thing about this fig tree is that once a branch gets long enough, it will start to resemble a vine and drop to form a new trunk.

This particular trunk had something ridiculous like 10 trunks and covered an area of about 30' X 30'. They can also live to be hundreds of years old, and this one was estimated to be about 500.

India: Fort Ranthambhore

Inside the National Park is a fort so old they really don't know who built it - and it's also the second largest fort in a square kilometers for the whole area.

India: Ranthambhore National Park

Like I mentioned before, now in Ranthambhore to try to see if we can find tigers in their natural habitat. There are apparently only three places in the World where you can see tigers in their native habitat (India, Sumtra, and Borneo) - and in India, there are only two National Parks that still have them. Ranthambhore is also pretty popular because they have about 25 tigers in a relatively small 350 square kilometer area.

The original land was the property of the Jaipur Maharajah, and this was his personal hunting ground. Since then, the Indians have realized that the eco-green tourism trade is much more lucrative. We'll have three shots at trying to find Tigers - each safari lasting about 3-4 hours each time. The first trip will be in the afternoon on an open truck that holds about 30 people. And then the last two trips - one in the morning and one in the afternoon will be in a smaller Jeep with just the four of us, a guide, and a driver.

India: Found a couch for the basement

Arriving in Ranthambhore's hotel, we finally found the right couch for our new basement.

Hopefully it can be cut down a little bit, because the current seating capacity for 50 of you closest friends on zebra fabric won't make it down the stairs.

India: Ranthambhore

After a four hour drive from Jaipur to Ranthambhore, we arrived at the hotel.

Not much of a town, since the National Park is really the only attraction in the area. but hotel is nice, food is decent, and there are just a smattering of tour groups from Germany and Sweden (we think) around.

India: Jantar Mantar (Jaipur)

This is Jantar Mantar, which is a 200 year old observatory that Jai Singh II built. He basically sent a whole bunch of smart people to the ends of the World to study astronomy, and then they came back to build this observatory.

It has the largest sundial in the World that is accurate to 2 seconds. The thing stands at least 100 meters tall. They also have a whole bunch of interesting contraptions to measure the altitude of the sun or something like that.

India: Loving this vegetarian thing

A relatively large lunch in Jaipur. Still a little touristy, but a nice lentil, vegtable combo platter thing. Think it should be called a Thali.

Let me just tell you . . . food eating roles in India for Patrick and I have been totally reversed. Normally he's the one checking out the food to make sure there's no meat in it. In Hindu vegetarian India, it's now Wade taste testing to make sure the food is not too spicy for Patrick. Kind of weird, actually.

India: Lots of Silver

In visiting England some time ago, one of he previous Maharajah's of Jaipur commissioned two very large silver "water jugs" to transport the water of the Ganges to England. They're currently the two largest pieces of silver in existence, and they are huge - each one stands about 5 feet tall.

We also toured the Maharaj's palace in Jaipur, which was an interesting economic situation. Basically the boy had this huge palace, but when the Brits took over, he couldn't afford it any longer. The current maharaj (yep, there is one) lives in just one part of the structure (when he's not playing Polo with Prince Charles in England).

India: Cobra

Not as common as you may think, but we have seen a couple of snake charmers on the streets - but they're pretty much just for the tourists. Since snakes in general, and cobras in particular, freak me out - expect this fuzzy photograph to be the best one you'll get.

India: Nahargarh Fort (Jaipur)

This probably doesn't do justice to the site, but this is the mirrored palace of Nahargarh Fort. Turns out of the maharaj built this area to impress visiting dignitaries, etc. The workmanship is absolutely fantastic - and this is just one small section.

Basically think central big fort and palace for the Maharajah of Rajasthan.

India: Elephant Ride

By far one of the more touristy things we've done so far - ride an elephant for 10 minutes to get up to the Nahargarh Fort.

Gaby and Joe were on one (and I think they got better pictures). Joe seemed to think that this experience was a whole lot safer than his last elephant ride in Thailand - where they really needed that safety bar to prevent themselves from falling off in the rain.

It was actually kind of fun.

India: Jal Mahal (Jaipur)

Nope the monsoons did not come early and cause distress. This is a the Jal Mahal Water Palace built within an artificial lake. Come the summer, I think the lake dries up, but right now it looks pretty cool.

Turns out they're thinking of restoring the structure and turning it into a restaurant - that should be interesting.

India: Ironing

Couldn't pass this one up . . . guy ironing out on the street with a coal iron. I think if my new replacement Walmart iron craps out on me after only three months of use, like the last one - you might see me using one of these babies.

India: Lunch (Jaipur)

Unable to eat a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner; we did stop for a quick bite in Jaipur once we checked into the hotel. Although I've spaced the name of this particular dish - it's native to the Jaipur area - something like a chickpea flour dumpling in a nice marsala sauce. Awesome.

India: Cows

Just to prove that there really are cows in India roaming the streets . . . Definitely have to admit, the animal lover in me really appreciated the respect for animals - monkeys and goats get the same respect in India for the most part.

This particular cow followed us all the way from Delhi to Jaipur - and even passed us a couple of times I think.

India: Lassi

Always on the lookout for new food, I came up with sweet lassi. It's basically a liquified form of yogurt - or as Gaby would say, "Joe-gurt". Has a touch of that fermented sour taste even with a couple of tablespoons of sugar. Nice to try, but I think it would take me awhile to get used to it.

India: A typical breakfast

I'm skipping the typical Western breakfast, since I can get eggs and pancakes at home pretty easily.

Granted the hotels are probably not the best places to get the regional cuisine, but it's a start. All the hotels have been a little different in what they serve, but there always seems to be a spicey soup with a rice-type disk dropped in. I've had it in the States, and I've been told what it is - but for the life of me I can't remember right now.

In general, the bread is awesome in India.

India: Driving to Jaipur

Although we experience Indian "driving" while in Delhi, it takes on a whole new meaning when you're actually on a highway - or "highway". Where I thought the Italians were a bit crazy for taking road signs as merely a suggestion, Indian drivers have kind of skipped the whole concept of a right of way or road rules.

The road to Jaipur was nothing more than 3 lanes of road, a resource that could (and was) used by any person or animal or type of vehicle. So imagine I-70 with trucks, cars, motorcycles, motor scooters, three-wheeled cars, carts, cows, bicycles, camels - you get the idea. Also imagine a World where there really isn't constraints placed on said highway with any sort of road rules.

For example, if you are going north, but you can't get across the divided highway for a couple miles, you should feel free to drive down the southbound lane for awhile. Granted if this happened in the States, it would have been on the National Evening News faster than you can say, "White Bronco" - but it's all kind of expected here.

Oh, and I forgot, this is a picture of Gaby and Patrick at a chich-chic rest stop on the way - apparently, giving the driver a break is a good thing.

India: Safdarjang's Tomb (Delhi)

Last trip of the afternoon was Safdarjang's tomb. It was the fifth example of paradise tombs - the most famous example being the Taj Mahal.

Great lessons in simplified architectural air conditioning. For example, there are four bodies of water at each of the four entrances, and each entrance becomes progressively smaller, which cools the air. Granted the weather at the end of December is considered freezing for most Indians, but you can see how this would be a nice place to hang out, when things get toasty in the summer.

India: Qutub Minar (Delhi)

I wanted to set this shot up so that the spire was coming out of my head like a hat, but Patrick wouldn't let me do it. Turns out this Hindu complex, called Qutub Minar was pretty cool - built in 1193 and is the tallest brick minaret in the World.

India: Lunch does not agree with Joe

Turns out the Indian lunch was not only problematic for Patrick in the spicy category; but Joe also had a emergency trip 10 minutes after leaving the restaurant. It was a good opportunity though to stop by the chic-chic Sheraton in Delhi.

Hopefully, if you visit that hotel, the lobby restrooms will be habitable by that time.

India: Lunch (Delhi)

First official Indian lunch of the trip. Actually recommended by a Spanish teacher that we ran into at the mosque and Gandhi's tomb - but I think the guide knew about it too.

Didn't get all the proper Indian names, but a nice sampling of lentils, mixed vegetables, spinach, and some meat things that were too hot for Patrick to eat. Kind of funny that I'm usually the one who has issues trying to find something to eat (vegetarian) - now it looks like Patrick is going to have issues finding things that are really not spicey at all.

India: Presidential Palace (Delhi)

Think the White House of India. Kind of a nice place, and makes our White House look a bit small.

Due to the recent assassination of Pakistan's opposition candidate, Benazir Bhutto, and the current rioting across the country - security at the Indian Presidential Residence was a bit stepped up.

India: Gandhi (Delhi)

After a visit to the mosque and ride through Old Delhi, we stopped at the "tomb" of Mahatma Gandhi. Not really a tomb or cemetary, since his ashes were actually thrown in the river Ganges; but it's a memorial place for people to remember him.

India: Jama Mashid Mosque (Delhi)

The first tourist stop on our visit to Delhi by our guide was the the Jama Masjid Mosque. We ended up walking about 300 yards to the mosque from the Old city, since the traffic was so bad.

The really interesting thing about this mosque than some of the others that we've visited is that there is no interior chamber at all - don't know if that's an India thing or a common thing. Also the upside down Lotus flowers on the domes is a Hindu influence. Remember Indian History 101 - Mughals, descendants of Kublai Khan, came down and beat up the Hindu Maharajahs - so they had this peaceful co-existence thing with Islam and Hinduism.

India: Guides, Representative, and Drivers

Since we went with a tour company, we were provided with a guide, a driver, and a tour representative (the guy who met us at the airport, hotel, etc.). I'm horribly bad with names, so I must confess I don't remember their names that well - but it was a nice service to know that you were being covered.

India: Delhi Hotel

Got to our hotel, called The Connaught, around 11:00 PM on the 27th (told you it was a long flight). Rooms were a bit small - think European size, not American size - but they were relatively clean. OK, we heard a rat/mouse in the wall the last night we were there; but you really had to know what you were listening for, Patrick.

We were struck by the fact that there's really not a lot of zoning in India. Nice hotel sits pretty much next to a rundown apartment building. And we also were struck by the fact that there are a lot of people willing to help unload luggage, etc - for a tip, of course, and usually without asking - but it's nice to know they're there when you need them.

India: First Impressions

I see why people love India, and I see why people hate it.

Delhi is definitely is not indicative of a country with 1.2 billion people, but it's part of the story. The city is busy, energized, and fast moving. I'm sure once you navigate around and learn the rules, it can be an exciting place to live. The city does not seem to really sleep, since people are still out and about at midnight.

On the negative side, the weather is really perfect for us Midwesterners right now with it being essentially Winter in India (light jacket at night) - but that only last for about two months. Given how freezing the Indians look walking around (they are dressed like it's 20 below instead of 50), I can only imagine what summers must be like.

Traffic is insane - no other word for it. Some lane lines are respected, but most of the time the goal is to get to your final destination as quickly as possible with little regard to the person to the side, behind, or in front of you.

Also the concept of only cars that can maintain a 60 mph being allowed on the highway is just unknown. Granted no cows on the highway, but they do have small little three wheeled people transports that has a smaller engine than our snow blower on the roads - along with bikes, etc.

Again, just first impressions after a 15 hour airplane ride - time to dig beneath the surface as much as possible.

India: Namaste Tours

Learning from our experience in Cairo, we actually went with a pre-packaged tour.

It's a generalization, but the much further you get away from Europe and North America, the more difficult it is to travel. And when we were in Egypt with a tour, we realized that you don't have to be on a huge tour bus with 60 senior citizens. We also learned that the amount of time you save with someone being at the airport to pick you up, making the hotel reservations, planning the itinerary - just saves a ton of time. We went with Namaste Tours. They took care of the hotels, breakfasts, some lunches and dinners, tour fees, guides, and domestic travel. We still had to cover our international flight, tips (which really added up), and food (which could be expensive if you did the touristy places they wanted you to go to). But in the end, we paid the tour company about $100 a day per person. So definitely the major expense was the air travel (no cheap flights around Xmas time).

India: Patrick Tumbles

Can't believe I didn't get a shot of this, but Patrick twisted his ankle pretty badly about 1 hour after landing in Delhi. We were trying to load the luggage in the van (on top of the van, actually). And there were a bunch of people around. I think Boo mis judges the step down off the sidewalk (it was a foot), and totally screws the ankle.

Lots of pain, deep breathing didn't help - but we got him into the car, elevated the leg, and carried him in the hotel.

I must admit, visions of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City immediately ran through my mind when he fell. That was pre-Wade's World blog; but essentially he did something to his ankle on the first night, and we hobbled through the Games. Granted we ended up with some great physically challenged seats, but initially impressions of India didn't seem to have legitimate parking spaces at all, much less a handicapped one.

Stay tuned.

India: Lost Baggage

Fly with five bags on American Airlines, you are bound to have them lose at least one.

This time it was Patrick's bag that didn't show up on Carousel 4 in Delhi. Not have we had this situation before, but when you only have 8 days to see lots of towns, you don't want to worry about your luggage.

We knew we were in trouble when we were about to board the plane and the flight attendant said that they were on some pretty tight weight restrictions, and they wanted to know from each of the passengers flying with toddlers and below if they had car seats and/or strollers. Yikes.

The interesting thing was that this was our first experience with Indian bureaucracy (OK, forget about trying to get a change control at work through our Indian outsourcing - that's different) . . . not to be ethnocentric, but in the States, making a claim for lost baggage is pretty easy. Go to the counter, give them your checked bag tag, and have them type everything in the computer.

In India, you fill out a form, which includes such pertinent items as mother's maiden name and horoscope sign. After you're done filling out the form, the clerk copies the information onto another form (albeit longer, requiring you to answer more questions). Once that's complete, you need to take the form across the checked baggage area to a kiosk to get a stamp from some guy, and then you need to return the form to the original woman. She then gives you a copy of the form to go on your merry way.

It all worked out in the end - Patrick got his bag back the next morning - unfortunately, they called at 4AM (Indian time) in our hotel room, and insisted we show up in the lobby as soon as possible. (I think I have a future working in India in setting and exceeding customer expectations).

India: Bhutto Assassinated

Well, we landed in Delhi and got past immigration to find out on CNN in the airport that Benazir Bhutto, opposition leader in Pakistan, had been assassinated.

For the geopolitically challenged, Pakistan borders India, and they have both shared a relatively difficult relationship. We were probably about 200 miles from the border, so not really s safety concern. But when I saw the news, I did think, "Crap, my parents are going to freak."

India: Flying to Delhi

In case you're not familiar with World Geography, India is on the other side of the planet. Granted if you dug a hole straight through the ground until you reached the other side, you would not get to India, but somewhere in the southern hemisphere in the Pacific where I think the only living thing is the migratory path of a great white shark. But is it a 12 hour time difference - so it counts for being on the other side of the World.

Needless to say, it takes awhile to get there; and you have two basic options - non-stop flight with American Airlines for 15 hours straight to Delhi, or a non-stop arrangement that has you take an intermission somewhere in Europe.

Knowing the airplane travel is perhaps the most barbaric form of travel next to a Yak pulling a wooden wagon in freezing temperatures on the Tibetan plateau, we decided to go the non-stop route and not risk missing a connecting flight.

Actually the flight wasn't too bad. Gaby upgraded to business, so she was fine, and the rest of us had pretty roomy seats on the aisle. The movies were good, food was good (flying to India has the perk of a decent vegetarian selection for once), and the flight attendants were somewhat bearable. The other nice thing is that you actually have time to get a good sleep in - since on an 8 hour flight, you really only have about 5 decent hours of sleep once everything gets settled down.

So all in all, a good call to fly non-stop to Delhi.

India: Joe

The other person foolish enough to travel to India with us is Joe Moeddel.

If you've been following the blog, then you know that he's currently getting his MBA from Michigan; so he also met us in Chicago - after flying from Detroit.

Another note here . . . Joe again did that crazy "I have to drive five hours on Xmas night in order to travel somewhere on the 26th of December". Not sure if I mentioned this one in the blog either, but in 2005, Joe drove to Paris starting at 10:00PM Xmas night to fly to Ireland the next night.

Maybe he's really just Santa Claus, and he has the reindeers drop him off after he's done delivering presents.

India: Gaby

This is a small group traveling to India. Besides Patrick, of course, we are also travelling with Gaby. Although you will no doubt hear me complain about the 15 hour non-stop flight to Delhi, I can't complain too much, since Gaby had to first fly from Mexico City to Chicago, and then off to Delhi.
Ugh.

India: Packing

Knowing that we were going to be moving around to a lot of cities and towns, we decided to pack as light as possible for our 8 days. And a recent Xmas present from Mom and Dad (collapsible LL Bean duffle bag) was thrown in, in case we got a little out of control.

Hopefully it will be enough.

INDIA

Having learned a trick or two from the French, I've figured out that the only way you'll really go on those really big vacations is if you actually buy the plane tickets six months in advance and make the arrangements. Even though it can be a chunk of change, it's easier to budget for too.

India is on our list for one of the multiple places we want to go in our lives. And figuring that God sometimes has a twisted sense of irony, we didn't want to risk making major trips until we were retired.

So off to India we go.

Xmas: Presents, presents, and more presents

As usual family, friends, and Boo did a really thoughful job in giving Xmas presents again this year. Big present of the year was a Sony camera.

After my last ultra compact camera went kaplow, I was stuck with Patrick's camera for the blog. It takes great pictures, but not the easiest to carry around.

Not understanding straight men

. . . again.

This time it's Joe's Xmas present from his Mom - a vacuum cleaner. Granted I can appreciate the attraction to house cleaning products - I am the child who had an ironing board at age 5. What I don't understand is that Joe has been away at Grad school since September WITHOUT a vacuum cleaner. Which means his carpet hasn't been vacuumed in a REALLY long time. I mean, he does understand that there would have been things in his carpet that could be most unpleasant.

Wonder if the vacuum survived the first run.

Xmas Eve at Chez Cobb/Smith

Tradition continued with us hosting Christmas Eve. This year Julie did Thanksgiving, and Mom does Christmas Day - so we get to do the Clam Chowder (OK, Julie makes it).

Did a BBQ brisket and a braised brisket, which I think came out well complements of the New Best Recipe Cookbook. We also had fun playing with a remote controlled helicopter from Brookstone. I thought the puppy was going to bust in the first 5 minutes, but it's still going strong.

No more goatee for Patrick

Still not sure how I feel about this one, but Patrick was shaving his beard, and slipped a bit with the razor - causing him to remove the mustache/goatee.

I think I need a couple days to get used to it.

Cinders comes for a visit

Isn't he cute?

With Cinders pushing 120 years old, and Steph and the kids off to Bradford for the holidays; we dogsat this holiday.

There was a brief brouhaha with the other two beasts of the household, as they worked out the pecking order. Winston's still on top, Obie waffles between the #2 and #3 position depending on his food needs.

In all, Cinders just chilled out on his bed, and he was probably just enjoying the relative peace and quiet of our house.

One more thing - he's a way better watchdog than Winston and Obie.

Basement: Floor Done

It took awhile (as well as the skin from my fingertips), but I finished the wood floor in the basement.

Put in an engineered wood floor from Lowe's ($1.99 a square foot) - total budget was about $700 for the 300 square feet, once you figure in the tools and cost of glue. Obviously the interlocking floor that floats is easier, but it was also a bit more expensive and needed to be special ordered.

The main room took about a day and a half, while the smaller inner room was pounded out in a about 2 hours (I got better in time).

Skating Party: Cheryl and Judy

Obviously Cheryl has been avoiding me these last couple of months, due to the fact that she's afraid that I'll kick her ass again in Euchre. So it was really good to see her and Judy at the Skating party again this year.

I'm telling you, it's like the Skating Party is just a one stop, try to catch up with everyone kind of place.

T Skating Party: Andrea and Julie

As always, Julie and Andrea are looking fabulous at the Skating Party. Andrea and Tim brought Tim's parents to hang out for a bit. And Julie was there to see the gang.

I still miss Julie at work :(

T Skating Party: Tim and Family

See it's a family thing.

Tim and Andrea Whittaker, since they're off to Geneva for several months in the next couple of days has their family in town and Xmas hosting responsibilities.

However, next year the expectation is that both Tim and Andrea will skate. Although that might require Tim buying a $500 pair of skates, since I can't see him wearing the rinks rentals.

T Skating Party: Jason and Amber

We've been so busy with the basement and running around, a lot of our friends we have just not seen in the last couple of months. We were thrilled that Jason and Amber could run by and say hello.

One thing I'm liking about the skating party is that more people are coming just to hang out - forget the skating bit - which is totally cool with us.

Skating Party: Cookies

I really need to calculate one of these days how many total calories are on the cookie table for the skating party each year. Between Mom, Julie, Sherry, and Cheryl - there is just a ridiculous amount of them. And this year they were pretty much gone.

Also need to do a Xmas Cookie Cookbook one of these years.

Basement: Painting Done

Probably crappy photo quality, but you can kind of see the color that we did for the basement - 'saffron' from Restoration Hardware. Big fan of all their colors, but they can run a bit high. Of course, you can do what I do - get the color swatches from Restoration Hardware, and then just have Lowe's do a color match.

I also did the other common decorating trick - painted the ceiling two shades lighter.

Mom's Birthday

Aren't I a good son?

Realizing that my mother is still in her mimimalist phase, and doesn't want more stuff. I went with the standard birthday gift of flowers from D&Z gifts - awesome place on 49th and Illinois. The pink roses looked a bit pathetic when I first picked them up, but they soaked up some water and ended up stunning.

Need to remind myself to use that place more often.

Basement: Drywall done

QUESTION: What prevents a divorce more than anything else?
ANSWER: A drywaller

After advice from several people who have finished a room, all suggested you hire a professional drywaller. And it was evident about 10 minutes into the exercise that Patrick and I would have been divorced in less time, if we had attempted to drywall this room ourselves.

In all it took 2 and a half days to for two guys to drywall two rooms and a ceiling. Granted they weren't the best in the cleanup, and we still have a bit of finish work to do - but as you can from this small corner - it already looks 100% better.

I think now we're in the home stretch, we need to paint, finish out the lighting and stereo wiring, and then put in the floor.

Mont D'Or

Ah, perhaps my favorite cheese of winter - Mont D'or.

Pick this one up from Emmanuelle Frohlich, while we were both in England a couple of weeks ago. As I've said before, this is about as close as the french come to fast food. Wrap this cheese in foil (round wooden box and all), throw in a little wine, and throw it in the oven with some potatoes until you can smell it.

Basement: Wiring Done

Ah, the never ending basement project has reached another milestone with the completion of the electrical wiring. It always helps when you have a deadline to work towards, and in this case the drywallers are showing up on Saturday.

I think there are more electrical outlets in this 15' X 20' basement than the entire second floor of our house. And in case you're wondering - all those extra wires are for speakers and cables.