I forget it's name

I mentioned earlier that we saw crocodiles while we were in Chitwan, Nepal. I also said that there was one that was considered to be less dangerous that the other (the other being the more conventional croc, you know the one of your nightmares). Here are a couple of shots of the "less dangerous one". By the was, from ten to twelve feet log. "It mostly eats fish and it's snout or whatever is thinner so, it's less dangerous". Right.

Coming down from the top of the Kathmandu Valley

One morning, after we watched the sun rise with a bunch of chanting Buddhist monks, we were driving back to our hotel in Kathmandu and came across a Nepali wedding. These people had a parade going on like an hour after the sun rose. See the hats that the guys are wearing? They are called sola topees and they were not worn specially for the wedding but are very very common. I saw men of virtually all ages wearing them throughout Nepal. Young men did not have them on that much but it may be a function of their age group or that the young people in Nepal think it is not fashionable. I can tell you that I bought and wore a sola topee when I was in Nepal and that all through the country people (of ALL ages) were very happy about it. They would stop me in the street and say very encouraging things all the time. No kidding. It was kind of weird but also kind of neat. By the way, take a look at the woman in the last picture. The look on her face is great. She looks so confident, so not demure. Her attitude was kind of contagious and I could not help but give her a big smile back.

Nature Factoid

Have you ever noticed that when you see a bunch of birds in the sky flying in a "V" formation, there is always one line of birds that is longer than the other one. There is actually a reason for that. Do you want to know why? See below.


























Because there are more birds in that line.

Love In The Time Of Camels

Love, exciting and new,
Come aboard.
We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow,
it floats back to you.
The Love Boat
soon will be making another run.
The Love Boat promises something for everyone.
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
It's Looooove!
Welcome aboard - It's Looooove!

Neemrana Fort Palace, Rajahsthan, India

In the spirit of doing all we can while we're here (time is running out), we took a day trip to Neemrana Fort-Palace on Sunday. It's just about an hour and a half outside of Gurgaon.

It's a strikingly beautiful place and we wish we could have spent the night. We have had mixed reviews about it which gave us some pause which is why it took us so long to get there.

Interestingly, it seemed like it was frequented mainly by westerners. Maybe the zip-line they had was just a little over the top for locals? In any case, we decided to pass on that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neemrana

Puzzle

So we went to Sundar Nagar which means, I think, beautiful city (corrections welcome as always) and is much harder to pronounce (it's Hindi) than it looks. We found a place that wholesales to Anthropoligie and Kristina bought some knobs (for drawers) that would have cost maybe a zillion times more in the actual Anthropoligie stores. She also convinced me to buy a couple of original posters for some Bollywood movies that were made in the sixties (again, I think). The posters cost more than the zillion knobs she got. So be it. I know nothing, and I mean nothing, about Bollywood movies but I have been told by a couple of people that the two movies that the posters represent are well known.

Are you a betting woman (or man)? Here is the deal. The first person who names both movies gets to have a donation of food and sundries made in their name to a children's shelter whom we have supported. The shelter is called Progetto India (http://www.progettoindia.com/it/ ) and the couple who run it take in, feed, clothe, educate and make family of children in the New Delhi, which is a very good thing. Hit me back, Jack.

Mocambo Restaurant, Calcutta, India

So this time the New York Times scooped me. A couple of months ago we went with our friends Suky, Loes, Maxi, and Pierre to Calcutta. We were looking for a place to eat and went past this restaurant. The outside of the place looked like a throw back to the 1950's (America). Look at the menu. If I am not mistaken, those are either two Flamenco dancers, or maybe south American. Also there is a cactus on the upper left hand side. The food was not remotely Spanish. It was kind of insanely discordant given that this was Calcutta, if you know what I mean. Anyway, there was a guy who was weirdly dressed and had a strange accent (but speaking perfect English) that we could not make out smoking a cigarette in front of the joint. He said he went there all the time and that it was great. If this seems kind of Twilight Zonish to you, imagine being there at the time. It was weirder. We went in to check it out and the interior and menu were something out of a midwestern (US) supper club. It was insane. So we all decided to give it a shot. The food was fantastic and again, I have not seen these dishes on any restaurant in the US in twenty years. I wanted to know more about the place because it was it was so bizarre and it was the only place like it we have seen in all of India, bar none. I googled it and sure enough, The New York Times journalist Somini Sengupta was there back in August and wrote a great article about it. You may remember Ms Sengupta's name from her coverage of the Mumbai attacks in November. Her articles were front and center in the New York Times for quite while. Oh well, if you are going to be scooped, it may as well be from a New York Times front page journalist.

Link to the New York Times article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/travel/31bites.html?scp=1&sq=mocambo&st=cse

What's the plural of rhinoceros?

So a couple of things. Baby rhinos are kinda cuter that I would have thought. I also would have thought that the rhino horn would be, I don't know, more intimidating or something. One more thing, look at the third picture. They have funny looking ears. I hadn't heard that before. I would think I would have.

By the way, we took these photos in Chitwan National Park while riding on the back of an elephant.

Just In Time For Halloween

It was full moon time in Nepal when we went and there was a dearth of ambient light (yeah, you heard me) there due to electricity rationing so there was a couple of opportunities to take some moon pictures. The first three pictures were taken in Pokhara and the last one was taken in Chitwan. Why is that relevant you ask? It's not, I just like saying Pokhara and Chitwan. Sounds like one the specials at the Chinese take out place around the corner from our house.

Hello From Flat Stanley

Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley or the Flat Stanley Project? Me neither, that is until we got a note from Kristina's nephew whose name is August but whose really good frineds call him "one way" (like the street sign). Any way, the story goes something like this:










Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for putting pictures and posters on. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed, but during the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. Stanley even helps catch some art museumsneak thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. But one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope.


More about Flat Stanley here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley




So we got Flat Stanley in the mail and took a bunch of pictures of him in Nepal. By the way, the second shot with the woman was taken in a hut on the side of a mountain before the sun rose over the Machhapuchhre mountain. Machhapuchhre means "Fishtail" in English and that is how it is commonly referred to. So, what was I doing in a hut on the side of a mountain in Nepal at 4:30 in the morning? Believe it or not, in the dark, working my way up the side of the mountain, I smelled coffee and she sold me a cup.

Here's Looking At You Kid!

We saw more elephants in Chitwan than you can shake a stick at. That works out fine because we think that they are kind of neat. We actually had an opportunity to take a bath with them (not kidding and photos of that coming up soon), but the river in which they were going to bathe was the same one that had the crocodiles in them so we chickened out. Apparently it is safe because there is no way that a croc is going to mess with a bunch elephants. Really? This falls into the "whatever" category.

Chitwan District, Nepal

We took these pictures when we were in a flat canoe made of cottonwood on a river in Chitwan, Nepal. The water was very shallow, about two feet in most places in the river and the water level was three or four inches from the side of the canoe. We got pretty close to these guys and were kind of at eye level with them. I do not mind telling you, we were a little nervous. Much more so than when I was holding the cobra in Old Delhi (I was nervous then too really). These guys (girls?) were about ten feet long I think. The crocodile in the second picture has a thin snout. That is a different kind of croc and it is supposed to be less dangerous because it's snout is so thin. Whatever.

I said "Get Away From Me!!"

NOW!

Okay, but I'm telling mom.


MOMMMMM!!


We took these shots in Chitwan on Holi Day. The baby elephant is actually a lot more menacing (and big) than he looks, especially if you have cookies that he wants (see side show). Also, in a fight, I would take mom's side against the elephant who is pushing him away. For sure. More on Holi later.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Just back from Nepal and it was great. Included here are a couple of pictures to give you a feel for what we were in for. We spent a few days in Kathmandu and a few days in the cuts. Sometimes strange and weird. Sometimes comfortable and homey. More to follow and please see the slide show to the right and the link to a ton of pictures. We met, by the way, a great family when we were in Nepal, some of whom I have known a very long time, some not. More about them later. Hi Diane and Sonar. Hi Rufinis. Hi, Joseph.

Link to our Nepal pictures:


http://picasaweb.google.com/kalgminas/Kathmandu