General Blog
February 28, 2016
errible start for the day (the usual 3am bing awake deal). Turns out JB had some sort of mango tea drink for dinner. Either that or something else dumped her guts. I’m lying in bed, trying to will myself to sleep, and I’m hearing say that her bowels are dumping, that she’s got a throbbing headache, that she’s sick as a dog, and my mind whirls on the logistics of three hours on a train and five more in a bus. Told her to pull the ripcord and take the anti-diuretics, aspirins, everything. Bomb bay doors open. Salvo. Within ten […]
February 27, 2016
o the first thing today – the Taj Mahal. And what can I say – as soon as you walk in, forget all those movies and photos you’ve seen of this place. The reality, especially on a cool clear morning, is just of walking through the sandstone entry gate, looking through the darkened portal at the gleaming white dome, and spouting an expletive. This was my India moment, where I stood and shot photos and just shook my head and said “Wow…” Strolled around it for a bit. Sat with JB on a bench and watched the parrots and chipmunks […]
February 26, 2016
oke up today and JB gave me a Valentine’s Day card. In return, I gave her a dumb look. Totally forgot, given the strange background we find ourselves in. But it was a sweet gesture. Pretty much a transport sort of day. In the morning, a quick run over to the Palace of Winds (where the ladies of the court could spy on the street from their perfumed sitting rooms in the sixteenth century). Then we hit the road for the Step Well of Chand Baori. What’s a step well? Well (snicker), imagine that you have to go down thirty […]
February 25, 2016
p early and off to the Amber Fort, a sprawling hilltop fortification that wends around the nearby valleys like some sort of circular Great Wall. The structure was absolutely breathtaking, hanging on its crags in the morning haze. Rode up to the top on the back of an elephant, giyap, which swayed so much my hips hurt. Still, it was something to find yourself atop a huge moving creature on a cliff road, looking out over your feet and way way down to the Maotha Lake (with its gardened island). Now, you gotta understand that hawkers are a rupee a […]
February 23, 2016
he day actually started at the airport – we got in at half-past eleven in the evening. The Indian tourist visa deal was a pain; it took an hour to clear it what with the dodgy fingerprint machines. The van ride in to the hotel was hectic; dark and smoggy and honky. When we got to the hotel, ready to crash into bed, first we accidently rode the elevator down to the basement then found out the room card wouldn’t allow us access to the elevator buttons. Finally someone coming up gave us a lift back to the lobby. After […]
February 23, 2016
oke up feeling good (had been wondering if I had contracted Ebola from the New Delhi tap water I accidently swallowed last night). With my guts intact, we packed up and headed out, down the road from New Delhi to Jaipur. On the way, we stopped to check out the Qutab Minar Victory Tower, a huge standing structure made and remade and remade again (they need a lightning rod on that thing). Evidently the firm solid structure inspired my guts because in the rest room nearby I deposited a poop of equal consistency. Yea! So it’s looking more and more […]
February 21, 2016
couldn’t sleep last night – too much in my head, what with three airlines to navigate, a 4am wakeup, a ride to the airport, guilt over the cat, and the endless milling dread of imagining things that might go wrong. Which is what I do, I suppose. Anyway, the limo guy was a touch early and he took the abandoned 436 in, a straight shot in twilight Tuesday. Got to the airport and found out that, no, Jet Blue does not share luggage routes with Delta so we’d have to do it ourselves (which wasn’t what they told me on […]
February 21, 2016
ey, blogs can be therapeutic. I think you can write stress away. Anyway, hoping so. We’ve been getting ready for our big India trip, twelve days on the other side of the world. I’d name this work Passage to India but that’s already taken. But it’s been no less an ordeal. Our travelers include myself, my wife and my sister. We came up with this a half year back – I pitched it to the wife and managed to get her to agree (you can refer to my other blogs to know just what happened to her in Amsterdam – […]
December 27, 2015
ast day and then I can get back to my crazy work and life. Rainy all day, but just drizzly in the morning, which was good – went out to the Muir Woods (with all those majestic redwoods). JB and I did the long trail and I was gratified to see her keeping up (even in the parts that were flooded or muddy). I hid under my umbrella and she her hood and we got through everything just fine. The ride back (combine a massive passenger van, twisting mountain roads, driving rain, fog, dragons, whatever) was a nail biter. We […]
December 26, 2015
ith day-long rains predicted (where’s that drought I heard so much about?), our first trip (stepping around the sing-along hobos outside) was down Haight to Robert’s (aptly named) Hardware where we bought a tiny flash light (for late-night suitcase digging) and an umbrella (duh!). As we came out, we realized that right across the street was a cool looking bookstore. After taking the place apart brick by brick ($150 later) we returned back to the apartment to drop off our swag (the ‘boes had drifted off to their day occupations, leaving their gin bottles and urine stench behind). Then we […]