寶翠園

... that's Chinese for The Belcher's, our apartment complex, and it's pronounced "bo choy yu" in Cantonese.

For those who haven't seen our apartment, we're kind of landlocked. On one side are some great hills that eventually lead up to the Peak, and on the other side is the ocean. While this makes for some stunning views, it also means crazy humidity. We empty our dehumidifier twice a day to keep our apartment liveable during the summer months. But the second you step out into the hallway you sweat. No two ways about it.

Anyhow, here is a nighttime shot from our place watchin' ships meander by towards Victoria Harbor.

More India

In addition to all the slideshows we posted yesterday, here's some more photos from the other members of our nomadic misfits.

This bunch was taken by Hieu and Nhi- primarily Nhi. She has quite a lot of great shots in there, but I did hear Jon and Oli say they hope she takes even more next time around.

Caro and I were with them for the Jaipur and Udaipur legs so you'll see us included in those sets. And we would particularly like to take credit for the Mentos experiment, although Hieu decided to use his mouth as the container on his own accord.

Day 1 (London), Day 2 (Delhi), Day 3 (Delhi), Day 4 (Jodhpur) & (Jaisalmer), Day 5 (Jaisalmer), Day 6 (Jodhpur), Day 7 (Delhi) & (Agra), Day 8 (Agra) & (Jaipur), Day 9 (Jaipur), Day 10 (Jaipur) & (Udaipur), Day 11 (Udaipur), Day 12 (Udaipur) & (Goa), Day 13 (Goa)

Another man down ;)

Just got back from our second trip to India. Last time was for business (the Delhi Gift Fair), this time was strictly pleasure... watchin' our buddy Kunal get hitched in a traditional Hindi wedding in the western state of Rajasthan. We visited two cities this time. Jaipur, also known as the Pink City because all of its old buildings are made with a pinkish-hue sandstone. And Udaipur, also known as the City of Lakes or Venice of the East. Udaipur was the prettiest and cleanest city we've seen in India thus far. It is home to the Lake Palace hotel, which has been ranked as the world's most romantic hotel several times. And its better known to most Westerners as the home of the international criminal Octopussy. (We didn't have time to visit it this trip, so I guess we'll be making a next trip to Udaipur.)

The flight over was an experience, as anything to do with the Delhi airport always is. This time we flew Air India which has better flight schedules than Cathay from Hong Kong. Our travel agent had warned us that many of her previous customers had complained of the smells on this airliner. She tried to get us to switch carriers. When we politely refused she advised us to bring a mask. I chalked it up to cultural insensitivities. Boy was I in for a surprise. That flight smelled so bad that every time the guy in front of me would lift his arms behind his head it would wake me out of a dead sleep with my gag reflex in full effect. I was amazed. In India most of Kunal's friend were shocked we would fly Air India. One of their later flights had an emergency landing in Delhi while we were there. Needless to say its all Cathay Pacific for us on any future flights on this route.

The trip and the wedding were a blast. The wedding was primarily in Sanskrit, so I'm not even sure how many of the locals knew the details of what was transpiring. ;) But we partied it up non-stop, dancing under the blazing sun. Got a little case of the Dehli Belly on our way back (okay actually it was a big case and we spent a lot of time on the airplane lavoratory), but luckily it was at the tail end of the trip. And now that you know more than you wanted to, here are the pics... (I've included the Dehli & Agra pics from our prior trip for those who hadn't seen them yet.)

Delhi and Agra - Oct 2005 View Slideshow

Jaipur - Jul 2006 View Slideshow

Udaipur - Jul 2006 View Slideshow

Taj Mahal!

Estuvimos una semana en Delhi buscando fuentes de produccion para vidrio/metales/textiles/etc para nuestros diseños. Aunque estuvimos chambeando la mayor parte del tiempo, tuvimos la oportunidad de tomar un tour a Agra donde se encuentra el Taj Mahal. Es la estructura mas bella que he visto en mi vida! El mausoleo fue construido en mármol blanco y piedras semi-preciosas por el emperador mogul Shah Jahan durante los años 1631 y 1654 en honor a su esposa Mumtaz; es toda una historia de amor.
Fue un viaje como muy surrealista para mí por que fue una decisión espontanea de ir. Salimos a las 7:00 am y era una mañana muy linda. El camino hacía Agra fue otra cosa. Viajamos en un pequeño sedan, y el conductor iba sonando el claxon TODO el camino, que resultó en cuatro horas. Después de apreciar los detalles del Taj Majal y el Fuerte Rojo de Agra, nos pasamos a un hotel a comer, y luego a un local de artesanías donde mostraron la técnica que supuestamente se usó para adornar el mármol blanco del Taj con las piedras semi-preciosas como jade, lapis lázuli, zafiro y muchas otras. Esa misma tarde viajamos las cuatro horas de regreso y ahora con otro conductor que iba cambiando entre luces largas y bajas (clic-clic... clic-clic... clic-clic) y sonando el claxon TODO el camino mientras yo entraba y salía de mi sueño con visiones del conductor rebasando coches en nuestro mismo sentido y tambien evadiendo otros que venían en contra, gente, motos con familias enteras, bici, vacas (sagradas), changos, etc... todo entre una nube de polvo. Las condiciones de miseria de mucha gente sí me impresionó. Las facciones de la gente son tan únicas y los atuendos/joyería de la mujeres son tan coloridos (por mas pobre que sean) que hacen un contraste muy marcado con la pobreza... y el polvo y calor de la ciudad. El viaje a Agra fue inolvidable... disfruten las fotos (el link arriba).