Updated India Map

Thought I'd update my travel map from a few months ago, as you can see have added a lot more red and yellow lines!

Kerala trip in pictures

Since I'm really rolling on the photo uploading tonight...here is a photo journal of our Kerala visit over the past weekend. Took advantage of an Indian holiday (Republic day) on Friday and took Thurs and Mon off too for a nice 5 day weekend...flew from Hyderabad to Trivandrum, and then went to Kovalam Beach, Varkala Beach, Allepy backwaters, and finally flew out of Kochin back to HYD on Monday. Kerala was an awesome place, beautiful and lovely beaches, and the backwater sunset was breathtaking! Never enough time to do everything, I could've spent a couple weeks just hanging out at Varkala Beach...fun times.

This is the view from the hotel room at Kovalam Beach. "Mini Beach House" -- stay there. Truly amazing having this private little beach right outside your room, incredible view, sleeping to the sounds of the waves...Dercy's in Agonda Beach Goa will always be a special place to me but the Mini Beach House is pretty dang nice also...even if it is $8 a night more expensive!!

Another shot looking out the front door...

Kovalam Beach (south)

All over India you will find rather interesting signs. Here's one of Kerala's finest...

And here's a sign I don't think was put up by any Kerala goverment officials. This was a rather bizzare George W Bush scarecrow type creation? The damage he alone has done to the world's perception of Americans really is something else.

Here is the bamboo hut we stayed in in Varkala Beach. Pretty fun room, it's own hut, just one room, 4 thatched walls, a shower, toilet, bed, and a fan. Back to the basics.

Looks good? It was probably 2 feet high in about 2 feet of water w/ submerged rocks everywhere. I didn't surf it.

Looking further down the cliffside at some of Varkala's shops. Varkala is a touristy but very nice, fun beach area set along some dramatic oceanside cliffs. Lots of places to stay and lots of places to shop, and some nice sandy beaches around the corner from where this photo was taken.

Varkala fishermen

Only thing missing from this photo is a book (update: oh yeah, and food). Can't think of a much better place to sit down, eat a meal, and read a book. Beautiful.

Our final evening in Kerala was spent on this floating beauty in the Allepy backwaters. Traditional kerala style backwater boat. Not the fanciest boat in the waters, but it has character.

And really, who cares about the boat when the sunset looks like this?? Fine I'll admit to the occasional touched up digital photograph every now and then...but not here. These pics are 100% untouched. A breathtaking sunset...so many colors.

Early to bed...

Early to rise. Sunrise wasn't too shabby either. :)

Well that pretty much sums up Kerala, it was a great trip to a beautiful part of India, I see why they call it "God's own country." Maybe I'll try to get back there -- the local surfer (there actually is one at Kovalam Beach, a real true Indian who surfs -- and surfs real well also -- he has a lot of time because he pretty much just hangs out at the beach all day far as I could tell) says surf gets good in a month or so. So maybe will try to check it out if at all possible...but who knows...I think India surf is just like anywhere else -- "it was good last week, shoulda been here" and "yep it'll be good in a month or so, check it out then" -- just got to have the time and energy, and a lot of luck. I did manage to surf for a bit at Kovalam Beach, the morning we left I had fun in some whomping shorebreak closeouts. At least the water is warm. Anyways surf or no surf Kerala was a fantastic place and I see why it is high on so many India visitor's lists. I'm glad to have gotten to go there!

And just a few more...

Taj Mahal pics for good measure. :) Can't leave these classics out!

Taj Mahal

Alas, once again I have fallen hopelessly behind on updating the Paneer Belly. Excuses are cheap -- but things are busy at work, internet connection is spotty at best at home, and weekends come and go in the blink of an eye...BUT I simply can not call this a halfway respectable India Blog and not post anything about my Taj Mahal visit. Unacceptable. So here it is: The Taj is truly an amazing, spectacular sight. One of the most amazing structures I've ever seen.

The Taj also has quite the history behind it as well, which only serves to make it even more captivating. As you probably know, the commonly accepted 'fairytale' behind the Taj Mahal is that it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a tribute of love to his recently deceased favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Nice story, right, and it does give the place a special atmosphere (especially when you're visiting w/ that special someone in your life!), but as you get more details the true story starts to take on a little bit different twist. Granted of course I'm no historian and I don't know, but from the bits and pieces I picked up from reading on the internet, listening to our guide, and watching a TV show about the Taj which happened to be on the Discovery Channel while we were in our hotel room looking out the window at the Taj, even more so than a tribute of the Emperor's love, it's more a tribute of his Ego, his own vanity, and the immense wealth and power that he held at the time. Work was begun in 1632 and ended in 1648, and the tour guide said some 25,000 laborers were working on the structure at any one time. Marble was brought from 200 miles away, and the craftsmanship and skilled work involved in building the Taj is even more evident from close up -- the buildings colors dont come from paint, but from precious stones inlaid seamlessly into the marble. It's pretty amazing when you see it up close...and pretty tragic when the tour guide then tells you that the Emperor had the fingers of the designers cut off after the work was completed so that nothing like it could ever be built again! (Whether this is actually true or not, I do not know. But the goverment sanctioned tour guide said it! haha). The story continues that after the Taj was finished, Shah Jahan, getting old, fell ill. Seizing the opportunity his youngest son killed his 3 older brothers, and imprisoned his dad (Geez! Mo' Money Mo' Problems!) in Agra fort, where he stayed, only able to view his masterpiece from a window for 8 years until he died. (Oh yeah, he died of a massive overdose of opium and aphrodesiacs with a bunch of his concubines. Don't feel too sorry for the old man). Quite a story, who knows what is really true or not -- certainly not me! -- but it goes without any debate that the Taj Mahal is truly a breathtaking sight to see and behold with your own eyes, and is a full fledged highly recommended place to visit in India, along with the millions of other people who will be there with you doing the same thing. It's worth it.

Here are a just a few of the many Taj Mahal pics taken on our visit. Again, as always, for the complete gallery (and about 100 more Taj pics, I'm warning you!) go to my Picasa Web Album here. Enjoy!

vacation!

While pretty much every weekend, and in fact, every day here is sort of like a vacation, tomorrow is the actual real deal...taking tomorrow, Friday, and Monday off work. (Friday is an office holiday). V-a-c-a-t-i-ooooooooo-n!! Heading to Kerala, "God's Country," which is a state on the southwest coast of India...supposed to be a beautiful place! We leave early tomorrow morning and come back monday morning. Will probably go to the beach at Kovalam Beach, probably Varkala Beach also, and maybe do a backwater boat trip -- Kerala is famous for it's beaches and it's rivers and lakes/backwaters. There's also the possibility of some surfing, but as with anywhere in India -- won't really know til I get there what to expect. But the internets does tell me some information about there being a few surfers around that area, so I'll be on the lookout.

Time for bed -- only complaint about every weekend being vacation is that every weekend I have to wake up early to catch a flight somewhere! :) 'Nite!

Grunt T. Bunnert, Meet...

Mr. Nip Bennit! This is my laundry basket in my room. I thought of showing this photo a long time ago but never got around to blogging it. Apparently before arrival, somewhere somehow my name became translated to Mr. Nip Bennit, so that is what they wrote on the basket. And yes...someone does do my laundry for me. Roughin' it, I know.

(background story: a long time ago my dad got a letter addressed to him as Grunt T. Bunnert. It's been an ongoing joke to call him Grunt ever since. Haha see you in India soon Grunt!)

Weekend Preview

One of the best things about this India work assignment is weekend travel. Almost every weekend, we go somewhere and see new sights. This weekend's destination du jour:

Taj Mahal!

No, No, No, not that Taj Mahal! Silly blog program!

There, that's better. The Taj Mahal!

Yep tomorrow at the ungodly hour of 4:15 AM our flight departs from Hyderabad to New Delhi. We arrive New Delhi at 6:15 AM, and then take a car from Delhi to Agra, which is about a 4 hour drive. Pretty exhausting travel regimen, this Taj Mahal better be something else! Anyway, even if the Taj disappoints, we're staying in a fancy hotel in Agra, so at least that'll be cool, and a good place to recover on lost sleep!

Hope you all have a good weekend whatever it is you are up to. Joel and Dad I'm excited about the prospect of having you over here soon! Where do you guys want to go? Let's start figuring it out.

(blog post side note -- Taj Mahal's (musician) picture was the first to come up on a Google search for "Taj Mahal"...I wonder how many people stumble upon his music thru that...anyway reminded me that I have to get home soon so I can upload the Taj Mahal cd I have to my Ipod!!!)

eat my wake!

Back to Thailand! That water is so blue and amazing and warm and tropical, looking through pictures makes me want to go back TODAY. Great place -- crowded with tourists -- but none the less great. One of the unquestioned highlights of Thailand though was going wakeboarding. There was pretty much zero waves in Phuket while we were there -- expected as they have a very set surf season, from April to October I believe. At that time, there are some small and decent, fun waves, (I hear), but the ocean goes completely flat the rest of the year. The locals call it "Lake Andaman." So while Lake Andaman doesn' t offer up much in the way of Surf, it does offer up some pretty fun alternatives...like wakeboarding! Which I will have to say is probably more fun (just in regards to pure unadulterated fun content) than surfing is, because you dont have to wait and wait and wait some more for a wave to come, only to mess it up, paddle back out, and then have to wait again -- wakeboarding is nonstop machine powered fun (well until you fall down. But then the boat will circle around, throw you the rope, and you're back to it again). On our final evening in Phuket, Selin treated me to a 30 minute wakeboarding session, which we fanagled with the local beach boys and got set up as the sun was going down, after they had finished with the last of their extra lucrative parasailing excursions (which take a fraction of the time and cost more, and I was not interested in doing). Anyway the wait was well worth it as wakeboarding was AWESOME. It's a sad state what surfing does to you, in that I pretty confidently believe that I won't be able to ever live far away from an ocean for an extended period of time without going crazy, but...if I ever have to test it...get me a boat and a wakeboard and I might make it. There are some similarities, both with surfing and snowboarding, but what was best about it was just how fun it was to go fast and the spray I could send from that wakeboard, I imagined it was a surfboard and I was throwing more spray than Sunny Garcia...well, it probably doesnt look all that impressive on the videos (again courtesy of the reknown water photog Selin Song), but it sure felt pretty sweet. See for yourself. The first video is my very FIRST attempt. Pretty smooth huh huh? At least for 3 seconds. Until I fall down:





In the second video, it took nothing less than a feat of superhuman strength to not let go of that rope... Now I know nothing about wakeboarding, but after doing it once, I'm pretty confident you won't see many wakeboarders taking off by almost getting up, sitting back down, and then getting back up again. Just a hunch. Check out that air though!!!

At the end of the session, I was dead tired, think I pulled a muscle in my leg, and was bleeding. But I couldn't wait to do it again.

Ipod 1. Nic 0

OK Apple. You win! I've fought long and hard but in the end you were just too wily. Too clever. Too sneaky. It's 1 AM, I'm sleepy, and I need to go to bed for a long day of work tomorrow. A long day of work that WILL NOT be accompanied by my immense library of over 4,000 MP3's. Yes, Apple Ipod, you have suceeded in your quest to make over 8 years of music downloading efforts obsolete. (4 years of college network free Napster!!) With your clever and slick ITunes interface and the annoyingly addictive album artwork downloading feature, and your insistence on arranging all my MP3 files in an unrecognizable maze of folders and folder extensions, you've left me no choice...but to take the high road and leave those ill-gotten MP3's behind. Time to progress into adulthood, with a mature Ipod full of respectable, well-arranged, complete albums, full with album cover artwork and all. (Haha Ipod -- you can't kill me off completely though -- remember I'm in ASIA and Thailand is just a quick flight away!) So tonight marks the end of an era, say goodbye to the college playlist of Dr. Dre leading into Color Me Badd segueing into Bon Jovi or whatever other random selection always seemed to pop up in my Winamp playlist -- Koo Koo Cal? I might have to save space on the Ipod for Koo Koo Cal. :)

Well, I'm excited about this step to adulthood, but also a little sad to leave the MP3 downloading era behind. Times have changed, you either adapt or you get left behind, listening to N'Sync.

If you hadn't already figured it out, I am now the proud new owner of a 30 GB black Video Ipod, courtesy of Miss Selin for Xmas/Bday gift! :) Not an easy thing to get in India...Thanks sweetie! And finally, after a long struggle, I got some songs loaded on it tonight, with the prospect of many more to come. It really is kind of cool how ITunes will download the album artwork for you and it displays when you select the songs -- really makes you want to appreciate and start listening to entire albums instead of just jumping randomly from one downloaded single to another. I'm looking forward to expanding my CD library...and when I get home, digitizing the CD library I already have to add to the Ipod! Pretty cool stuff I must say. I think Ralph agrees:

Last but not least, now that I've finally somewhat figured out this ITunes/Ipod thing, I can possibly get back to some more regular blog posts -- I know I still haven't even finished Thailand! But the Ipod has consumed me for the last week. Only now that I've come to peace with the retirement of my MP3 library can I rest at ease.

Goodnight!

Dolla dolla bill y'all!

We interrupt Thailand updates to bring you this important piece of news: I won two out of 3 Fantasy Football leagues this year. Now that's pretty solid work I must say so myself.

This news is a little bit delayed as the fantasy football season has been over for several weeks now, but it is noteworthy. What brings it up to mind now though is that I have yet to receive my windfall for this football domination. I'm going to have to get pro-active about that -- I may be in India but that doesn't mean I don't want my victory money! :)

The two leagues I won each had a $20 entry fee. With 10 teams in each league, that's a pretty solid payday! Time to pay up.

Congrats to Noah Acres who won the only league I didn't win. I only managed to make the semifinals in that one. Man 2 championships and one semifinals appearance out of 3 leagues, that is a pretty dominant season of football. One for the ages. All of this from INDIA no less. Just proves that you either have a knack for finding talent or you don't. I should do this professionally.

For posterity, here are my championship game starting lineups for both leagues:

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League: Is that something... (individual defenders in this one)

Position	Player	Stats	Fantasy Pts
QB	Michael Vick	109 pass, 2 INT, 32 rush	-1
WR	Andre Johnson	48 receiving	3
WR	Larry Fitzgerald	93 receiving, 1 TD	12
RB	Larry Johnson	135 rush, 1 TD	15
RB	Jamal Lewis	77 rush, 1 TD, 21 rec	12
TE	Vernon Davis	91 receiving	6
W/R	Ron Dayne	153 rush, 2 TD	22
K	Jeff Wilkins	1 FG, 4 PAT	7
D	Julius Peppers	2 Tackle, 2 sack	8
D	Jared Allen	2 t, 1 sac, 2 fum rec	14
D	Carlos Rogers	5 tackle	5
DB	Kerry Rhodes	1 tackle	1
DB	Antoine Winfield	8 t, 1 fum rec, 4 p def	15
DL	Robert Mathis	3 tackle	3
DL	Brian Urlacher	2 tackle, 1 pass def	3
			TOTAL 125

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League: Google 06 (team Defense, different scoring system)

Position	Player	Stats	Fantasy Pts
QB	Michael Vick	109 pass, 2 INT, 32 rush	3.56
WR	Andre Johnson	48 receiving	4.8
WR	Roy Williams	79 rec, 1 TD	13.9
RB	Steven Jackson	150 rush, 102 rec, 2 TD	34.2
RB	Brian Westbrook	122 rush	12.8
TE	Kellen Winslow	27 rec	2.7
W/R	Ron Dayne	153 rush, 2 TD	27.6
K	Adam Vinatieri	1 FG, 3 PAT	6
DEF	Pittsburgh	31 Pts allow, 2 INT	5
			TOTAL 110.56

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Here's a big shout out to all my players, (Ron Dayne you da man! Ron Mexico (AKA Vick) I'll forgive you for that clunker because you did give me a solid season...just don't do it again...), and a toast to '06. Get ready for next season boys! What country should I beat you from this time? :)

Thailand Part I: Chiang Mai

It is a shame to allow one scary final evening in Thailand to ruin what was otherwise a truly fantastic trip in an amazing country. To not discuss the REST of our vacation would be a shame...so...here are some details about the REST of our vacation!! I'll start with Chaing Mai, which was our first stop.

I don't really know anything about Chaing Mai (starting with how to spell it: depending on where you look, its either ChAIng Mai or ChIAng Mai), but I did read a little bit about it getting ready to go there, and also to prepare myself for this blog post. For example, I learned that Chaing Mai is Thailand's second largest city (to Bangkok), and has a total population of around 700,000. However, the city center itself has a population of only 150,000, and it really does feel like a very small city. It is a pretty charming and nice place, seems much more rural and less cosmopolitan than Bangkok (probably because it is). It's located among some of the highest mountains in Thailand, and as such was a little chilly (keep in mind tropical standards--we're still wearing shorts) in the night and mornings. It's also located on the Ping River, one of the main tributaries of the Chao Phrya River...and also a great place to go rafting and bamboo boat riding!! It is also probably the best place to go shopping in Thailand, unless you want to buy fancy stuff (then Bangkok is the place). But for tshirts and tourist goods, doesn't get any cheaper than Chaing Mai. They have a very well known night market that goes every day of the week, and an even more well known weekend night market that was located right outside our hotel on Saturday and Sunday nights. All in all Chaing Mai is a great place and I'd love to go back some time.

Getting back to our trip though, we arrived in Bangkok airport from Hyderabad on Dec 22, around 4 PM Thai time I think. We rushed to our connecting flight direct to Chaing Mai, and got to Chaing Mai around 8 or so. From the airport, we took a taxi to our hotel, which was a great boutique style place, in the traditional Lanna style of the area. Lots of character in the hotel, I recommend it: Buri Gallery House. The first thing that struck me though upon stepping out of the airport (well the 2nd: first was the Dairy Queen in the airport! Delicious! No DQ's in India) was the complete and utter lack of chaos. India really is a fascinating place in that regard -- you are never (NEVER!) at a loss for sensory stimulation. People sounds cars animals havok and general mayhem are everywhere in India. After some time, you learn to adapt and adjust to it, and it becomes secondary nature. Which made arriving in Chaing Mai so striking -- we walked out the airport, and there was no bustle of auto rickshaws, no huge groups of people, no "lines" which in India are really just crowds of people with maybe some semblance of organization but really just a mob, it was all so ORGANIZED. Honestly I was disappointed, and distinctly felt the feeling that this is a bit of a let down! Reminded me of being in the USA, where everything is neat and organized. Seriously India is an experience. It's great. Back to the cab though, after a bit of a wait we got a cab (clearly marked, clearly metered, organized, new car, 4 doors, 4 wheels, just like in the USA) and went to the hotel. Here are some pictures of the Buri Gallery hotel:



Note in the 2nd picture: the super sweet suction cup toothbrush holder animals, which we picked up at the night market. Those guys are awesome! The sinks were also pretty cool.


Checking the internet in the hotel lobby. Our rooms actually had computers and internet in them! (thats a first!), but this one is in the lobby. It was a small hotel, actually more of a guest house than a hotel. They were very nice and helpful, and the place had a ton of character!

After checking in to the hotel, we headed to the night market. The night market happens every night, and there are tons of vendors selling all sorts of stuff. Prices are more spendy than India, but still OK, ie with a little bargaining, a tshirt for about $4. There's actually two night markets -- one that goes every night, and then an even bigger one that is only on Saturday and Sunday. Anyway at the market(s) over the time in Chaing Mai I picked up some cool t-shirts (gifts if you're lucky!) and a lot of CD's and DVD's. Thailand is apparently a great place for all of those items (t-shirts, CDs, DVDs) so I had to take advantage.

As for whether or not they are original CD's and DVD's...I will choose not to comment on that. They cost about $2.60 each. You decide. :) Between Chaing Mai, Phuket, and Bangkok, I think I got about 40 CD's Here are some pics from the night market: Yum! Crickets, larvae, and other tasty treats And here's me eating some! Larvae was my favorite. (OK fine, it's really pork. Delicious pork! Food in Thailand was spectacular) Selin hunting down the latest bargain

In between sleeping, eating, and shopping, we did find some time to see some of the sights. Chaing Mai is well known for it's nature-centered activities and the tribes that live within close proximity to the city, so we had to be sure to check that out. We did it the easy way, through a guided tour that we booked at the hotel. We selected an all day tour that started at 7:30 am, and included breakfast, a stop at an orchid farm (as well as a bathroom break), an elephant ride, some fun whitewater rafting down the Ping river (and some fun rapids. Can't compare to our Pacific Northwest rivers, but it was still a good time. And it's always interesting contrasting the way these operations are conducted in foreign countries. For example, our guided raft trip in Washington was preceeded by probably 40 minutes of safety exercises, explanation, discussion, and preparation. Our guided raft trip in Thailand was preceeded by putting the raft into the river and our guide telling us to "Jump In and start paddling!"), a ride on an old school bamboo raft, some hiking, visits to 3 different tribal villages, some more hiking, a waterfall, and finally ending in, more hiking! It was a fun, tiring, and well worth it day. Here are some more pictures:

Selin at a bridge crossing, on our way to the elephant park

Me and my elephant buddy

Here are some folks who joined us on the elephant ride. Sadly I don't have any pics of Selin and me actually on our elephant because, well, we were on the elephant. But, we were right in front of these 2 perched up there in style cruising up the stream. Elephant transportation rules!

After the long trek, we rewarded our elephant with a helathy snack of about 15 bananas. The elephant was hungry, he didn't even wait for us to unpeel the bananas, he just chomped em down peel and all! Ha ha, he woulda eaten all 15 bananas at once if we'd given them to him. And below is video of me feeding (and teasing) the big fella. Notice the ear flap after eating, I think he was saying thank you! (...well, or possibly "how about you just feed me the darn banana next time instead of waving it around like a moron...")

This woman, in traditional tribal wear for her village, must've been about 4 feet tall.

Here she is again, hasn't gotten any taller

the village from afar

Oh Herroh

Some more cute kids in a different village. I think the girl on the right was trying to hold out her hand for a baht (thai currency) or two, while the girl on the left was a little more reserved about it. :) In the end, they each wound up with a few baht coins to take home. Or chew on, which is what they were doing with them last I saw.

Some villagers working in the field. This particular village was a big producer of cabbage.

The waterfall. It's not rainy season, but it was still cool.

Selin emerging from the jungle. Yes she is barefoot. We were both wearing flip flops for this expedition, possibly not the wisest footwear selection but it's all we brought. Trekking through the muddy sections of the trail (which there were some) was easier barefoot than in flip-flops.

Our tour guide and the Thailand flag!

It was a fun filled day, and definitely a worthy tour selection. We had a good time and it was nice, as it was a small group of us, I think only 8 people total (including Selin and I). Sadly also missing are pictures of the rafting and bamboo raft ride...camera had to stay behind for those wet and wild journeys.

After the tour we got home, showered, did a little more shopping, and oh yes I can't forget watched Prison Break Season 2!! One of my DVD purchases was the first 12 episodes of season 2, which was sweeeet as we had a DVD player and TV in our room. :)

After our time in Chaing Mai was up, we next packed up to the airport and headed straight to the beaches of Phuket -- to spend Christmas in the white sand and warm tropical waters! Update on that to come when I find time. See ya!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (about time!)

Know what I realized just now? Maddy got her own birthday post...but nothing for ME? or JOEL? Double the birthday and yet no post! Something must be done about that. ASAP.

HAPPY (Belated) BIRTHDAY JOEL! AND NIC!

27 on the 27th -- GOLDEN!