Friday, March 20th, Santa Rosa, USA

Greetings!

A very long day. It's Friday just before 10pm, and we started this day in Mumbai, India. Flying from there to San Francisco just ahead of the world closing down consumed 20 hours of flying time, and 12 hours of time zones. Getting through customs, health screenings, and bus to home took four more hours (one bag is still in Singapore), and the last ten hours have been at home surrounded by the food and re-connecting virtual support from our friends. Two hours left. We're ready for this shelter in place and time.

Wednesday, Mar 18th, Mumbai, India

Greetings!

Today, we flew to Mumbai, Maharashtra from Baga, Goa.   The flight was only 90 minutes, but getting to and from the airports consumed the day.  We were impressed by the many large billboards in Mumbai on the way from the airport to the hotel which promoted Coronavirus protection techniques.  Our driver (Roy) said they had been up about ten days, and it's certainly a serious public health messaging.

So while we're talking about the virus, we have some news.  It has closed down virtually all of the places we have left to see on our tour, and is threatening to close the airports.  So we've decided to cut the trip short by nine days and go home.  There is one flight tomorrow night near midnight that will take us back through Singapore and on the San Francisco on Friday morning.  Assuming not too long a delay getting through the U.S. Customs and Immigration system, we should be home by 1pm.

I do want to throw one more photograph in for my friends at Coastwalk.  Mumbai is built on a series of islands that were connected via infill.  In order to protect access to the coast, the city is building a coastal road to insure a pedestrian trail.  It's just begun, but the locals are excited.

This evening, we went out to walk the neighborhood around the hotel.  We'll do it again tomorrow while we wait for the flight. There were quite a few locals sitting out on the waterfront near the Gates of India.  I suspect they, like us, may be enjoying what may be the last of the tourist days for a while.

To see the photos we took today, click on: Wednesday, Mar 18th, Mumbai, India.

Tuesday, Mar 17th, Baga, India

Greetings!

The uncertainty beyond hotel occupation continues.  In question are daily visits to docks, and city walks.  Also, homestays with cooking demonstrations, flying kites, and NGOs.  Probably not possible are museums, jungle safari's with elephants, Taj Mahal, national parks, Parliament, forts, tombs, and temples.  Today has been fixing the MacAir (a security code needed to be deleted by a teenage consultant brought to the hotel), and a Netflix movie (Ann of Green Gables).  Meals are iffy and somewhat boring unless we choose a local restaurant.  Tomorrow, we fly to Mumbai (Bombay) in the afternoon, and hang out at the hotel.  Two days later, fly to Jaipur.  Then drive to Ranthambore National Park for two days.  Then, we might have a change in design as the Taj Mahal is now closed.  Finally, drive to Delhi for two days until flight home on Friday, March 27th.

Indebo Tours is trying their best to adapt our itinerary to both our interests and conditions.  This doesn't seem the most opportune time for tourism unless it's to have experiences alone or where there aren't many others.  Driving is an easy answer, just getting out of the car at public places that may be hard. 

We're prepared for much lower expectations for the next ten days.  It appears all of you are going through the same thing at home.  See you soon.

Monday, Mar 16th, Baga, India

Greetings!

(From Pat, she wrote this to some friends while I have been struggling to get my Mac Air to work.  No new photos until I find a way to fix it, or get my cell phone to do the work the MacAir has been doing)

We are in Goa for 4 days of beachside relaxation.  The last bit has been full of 5th to 15th century temples, lots of climbing to see them, so we are happy to be lazy for a while.  The corona virus response is starting to catch up with us.  We left our last hotel in Badami to learn it was closing the next day as was our previous hotel in Hampi. We are filling out forms to enter all the national sites and some are taking our temps.  

The fact that we have been in India for more than the incubation period has helped I think, but other Indian tourists are starting to cover their noses and mouths as they come near us. Weird. 

We just bid farewell to our driver for the last 24 days (Bijou, a Christian from Cochin/Kochi.  He was a great companion. Driving in India is a whole other skill. It calls for copious use of a horn every time when one passes a car, truck or motorbike which is continual. They pass everything they come across. Also speed bumps (three to 11 in a row) are very frequent but we are totally blasé about it by now.

I hope you peek at the blog to get an idea of the beauty of this country. We have been well this digestively. Greg's infected foot cut is just about healed thanks to four RXs he was given. I hope you are managing this virus response. Do send a note, we miss you. Namaste.

Pat

Update - Somehow this didn't get sent yesterday. We learned today that we will be restricted to our room in Bombay Mumbai for 2 days on the day we arrive the day after tomorrow, then fly on to Jaipur which is as of now not restricted but I think it could catch up with us and we may be housebound for the rest of our trip (Bombay, Jaipur, Agra and Delhi) well I've stocked up on eBooks.

To see all the photos taken today, click on: Monday, Mar 16th, Baga, India.

Sunday, Mar 15th, Baga, India

Greetings!

As Shakespeare wrote, "Beware the Ides of March".  India is many hours ahead of America in time.  But there is a feeling here of foreboding, that doesn't respect time or space.  I hate to think that our hanging out this morning in our empty hotel has nothing to do with this international social distancing, but we’ll see what America’s Saturday has done to our Sunday.

Saturday, Mar 14th, Baga, India

Greetings!

Today, Bijou drove us from Badami to Baga (6.5 hours), over a serious mountain road.  Our fingers are recovering from gripping tightly while he refused to let narrow winding roads, oncoming traffic, or large busses and trucks get in our way.  He's a consummate driver, and we love him, and you'd be honored to have him ensuring your safety and pleasure.

For the next three and a half days, we'll be here.  There aren't many of us here, and I hope it's just the corona virus.  The staff tells us they've been sold to a chain to try to increase the number of guests.  We waited for forty minutes for sandwiches, and twenty for ice tea and lime juice.  But it was a late lunch, and the only other guests were a couple in the pool.

No photos today, but we're taking a tuk-tuk to the beach tomorrow.  Maybe a sunset photo.

Friday, Mar 13th, Badami, India

Greetings!

Today, we completed the triple crown of temple complexes in the Badami area (Aihole, Badami, and Pattadakal).  Together, they span at least five centuries (4th to 8th centuries AD), and contain examples of southern (Dravida) and northern (Nagara) temple architectural styles.  They contain mostly Hindu temples dedicated to Vishna and Shiva, a Buddhist and several Jain at Aihole, and an early Jain temple at Badami which produced 500-years earlier the model for the 57-foot tall statue at Shravanabelagola.

Our guide (Basavaraj) described what we were viewing at Aihole and Pattadakal as "experimental", in that many of the architectural designs underwent slight changes over time.  Southern temples were stacked, flat-roof structures which gained height and size.  Northern temples tended to be conical-shaped, and gained internal detail in painting and carving.

These two sites contain what he called "addition" designs, in that they were built by adding layers and sculptures of rock.  Badami, on the otherhand, features core "subtraction" temples - carved out of solid rock - surrounded by later "addition" southern temples.

While we know the temples were built to celebrate coronations and military victories, and that they generally were sequenced during the 4th and 5th, 5th and 6th, and 7th and 8th centuries when dynastic kings and queens were becoming architectural story-tellers for Hindu mythology, we don't have much information about how long they took, and what it took to accomplish them.  We do know they used local materials (sandstone and granite), and in one case took 12 years to construct.

It's important to understand that these temples highlight an important world history lesson.  Most westerners view the period they were built through a European timeframe.  In the same period, the Vikings invaded Great Britain's coast, the Moors swept north into Spain, the Visigoths and Gauls  took Italy and eastern France.  We call this period the Dark ages when Europe lost a quarter of its population, and it took five hundred years to recover.  In the meantime, the lands from the Taurus Mountains to the Indus Valley and to Southern India continued to flower.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on: Friday, Mar 13th, Badami, India.