July 26 With nostalgia and relief, we boarded our Ethiopian Air flight to Beijing. We’d learned much, slowly and belatedly, met with much resistance and fearful self-protection but Dandiwad (thank you) India, we had a wonderful time. The traffic and chaos, Bollywood MTV, tabla and sitar music and the melodic rolling sound of Hindi were left behind with the heat and the dust. Of course, our exit wasn’t exactly as smooth as it might have been. Although there were only 13 people on the flight, the check-in hosts wanted to force us to check one of our bags each. Mom was not about to let that happen with-out a fight and after whipping off her hair the host realized that one of our bags was “actually just a laptop” so we were able to proceed. ... read more

July 19 Shimla is shrouded in mist. It floats even into your room like breath on a cold day which makes it really fun during the corkscrew turns throughout the Himalayas. We had contemplated wearing the “scream” masks as a group on the Toy Train yesterday, but thought it would have been much more apt to reflect our mood at dinner last night which set a new record waiting for 3 hours to be served. There was a lovely bon fire at the rooftop restaurant. In case you’re wondering what would be the most important things to pack if the airlines only allow you to pack 8 kilos, and you are traveling from the Thai beaches to the snow capped mountains of Everest, for mom that included: (T.M.I., I know) 6 books, and 4.5 pounds ... read more

July 12th The Taj is supposedly a symbol of eternal love but is rather a reflection of “the emperor’s meglomania, and unrivalled vanity than his legendary romantic disposition” - India Rough Guide. The Mughla emperor Shah Jahan had it built as a tomb for his wife after the birth of their fourteenth child. It cost 41 million rupees, 20 thousand men, and 20 years to build. It has 500 kilos of gold. The Shah was disposed by his son and in turn at the fort (our next stop) where he died gazing wistfully at the Taj Majal (Majal means “chosen one” and was the name of his wife). It is known for its symmetry and elegance and even on Mom’s third visit she wasn’t impressed. We were aroused from our slumbers - which happened every ... read more

This blog post is more than just a test to see how to upload pictures, where our blogs will be posted, and how to format our words, this blog post will to start with our emails to my dad from last summer when we traveled for a month in Vietnam and Cambodia: Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 10:04am 24 hours of screaming babies later and having soaked our clothes through with sweat my mom and i can safely say that we have begun to settle ourselves in Vietnam!! Well in Ha Noi at least. Though we can not say we are struck by the beauty, we are enchanted by the Asian exoticness there is to see. We arrived without trouble around ten to our hotel to stumble upon a introductory briefing by our tour guide Krista ... read more