I was fortunate enough to visit the homes of several artisans, from carpet weavers, to shawl makers, carvers, furniture makers and weavers. The age of the men in these professions range from the late sixties to the eighties....check them out. I hope they don't ever lose this art form. Enjoy. [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday Sept18 Back from Paradise and now hanging out at the Sheraton in Hyderabad. Can't say that I miss the squatties and the lukewarm bucket baths.... Here are pics as promised....I'll add more text later. [View Full Entry]

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Look at these beautiful faces........... [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's past midnight and I do have to get my act together for work in the morning, so...finally... a nice, long, HOT shower and I'll be sleeping on a bed. Western style toilet! Yes! I've been invited back next year, so if you can handle all of this....come join me in paradise. Trip's not over yet.....stay tuned! Miss you guys and most of all, my Sydney! [View Full Entry]

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It's Monday the 10th and I'm having a fabulous time here. I finally exchanged money at 40 to the dollar...what's up with that? I'm extending my stay here for a few more days sine they LOVE me...and Tariq is sitting behind me watching me type! Now, here's a good looking guy for you single girls out there! Wait till u see his photo! You'll just die! And he's nice to boot! He can count money really fast...so he's good with his hands! Today, I have 3 bodyguards with me, they also pretend to be tour guides! That's it for now, I [View Full Entry]

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Hope you're not too bored with all this, I have a feeling that trying to load pics right now may NOT be a good idea. Sunday...another outing/ picnic...this time to Varinag...natural springs...fabulous garden...just a really nice and tranquil place. A little bit of drama that I can't possibly post here, I'll detail that elsewhere! Other than that, had a faboo lunch of rogan gosht and rice ( of course). Marta - it kicked ass! We'll both lose! Just a nice easy afternoon at the park with the family. On the way back, we stopped off to see some more relatives...they live [View Full Entry]

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Day 6 and I'm alive, no worries everyone! OK, so the internet really sucks here; I can't access work or comcast accounts for some reason and connection is super slow. Besides that, I am having the time of my life. Unfortunately, y'all will have to wait until I get back to Delhi to download the photos onto this blog. Hope you can read thru this 6 day journal, I'll try to make it short..and in bullets so it'll be easy to read. 1. Made it to Srinigar on wednesday OK, super tight security..lots of scarey looking military guys with big guns! [View Full Entry]

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So now it's Saturday...BIG outing for the gang...this time to Pahalgam; 2 cars, picnic lunch...it's great! 1. On the way to Pahalgam - croccus planting season right now...that's where you get that precious saffron! 2. Won't bore you with the trip, except that when we finally arrived, it blew me away. It's like Yosemite, Tahoe all rolled into one except at a much grander scale. 3. These people are serious when it comes to picnicing...rice and yummy chicken dishes. Did I mention how much rice we eat...at each meal? In chinese, we call that a fan-tung...a rice bucket! 4. So a [View Full Entry]

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OK, just to let you know that I finally made it to Delhi...nothing much to report except that it's hideously hot and humid. Flight out of Seoul was delayed, plus strong headwinds got me here an hour late, so it's 2:15 am and I'm finally in my hotel. Trying to catch a couple of hours of sleep before heading back to the airport for my flight to Srinagar where my real adventure begins. Not sure if my luxury houseboat will have wi-fi...so it may be a few days before you hear from me again. See ya [View Full Entry]

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