 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| Rajneesh and Vanessa pose in front of it too. It was really bright direct sunlight we were staring at, hence the squinting. | Wow, some of the best food we ate on the whole trip was at a random, kind of corny-looking restaurant called "Tempations" or something in Agra. I think this masterpiece was called Aloo Jeera, which is potatoes coated in an awesome blend of spices. | This is the famous fort in Agra, which we didn't have time to go visit. |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| Another example of women sitting sidesaddle and people using their vehicles to maximum capacity. | Agra appeared to have an environmental program in place too (vehicle traffic isn't allowed near the Taj), but it's still a woefully-polluted industrial town (see Kanpur) for the most part. Lots of these strange buses there. | Indian roads can be pretty rough! This was in the middle of a town, not on some back road... |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| Cows in the street, Agra. These were big healthy looking ones, look well-fed. | Saw several of these gypsy wagons with horns all over them, they're used for advertising purposes (similar to traveling loudspeaker announcements in Japan for political ads). The ones in India were all gaily decorated of course. | Here's an LML NV being put to the test with four(!) people on one bench seat. Absolutely amazing, and without cowl covers no less. Another rare example of a nice new scooter. |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| This is the same palace as before, Jaigurudeo Temple, at dusk. | A nice-looking new LML Nv Spl. There were so many abused-looking bikes that to see a new one was a treat. | A camel pulling a huge bundle of grain or cotton. I saw one of these where the bundle had a small hole and a cow was helping herself to the grain. |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| Blow Horn! This time with an adorable cat illustration. | Nice cluster of signage, mostly for travel services. Unfortunately the computer and digital output are slowly catching on in wealthier areas, and the quality and creativity of the signs invariably suffer. | Now we're on our way to Kanpur (from Delhi) to visit the LML factory. Misty morning fog over a small canal. |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
| More of those nice grass huts in the middle of fields, seen from the Shatabdi Express. | Nice coloration through the opposite window with a view of a wispy treeline. | Small shrines in the middle of fields. We saw lots of people just walking through fields (or standing around) wherever we went, not to mention public urination... |
 Sun, Jan 23, 2005 |
 Tue, Feb 1, 2005 |
 Mon, Jan 24, 2005 |
| More arid land closer to Kanpur. | Here's Abhi snoring up a storm on the train (he'd only gotten 3 hours of sleep the previous night). Too bad the audio didn't capture well, it was quite funny. | Entrance of the LML factory in Kanpur. I have over 100 photos from our visit here, which I will link to when I have permission to post them online. The tour of a lifetime! |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
| A pretty dirty area in Kanpur (a polluted industrial town) with a 2-wheeler repair shop in the background. | Roadside barber. This one is not as bad as some I saw; this one had a structure whereas some were just a guy sitting on the sidewalk. | Nice shot of "the line" of traffic getting ready to take off as a light turns green. The bicyclists have to be careful they don't get run over by the cars, rickshaws, etc. |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
| Nice art deco building in Kanpur, looks like it says "Central Hotel." | Billboads in Kanpur. I like the one with the colorful mother and child to the right. | Nice type on the sign for Srichand Sons, and a sign for Moustache Jeans, the only brand I'll even consider wearing. |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Sun, Feb 6, 2005 |
| Strange old rooflines among some more modern buildings, Kanpur. | Detail of billboard for Relaxo footwear, a familiar favorite. Kanpur. | Back in Delhi now, staying in the nearby suburb of Noida at Nirula's Hotel (pretty nice place). The menu features "Tee Totalers Choice" and "Knick Knacks" in this shot of the overall identity system. |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
 Tue, Jan 25, 2005 |
| This was the view from our window in the morning. | Do Not Disturb signs at Nirula's hotel. I thought of taking them, but figured a photo would suffice... | Our room at Nirula's. |
 Sun, Feb 6, 2005 |
 Wed, Jan 26, 2005 |
 Wed, Jan 26, 2005 |
| So now we're onto the next leg of our journey, Goa. Goa is a small state in the southwest part of India, a former Portugese colony and kind of a tropical paradise. We went for 3.5 days and really enjoyed the balmy weather. | Here's the view from our hotel room, the first of many shots of palm trees. | One of the creepiest signs I've ever seen (I still can barely look at it), on the road to our hotel (Colonia Santa Maria) in Baga. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| I wanted to try one of the many barbers I'd seen, at least for a shave. I got two shaves while in Goa and they didn't disappoint. This is a poster in a barbershop for Big Boss hairstyles, I'd date it around 92 if I had to guess... I got a great shave here. | This awesome sign was outside our hotel to tempt people into some of the local sights. The next photo is the right half of the same sign. | The right half of the previous photo. Check out the square right in the middle of this one to see a few of Tatsu's relatives native to the Goa area. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| Phil and Abhi turned me on to "fresh lime soda" in India, and it was quite good. It's soda water with fresh lime, sugar and salt. This one had coarsely-granulated sugar and was especially good. | Vanessa and I ate at the Plantain Leaf in Baga/Calangute, a pure vegetarian restaurant. The food was pretty damn good. | Photo of me at the Plantain Leaf, looking purple in contrast to the pastels behind me. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| The food we ate at the Plantain Leaf. Aloo Palak (spinach and potato), a mixed vegetable red curry, Samosas, Naan, and rice. Yum. | Missed a photo of these in Delhi but made up for it here. Saw lots of delivery scooters, especially for pizza. Awesome! | Scooters are widely available for rent in Goa and the most popular with tourists seems to be the Honda Activa, a metal-bodied 100cc automatic CVT model launched a few years ago. I wanted an shifter but they're harder to find in this place, so we took it. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| We found the Activa to be a decent ride, but it has the same lousy turning radius at Vanessa's Metropolitan. Speed and pickup were decent for the engine size but I had a hard time with the horn and signal button placement. It cost about $6 US/day to rent. | Front view of the Activa. It's a pretty nice-looking vehicle, a fair compromise between classic looks and modern features. For more information on this model, click here. | Here's a standard 2-stroke autorickshaw from "eco-crusaders" Bajaj. Interestingly, we also saw household appliances (lamps, heaters, etc.) made by Bajaj with the same logo. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| Our flight/hotels/meals/sightseeing were part of an all-inclusive package from Air Sahara, about $460 US from Delhi for 3 nights. We opted out of some of the sightseeing and meals in favor of trying other things, but we took this 1 hour cruise. | The ship was called Santa Monica and left from Panaji several times a day. They had music and entertainment onboard, but we sat towards the front and away from it all. | Disco is still a popular theme in India, with images like these two dancers still commonly found. One of our favorite contemporary Indian music videos is "It's the Time to Disco," which we also heard on the trip. It's not 70s in feel though, it's generic. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| The cruise left at 6pm and we caught what we could of a sunset despite the cloud conditions making it less than ideal. The weather was in the 70s and gorgeous. Panaji is a nice little town with some good shopping. | Here's the sunset over the Coco Beach area. | Vanessa and I illuminated by the light of the sunset. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| Here are some of the entertainers who did traditional Goan dance with Portugese influence. | Sunset from the Santa Monica. | More of the same sunset. |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
 Thu, Jan 27, 2005 |
| And yet again with the sunset. | Lights on the Santa Monica. | Our package included inner at a fancy-ish place in Panaji called Delhi Dharbar, and it was pretty tasty. They had this grotesquely-proportioned bas-relief artwork in several places. |