India, Part 1

Outdoor clothes washing in Mumbai is a major enterprise
Clothes washing may be hard work but makes colorful pictures
The Taj Hotel in Mumbai, our humble abode there
JPK and the caretaker at the Sephardic (Sassoon) temple in MumbaiThe small balcony at Gandhi's home in Mumbai, with laburnum in flower
Gandhi's living quarters in his home in Mumbai
Jain temple in Mumbai

Joyce waiting for our rickshaw driver to dust off our seat before riding to the Ganges for the evening ritual
One of many Hindu priests at the evening ritual at the Ganges
Sunrise on the Ganges
Worshipper offering Ganges water to the sun as it rises
Washing clothes in the Ganges at sunrise

Swimming in the Ganges is popular day and night
Cows like the Ganges too (unknown fluid flowing into the Ganges from the pipe)
Cremation at the Ganges (only untouchables are permitted to handle the ashes)
On the way to the Ganges in our rickshaw with the crowd
Murals decorating the buildings facing the Ganges

Pumping water from a well in the street in Old Delhi
Overhead bundles of wires are a common sight in Old Delhi and Varanasi
Joyce with a family who wanted us to be photographed with them at the Gandhi memorial in Delhi

India, Part 1

This post is out of chronological order because it seemed like a good idea to let you know where we are today (my birthday) - - Delhi; we will catch up on Hong Kong and Bangkok on the next posts.

We arrived in Mumbai/Bombay on Wednesday, April 23, and then on to Varanasi/Banaras on Friday, April 25, and Delhi on Saturday, April 26.

We were in the "palace" or old section of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, with an elegant room about the size of an efficiency in NYC. Our guide Polly Dumasia was a Parsee/Zoroastrian who unconventionally married for love: 99% of Indian marriages are arranged so Polly could fairly be characterized as a rebel. He took us to a Parsee temple (no photos allowed), which is located in a Parsee neighborhood, as evidenced by the Zoroastrian eagle decal on the windows of the automobiles parked around the temple. He also took us to a Jain temple, which was extraordinarily colorful and we had the good fortune to be there during ritual music. To complete the religion cycle we visited a Catholic church and a Sephardic temple, in which the name Sir Jacob Sassoon attracted my attention because the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon is so moving (Siegfried was descended from a Sephardic Jewish family, and may have been related in some way to Sir Jacob Sassoon).

The highlight of our tour of Mumbai was a visit to the home of Mahatma Gandhi, which is now preserved as a museum full of photographs and memorabilia and personal belongings. The house is in a beautiful residential neighborhood, and it was quite moving to stand on the same balcony where Gandhi addressed his followers in the embrace of the laburnum trees which are now in full flower.

Varanasi must be experienced to savor its energy and sights, aromas and sounds. In order to get to the Ganges for the evening ritual, we took a rickshaw pedaled by a strong driver and on the way we had a closeup view of life on the streets of Varanasi: the traffic is dense, horns honking, incense burning, men plucking chickens with their feet, cows, dogs and goats lying on the street (the temperature was around 100 degrees F.), and of course the beggars, some missing limbs or otherwise deformed, and a multitude of begging children with the sweetest faces. We went out on a boat to witness cremations, a subject worthy of a separate post, and then the evening rituals of music, light, candles and chanting by both the monks and the audience. We came back the following morning (4:30 a.m. wakeup call) to witness the sun rise over the Ganges and the washing of clothes and bathing, as well as a large yoga class. We returned to our waiting rickshaw through the old city along the banks of the Ganges, where we witnessed a standard of living that would be unthinkable in the U.S. The photos taken there cannot convey the sensory overload.

Today, Sunday the 27th, was spent primarily in Old Delhi, with its narrow streets, simple living conditions (e.g. pumping water from a well in the street), and open air markets everywhere. We spotted two monkeys on a rooftop but they were gone before they could be photographed, and only an occasional bull. The temperature reached 105 and by the end of the day we were very glad to return to our air conditioned hotel for a swim (JMU) and then off to Bukhara for an Indian dinner, which is as good as it is reputed to be.

Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

The bat who spent a day sleeping on our veranda
The sleeping bat has a benign face

The rear claws of the varanus are impressive
A small clam in a tank at the research station
A giant clam viewed through the bottom of the glass bottom boat
The dorsal (?) side of a crown of thorns at the research stationThe ventral (?) side of the crown of thorns, showing its feeding organ which it places directly on a coral to feed on it

Joyce relaxing after a dinghy expedition
JPK enjoying a latte
Lizard Island from the air
The common varanus lizard, this one about 2 meters
A gorgeous head and neck shot

Hong Kong was sideswiped by Typhoon Neoguri today, Saturday, April 19, and as a result there was time to catch up on our blog.

Lizard Island has but one resort, managed by the same folks that manage Longitude 131 in the Outback. It is very deluxe, with all meals and drinks included, and with a variety of equipment available for either snorkeling or diving. We took a boat ("dinghy") out twice, first to explore the beach and second to snorkel. Joyce decided against snorkeling so I went out on my own. The reef is only a few feet beneath the surface of the water, which is crystal clear so that the fish and the coral, both soft and hard, are plainly visible.

On land, there are many lizards (believed to be varanus gouldii), which was not at all to Joyce's liking. We also had the good/bad fortune to see a snake on the way to dinner one evening, about six feet long, mostly brown with a yellow band on its side. We were especially favored by a small fruit bat who decided to spend the day on our little veranda.

One of the best experiences on Lizard Island was a lecture by one of the marine biologists at the research station on the other side of the island. There are a number of ongoing projects, and among other things we saw a clam in one of the tanks, and a crown of thorns -- quite a deadly looking animal. On a trip to the reef in a glass bottom boat later that day, we passed over several giant clams which measured about one meter in diameter.

The sun was very intense, and after three days, we were ready to return to the mainland (Cairns). We had expected Cairns to be a sleepy beach town, and found instead that it is a growing and beautiful city, with a fine promenade around the harbor, an enormous public pool complete with sandy beach, a botanic garden and many excellent restaurants facing the inner harbor. A great jumping off point for a visit to the Great Barrier Reef, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong etc.

Papua New Guinea, Part 4

New Guinea eagle

Female cuscus
Female cuscus showing her pouch
A truly gorgeous spider
The friendliest hornbill on earth
BenBen loved Joyce
BenBen knows that he is gorgeous
And BenBen liked to talk to me
Joyce and BenBen became fast friends

Vincent the orchid grower and his two sons
Vincent with his pet parrot
And another view of the parrot
The parrot loved to roost on Vincent's head

Papua New Guinea, Part 4

We did not observe as many animals in the wild as we (or I) had hoped but there were some interesting sightings, mostly of birds in captivity (the chief's son had both birds of paradise and a carrowary for his future bride). We were taken to the home of Vincent, a Melpa villager who has a garden of about 250 different orchids, a tame and affectionate hornbill named BenBen, a female white Cuscus (a New Guinea marsupial resembling the opossum), a New Guinea eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae?) and a yellow-billed mountain lory (Neopsittacus musschenbroekii?). We also had the pleasure of viewing a rather large spider who could not be identified by name (volunteers?).