Hello Delhi

We're just settling in to bed after a long day exploring the craziness of Dehli, home to almost 17 million people who all seem to own either a motorbike or a pint sized Tata-made car. We toured the city for hours but much of it was spent in logjam traffic, no bother since Mr. Singh our tour guide filled us in on the Readers Digest version of 600 years of Indian history. Absurd to be passed by slow movers like horse drawn carts or men towing Guinness WR-breaking loads of rice sacks or boxes of different sorts

We've had a great first day in India. We're all healthy and happy and the Imperial Hotel has had us staying in high colonial style. The streets of Delhi are a complete berzerker so its nice to retreat to a gated paradise in the midst of it all. Ingrid is popular with the locals and little Tillie is met with looks of curiosity while others look at us with a 'wow, you brought a 1 month old baby to our crazy country' look. Tomorrow we take off for Agra to see the Taj and then onward into the wonders of Rajistan where we'll be staring at the wonders of India only to realize that the locals are staring at us.

Everest

If you squint you can make out Mount Everest in this shot I took from our flight from Hong Kong to Delhi. I had to go heavy on the contrast and the shadowing, but if you enlarge the photo you can see it. Everest is the highest in the frame (duh) and sits just to the left of Lhotse, the worlds 4th tallest mountain. All the way to the right is Makalu, the world's 5th tallest.

Off To India

The travel smorgasborg continues as we look to take advantage of our time in Asia before leaving next month. Next up is India, our biggest challenge yet!

Bathtime

Christmas Dinner Local-Style

We decided against the full blown turkey dinner and decided to do Christmas 'local style' at Cheung Kee, our favorite local eatery. Readers who have visited us in HK have no doubt been there -- think of a big round table, a Peking Duck, Tsingtao beers, lots of individual plates and a roomful of cackling locals. It's located in Wan Chai which is a somewhat unsavory neighborhood, particularly on Christmas Day. It's historically been the red-light district with lots of bars, tattoo parlors and houses of ill repute.....all of which surround the restaurant and add local color. But the food is great and the Tsingtao flows like wine!

The waiters now know us so they've warmed up a bit from their normal stone cold austerity. Ingrid helps as they can't resist goofing around with her and cracking the odd smile. And they also no longer huddle as we eat and stare at Lizzie and I as we eat American-portions portions. It was Christmas but I didn't have the guts to pass out sheet music so they could re-create one of my favorite scenes....

Xmas Morning Surprise!

Ingrid was very excited by this morning's dual surprise of Santa's overnight visit and the arrival of Dan & Donna who made the Christmas Eve journey to visit us in Hong Kong! Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk Ingrid put out for him, and it was clear that his reindeer had nibbled on the carrots she put out.

We had a whirlwind present opening session and are now sitting back and enjoying Christmas day! Merry Christmas to everyone!