Another quick note from Akhil. Ahmedabad is quite different from other parts of India we've seen. Quite a bit more prosporous. We've been visiting with family and friends for the last three days. Visit, eat, sleep, eat, eat some more, visit some more... We've had the wonderful opportunity to get to know my cousin Devan and his wife Gauri, and their two children, Shreeja and Raj. I played a bit of street cricket with Raj yesterday (he's six, but he has a bat). Shannon got a scooter ride with Gauri (which involves avoiding cows and monkey street-gangs) as well. We went to the sari shop today which was fun - Shannon tried on a beaded chiffon number and wowed everyone (they were laughing, I think that means they were wowed). We visited Gandhi's Ashram, where he lived for 12 years and a famous temple just out of town. Some beautifully and extravagantly dressed Rajasthani women (stone bangles from their wrists to their shoulders, bright saris and huge nose rings with a chain to their ear) stopped, stared and pointed at Shannon - of course we were staring at them!

Tonight, we're having dinner with about 20+ friends and family - and we haven't even gone to Jamnagar yet where most of the family is!

That's it for now - wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year!! At some point I'll explain how they celebrate Christmas for a week with Indian Santas everywhere, but that's another story...

Ah, Ahmedabad. Things are more civilized in Gujerat! We arrived at my relative's apartment last night. This is more what I expected India to be like. Still plenty of cows, camels, autorickshaws and so on, but the storefronts seem more modern and clean and generally well put together. And of course, the hospitality of my uncle Indukaka and family is wonderful. In a few days we'll see the Topiwalas here, before we head off to Jamnagar...

Hello from Delhi! Another note from Akhil...We've been trying for two days to get to Varanasi and finally gave up. We were trying to fly from Khajuraho, but planes have been unable to land there due to insufficient visibility. Apparently, they were doing runway work and accidentally damaged the Instrument Landing System, so they have to fly in on visual flight rules. And they're not repairing the ILS because they don't think it's worth it until after the runway work is complete. So no flights without 3600 meters visibility! It's a wonder that this place functions on any level, it really is.

Anyways, we drove 4 hours to Jhansi (no train station in Khajaraho) and got on the train to Delhi, which was true to form, 2 hours late. We got to bed at about 2:30 this morning and hope to fly to Amedabad tonight to visit family.

An email note: Connections here are very slow, and my Disney VPN service is also very slow. So I'm having trouble accessing email at all in India. I'm not ignoring anyone, I just really can't send email. It usually takes an hour to get one or two emails off. So if you'd like to email me (and please do!!), please do so on Shannon's account at shannonpv@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Merry Christmas! A note from Akhil... We are in Kajuraho, and have miraculously found a working internet connection. So quickly, before the connection dies - we saw the Taj Mahal. Amazing! Walking around with Shannon is quite an experience. People stare, yell and generally harass her. I expected the stares, but the young men yelling "hey girl" and children mobbing her asking for "One pen!!" caught me off guard. Walking through Jaipur in the evening was pretty intense. But then again, it's not everyday we see an elephant (with driver) walking through the street. They honk, but the elephant doesn't seem to mind - he just keeps plodding along. We're trying to go to Varanasi tomorrow, but the Indian way is to kindof hope you get to where you want. Flights have been cancelled for the last four days - too much fog, and too few tourists? We're not quite sure. Driving the roads, I've seen my life flash before my eyes. Big Tata trucks heading your way on a one-lane road, bicyclists, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, scooters, women with firewood on their head, cows, cows, more cows, goats, starving dogs and the occasional man defecating, all share the road. And us in our mini tourist van, flying through it all at breakneck speed. I may become religious before I'm gone.

Ok, that's it for now, before the connection dies again!

It's now Sunday the 21st and we're in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, a fairly large city of more than 2 million. It's not every day that you can say you rode an elephant after breakfast - today's highlight, in addition to seeing the city's palace and museum and astronomical complex. We've travelled for a week now, first from Delhi to Kota by train, then to Bijaipur, Udaipur, Deogarh and now here in Jaipur; tomorrow we set off for Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. People can tell you what to expect when you arrive in India -- you can read about it, hear about it, see photos of it -- but there's nothing that can truly prepare you for the wonder of this society. Cows and monkeys really do wander freely in the city streets - as well as on the highways - which our driver Mohan has been navigating beautifully (not an easy job). On Friday night we were entertained by traditional dancers in Deogarh, along with the former king and queen, who have turned their palace into the hotel we stayed at. Earlier in the week we lunched at the Lake Palace in Udaipur, which you can see in the Bond film "Octopussy" - I can't imagine anything more grand. All of this of course amid throngs of people living in what we'd consider very basic and difficult conditions, but the children seem happy, and the women look beautiful, dressed in colorful saris, even those working in the fields or carrying pots of water along the highway on their heads. This will be a Christmas season Akhil and I won't forget. Thinking of you here in India! Happy holidays!

Mina, Dhanvant, Akhil and I are here in this magical country of India - in Udaipur on the fourth day of our tour of Rajasthan. We've seen several palaces and driven hours through villages of people, places and things that are nothing like anything I've seen before. I'd like to elaborate and will do so soon once we get access to a faster Internet connection. For now, congratulations to MariCris and Lindsay on the birth of Connor!

A quick note from Akhil... We made it to Bangkok! The big, bustling Asian metropolis is nuts of course. Hot here, but not as bad as last summer. We walked all over yesterday, around the national gallery and grand palace. Today, we're taking it easy and browsing in air conditioned department stores! My Levi's are pretty much toast, which leaves me just one pair of khakis for two months, so I'm going to try and find something. Funny how wearing one pair of pants every day is a bit hard on them! Once, again, I think I'm a bit over the whole backpacker thing. Yesterday, we went to Khao San Rd. This is the ultimate backpacker hangout. In the 80's, it was just a street, in the early 90's, when I had stayed there, it was friendly and quaint. Now, it's like the Chiang Mai night market. You can barely walk down it and there's a McDonalds (see photo of the Asian "Ronald") and Burger King there too.



Completely out of control. The Lonely Planet effect strikes again. Globalization and the tourist economics have a radical effect on such places. I'm sure someone has done an interesting study on all of this.

Tomorrow, we're off to India to meet up with my folks - we're looking forward to it!

I saw a kangaroo. Really, I did. It was about 15 feet away in the brush on the trail during our "bushwalk" in the Blue Mountains, just two hours outside Sydney. The area, which I'd barely heard of, is stunning - the valleys are filled with this blue haze they say has something to do with the oil emitted into the air by the eucalyptus trees. Beautiful place. We hiked four hours down into the "Grand Canyon" and just made it back out by dusk, fortunately. Our hotel in Blackheath, the Gardiners Inn, was built in 1823, and Charles Darwin stayed there in 1836 during his five-year trip around the world pre- 'Origin of the Species.' The parlor room had a player piano in it and there were boxes and boxes of music scrolls.

We have been completely charmed by Sydney, having explored on Monday Bondi Beach, the miles and miles of shopping, the Blue Mountains area on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a Sydney Symphony performance last night at the Opera House, which can singlehandedly give you an appreciation for architecture if you didn't have one before. Akhil and I have visited it at least four times and can't get tired of sitting on the terrace at the Opera Bar for sunset cocktails! It's been a superb five days and now we have just a few hours before we depart for Bangkok. I heard about the east coast snow storm that occurred last night. And though I love the snow at Christmas, the 80-degree summer weather we're experiencing here now is nothing to complain about. Sorry, friends! We invited you!

Here's the infamous opera house, inside and out:

After ambling around Christchurch for a couple of days we were rested and ready to leave New Zealand for Australia. Akhil managed to fit at least seven more flat whites in before the departure and I dragged him around a fair amount looking for a new pair of pants. (No luck.) We just missed the Christmas parade Saturday afternoon - turning in our rental car with more than 2400 miles added to the odometer. It looked like it needed a good scrub.

New Zealand is a surreal place - you get a real sense of what truly "unspoiled" land is like - it's raw, even crude at times despite all its well-marked tramping tracks and sightseeing flights. On the other hand, you can see the development happening before your eyes and it's clear that this won't last forever. The hyperactive focus on tourism and real estate will take care of that - but it's amazing that there's any place left on earth that can feel like a "new frontiere." Somehow it's very foreign in that way... and stepping off the plane in Sydney was something of a relief. Like we're part of the world again. This is a huge, invigorating city, with a population of 4 million - about the same as the entire country of New Zealand! We spent our first day just hanging around the harborfront area - The Rocks, the Opera House, and took a ferry out of to the suburb of Manly. There's a whole bar scene just underneath the opera house with live music and terrace tables with a view of the Harbor Bridge - even the locals hang out there. One thing would make it so much more fun - having some friends here to travel with! Any takers?

I would have to say if you come all the way to New Zealand and don't absolutely have to see the albatross colony, skip the southeastern part of the South island. It's a little bit depressing. We spent two nights in Dunedin nevertheless, which is a university town and of course, now it's summer! So, no students. Not much else really either - just my opinion of course. We travelled up through Oamaru, which was interesting because of it's limestone buildings, penguin colonies, and its "Janet Frame" trail. Frame is a novelist who spent much of her life there in Oamaru and whose autobiography became famous when Jane Campion made it into the film "An Angel At My Table" (thanks for that information, Annemarie!).

Then up through Timaru which was so much like New London, CT, it was scary... then on to Arthur's Pass National Park for one last brush with nature. We hiked up Avalanche Peak there and spent the night in a very nice cabin - with six other people of course but that's hostel life. Afterwards it was on to Christchurch - where we depart from on Saturday for Sydney! Here is a photo from Avalanche Peak:



I have come to the conclusion that someone in the U.S. government must have conducted a study to determine the precise number of days one of its citizens could be away from work before they are fully relaxed and are not thinking about work anymore - and it has to be two weeks and two days. Because that is exactly how much vacation time they give us. But just this week, about two weeks and four days in, is when Akhil and I have gotten into the travel groove and we're pretty relaxed and enjoying it all. You know, when you can't remember your boss' email address and have forgotten what day it is and don't even know the names of Madonna's children anymore. We're just about there... looking forward to the next leg of the journey!

Hello from Dunedin, one of NZ's oldest big cities. We visited the Albatross colony on the Otago peninsula today - the only mainland breeding colony in the world for these enormous seabirds. We were fortunate enough to see them nesting and even flying. Hopefully you'll also notice we improved the quality of our images.... take a look!

Just a quick add from Akhil: Driving to Dunedin, we stopped off at A.J. Hackett Bungy jumping. Watched a bunch of folks bungy, including a 70-plus-year-old hitchhiker from England. When we left, we saw him hitching, so we gave him a ride and heard stories of his adventures hitching across the U.S., fighting for the British in Cypress and his other NZ hitchhiking journeys. He said the bungy was easy, but expensive, that getting shot at in Cypress was worse. $140 per jump, not including the video, though he got a "pensioner's rate." Dropped him off at the turn off to Waneka, and then motored on in to Dunedin.

We added a few photos but I believe the image quality is not quite right (blame it on the free software we tried at this Internet cafe!) Please let me know, someone, if you get a chance to email! Yesterday Akhil and I found the most beautiful spot in the country, I think - Glenorchy. It's a town just at the edge of Mt. Aspiring National Park about 40 kms north of Queenstown. The lake, the mountains, the thousands of sheep, birds, and cattle... it was so spectacular it's hard to describe. Photos would be very helpful here... we'll try again soon!

We're heading off to Dunedin this afternoon. One more week in New Zealand, sadly... just when we were getting to feel at home!

Queenstown has knocked us both into the New Zealand fan club - it's surrounded by at least 11 separate mountain ranges and has great cafes and restaurants and a beautiful view of Lake Wakatipu. We're here in the area for the fourth day now - after spending our first here in town and then in Arrowtown, an old gold-era town nearby, before taking off to the infamous Milford Sound in Fiordland. We braved youth hostel culture at its (worst?) in Milford Sound to be able to get up at dawn on Saturday to sea kayak in the sound (which is actually a fiord). We had an encounter with a pair of seals and the fiord was virtually empty except for our group of 16 or so - beautiful place! Here's a photo taken the evening before our kayaking trip:



The roads to get in and out through the mountains though can be a bit harrowing. Over the last few days we've also been hunting for Lord of the Rings shooting locations and took a detour near Te Anau to see the location of the "Fanghorn Forest" this morning. We missed Thanksgiving of course - which is unfortunate! But we're eating well... no worries. Turns out adding beets and cabbage is a common way of dressing up a sandwich. We have a photo of Akhil in the Fanhorn Forest location - here he is - looking much like a hobbit:

A post from Akhil... I'm reading a sign by this computer. It says: "Online discounts for: Bungy, parasailing, skydiving, rafting, 4 wheel driving, jetboating, guided walks". I could add "hiking, biking, camping, tramping, rocket bungy, fly-by-wire, spelunking, kayaking, and beaming yourself to other planets." Ok, so there's lots to do, though I just enjoy the hikes and scenery.

Last night we ate at the Pig and Whistle and I had the greatest burger. The secret seems to be sliced cabbage and beets. Or beetroot as they call it. I wouldn't have thought this would have tasted so good. And then of course bacon - that doesn't hurt. The bacon here tastes a bit more like ham than our bacon does. On this burger, very good. I could talk about food more (maybe the advantages of the New Zealand "flat white" later. For now here's a pic of one from a cafe in Plimmerton. Mmmmm!!!)



Today, after having the stones removed from the brakes of our rental car, (more perhaps on how they pave roads here later, but suffice to say, a great many little stones are involved) we visited some of the film shoot locations for the Lord of the Rings movies. These movies are great, but folks here are unbelievably excited about them. It's a whole new industry here unto itself. Air New Zealand is painting their planes with murals of Liv Tyler, etc. On a hill near Queenstown is a place called Deer Park Heights, where many scences were filmed. (Aragorn fighting wargs, the women and children of Rohan fleeing their kingdom). It was windy something fierce up there - maybe 50 mph? Not exaggerating - hard to stand. Certainly hard to take photos. Or to keep Shannon from flying away. It was obvious that the scenes were filmed there. Strangely, there were also many animals there. Deer, red deer, pig/warthog things in serious need of dental work, highland cattle, goats, himalayan thars (whatever the heck those are), donkeys, ponies and sheep. Of course sheep. There are sheep everywhere (have I mentioned that?) And they were semi-tame and expecting to be fed. Normally, the sheep are, well, sheepish and run away, even from Shannon who seems friendly enough. (Don't ask how we know this). But these sheep ran towards us expecting to be fed. Finally, there's a fake (Korean?) prison built on the top of the hill. It was built for a Disney movie (Rescue) in the '80's. For some reason, they never took it down. So there it sits, a fake prison on the hill. Anyways, a very other-worldly location.

Hi - it's Thursday here but only Wednesday in the U.S. so I suppose we won't say Happy Thanksgiving until tomorrow. No turkey here though. But lots of sheep. As mentioned earlier. (Here's one):



We travelled south from Nelson - the town with the jeweler who made "the ring" as in the LOTR ring - to the glaciers, passing by the rocky coastline that resembled Big Sur through Westport and Greymouth to Hokitika, where we stayed the night. Not much going on there, I have to say, except jade carving. The next major stop was Franz Josef glacier. I don't think I knew what a glacier really was, and had no idea what one would look like. We decided to forego the pricey heli-hiking options and took a five-hour jaunt up to Roberts Point, a viewing point for the Franz Josef. It was a steep, slippery, mossy climb through a rain-foresty area that looked like Yoda's planet. At the end though, there was the glacier - this massive, sort of garish river of ice tumbling off the mountain - very bizarre! We also encountered a kea up there, one of NZ's parrot-like birds, who hung around shrieking at us waiting for some food. I shouldn't mention that I slipped into a muddy puddle on the way back down and partially submerged myself, but I will. Well, it was slippery with all those mossy rocks!

We then proceeded to Fox and stayed overnight - dined in a very oddly metropolitan-style place called the Plateau, then the next day walked around Lake Matheson to view Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman, and then took a short walk to the edge of the Fox glacier - which was smaller-looking than Franz Josef, but you could really see the ice up close.

Now we are here in Queenstown after a VERY LONG drive yesterday through the Haast region. Queenstown, a resort town and jumping off point for the Southern part of the South Island, resembles Bergen (Norway) quite a bit and is a bustling place full of tourists. Dinner at the Pig and Whistle was just like being in a pub in Boston. Our rental car had some "issues" that we just got fixed so tomorrow we're off to Milford Sound.

This is Akhil, giving the basic travel log from an internet cafe in Nelson. From Turangi down to Wellington... Basically very green and covered in sheep, but quite beautiful. Wellington is quite nice, and looks a lot like San Francisco (I know they say this, but it's true!) Stayed in a nice place just north of town in Plimmerton on the water - we could hear the waves crashing onshore from our room. The next day took the ferry across to Picton and stayed the night. Hiked the last leg of the Queen Charlotte track as a day hike on a beautiful sunny day. Then off to Nelson in the car. Windy road along the coastline - more cows, more sheep! Today, we're off to the West Coast to find, amongst other things, seals! Now Shannon will elaborate...

The Queen Charlotte track (they call trails "Tracks" here) was in the Marlborough Sounds - a very picturesque area just off the ferry at Picton. They'll take you by boat to the portion of the track you want to walk - so you get a nice cruise in the sounds that way in addition to your hike. And believe it or not - we ran into some friends from Boston in Picton! Very very small world (and even smaller country).

Here we are in Hokitika on the South Island's west coast, after a tiring day on the road:

It's true what they say: there sure are a lot of sheep.

We hiked the Tongariro Crossing yesterday and wow, it was steep! I am happy to say I survived - even though there were plenty of people over the age of 50 doing this 11-mile trek too, breezing by me the entire way, even on the ascent portion (!). It was a little bit like a roadrace, with more than 100 others on the trail at the same time, but we enjoyed the views. Last night we stayed in Turangi and this morning we drove down to the Kapiti Coast where we are now, by a beach at a bookstore with Internet access. Tomorrow will be dedicated to visiting Wellington. And the day will finish with our crossing by ferry to the South Island, which we hear is the REAL attraction. Here's me on the Tongariro track:

Yes, we're here - and it's already Wednesday evening! The flight was tolerable - and we even got some sleep. Akhil's cousin Yatin picked us up from the Auckland airport to take us to his home northwest of the city in Rodney, where we met his wife Shan, sons Alexander, Kit and Arthur, and many pets including dog Scotty, calf Humprey, pony Moondust, rabbits, sheep, tadpoles and a cat.

The visit with the Youngs was great and they were kind enough to make us an excellent dinner Monday night where we were joined by Shan's brother Alex and his wife Judy, who gave us travel advice for some of the New Zealand highlights we had in mind. Over the last three days (to keep this brief), we visited Murawai beach and the amazing gannett colony there, (see photo!) Waiheke Island in the harbor outside Auckland, the Ponsonby district of the city itself, then today Rotorua, a drive past Lake Taupo, and here we are in Turangi, where we will stay the night before setting off on a 7-hour hike, the Tongariro Crossing. We just consumed two very large parcels of "fush and chups."

It's 2 p.m. and we're leaving for LAX in just a couple of hours. Hope I/we caught you for a quick catching up before we go - it's been great to talk to friends and family this past week when we actually had some time to relax a little. My pack weighs about as much as a small elephant so I have to go and cull things from it now... but next time we post we'll be in another time zone!

Wow - another ten-mile walk, this time from Glendale to Los Feliz and back. Not very picturesque, I have to say. Thankfully, New Zealand promises to be much more appealing. Here, resting his weary legs, Akhil does Lonely Planet research.

And now for something completely different: Lucky (Akhil and team's robotic dinosaur character) makes Time magazine...

This is Shannon amongst our packing pile. When she married me, I promised matching Coach luggage and Ritz-Carltons. What, this is it? A Dana pack and an REI tent...



Ah, the trip preparations continue, though I think we're just about done. Medicines, shoes, documents, visas, clothes... Now we're just looking at guidebooks, trying to learn a bit about New Zealand before we go. We walked 12 miles yesterday to break in Akhil's overkill boots and Shannon's reasonable hiking shoes.



Oh, I have to go, Shannon is reading a guidebook and has suddenly become excited about kangaroos.

Today is --- Akhil's last day at Disney! At least for three months. After nearly six years there, this is a significant event. He plans to return to work as soon as we set foot back in Los Angeles in February. And tomorrow is Todd's 30th birthday. And if he's old, that means I'm REALLY old. Oy.

On Friday I (Shannon) joined the ranks of the unemployed -- voluntarily. Am I crazy?! What? In fact it was a necessary step en route to a 3-month journey that should help Akhil and me get some perspective so we can plan our next major life move. Though it was sad to drive that one last time off the Fox lot, I think I'll be alright. Now we've got the tickets, the traveler's checks, the shots, (most of) the gear and the drugs. I wish there was a shot for shopping fatigue.

Meanwhile, we're fattening up this week: Akhil took me to Cafe Bizou in Pasadena to celebrate my last day of work and tonight we're headed to Akbar for Indian food with Susan and Peter. Tomorrow it's drinks and pizza with Leslie and Thursday Sushi Sasabune.

Well it's Friday and that's always a good thing. Except maybe for today. Because tomorrow (tonight?) we have to wake up at 3:30 and leave for LAX to catch a 6 AM flight to Dallas. It's my first-ever trip to Texas so I have some large expectations. The wedding we're going to is at a schmancy place called the Mansion at Turtle Creek, and Heather and Will will be there and so it should be fun. As long as we manage to set the alarm correctly...

BTW, of course everyone knows by now that the Red Sox lost. So Heather said there is a "dark cloud hanging over the city." Makes us both wonder if there's something to "the curse"... and we're not really even baseball fans. Not really. Plans for Dallas include the JFK assassination-themed "Sixth Floor Museum," brunch at the Kimbells' house, and the Texas State Fair.

IT'S OFFICIAL! Today we made the BIG PURCHASE - our RTW airline tickets. So the itinerary -- and the dates -- are set. No turning back now. Nov. 15 we kick off to Auckland-Christchurch-Sydney-Bangkok-Delhi-Bombay-Nairobi-London-Boston-home again. I thought it would've been fun to drive back to L.A. from Boston but I got nixed on that idea.

Meanwhile, the big game starts in 15 mins. - Sox vs. Yankees game seven. The bar was exceedingly loud that my brother was at when I called him in Boston a half-hour ago.

Today was not very productive. We looked at a couple of digital cameras and visited with some friends and then it was 6:30 p.m. I think it might be too early to pack.

So we're planning our big trip now. The itinerary is almost set. My (Akhil's) folks are planning on meeting us in India. I got Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B and Yellow Fever shots two days ago. I have to go back for Meningitis and Flu...

"The trip" is our honeymoon/soul searching/quality time/escape from the rat race/education by travel/living-life-to-the-fullest expedition. We're very excited about it deep down inside despite all the surface stress and anxiety we seem to be experiencing in preparation. It's fascinating to see how difficult it is to break free from daily habit. Sign of age, maybe?

Here is a family portrait from our wedding in Malibu, Sunday, June 29, at the Adamson House. From left is Shannon's brother Todd, father Alan, mother Nancy, Shannon, me, my mother Mina, father Dhanvant, sister-in-law Suzanne and brother Hiten.

All right. Shannon's nosy husband is editing the blog as a test now.