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Staci Adman
Staci Adman

Staci Adman

traveled in 6 countries Read more
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  • The Great India Adventure
    22Stones from destroyed templesThe locking system that has allowed the tower to survive earthquakesPetrified wood!3Column with stones from 3 different temples1A second tower was started with the goal of making it 2x taller, but it was never completed

    Qutub Minar - Minaret and Victory Tower

    April 28, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 91 °F

    Another UNESCO World Heritage site! The tower was built between 1199 and 1220. It is 238 feet tall and the tallest stone tower in India. It’s made of red sandstone and marble. A large mosque was built near it from stone blocks taken from existing temples in the area that were destroyed by Islamic invaders. The large mosque didn’t survive the test of time, but remaining parts were carved in a beautiful blend of Islamic and Hindu symbology.Read more

  • The Great India Adventure

    Lotus Temple

    April 28, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    This is a Baha’i house of worship and only opened in 1986. It was built with 9-part symmetry and is surrounded by beautifully maintained grounds. A lovely walk and then quiet place to sit. The benches in the temple were wooden with white marble seats which were surprisingly comfy. No photos allowed inside.Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Inner side of entry gate to the grounds.Gardener's tombThe gates are so gorgeous!These are old ficus trees!!1These represent 3 religions in one column - Islam, Buddhism and HinduGorgeous dome (that the British removed the precious stones from...)Ceremonial tombs of sonsThe slash at the head indicates that the man was buried without his head2Barber's tombTurkish-style decoration in this dome

    Humayun’s Tomb

    April 28, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    Our third UNESCO World Heritage Site on this trip, and once again we learned that having an excellent guide makes all the difference. I don’t think I can explain all that we learned on our tour here. In a nutshell, this Tomb was build in the time of the Mughal empire, and it’s central design was copied later for the Taj Mahal. I’ll make notes on some of the photos to share some of the details that we learned. Including the fact that the gardener and barber were given tombs in the compound because they had to be treated well - they were the two people most likely to be able to kill the king!Read more

  • The Great India Adventure

    Raj Ghat

    April 27, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 97 °F

    This is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi and marks the place where he was cremated. Nearby are other memorials, including one dedicated to Indira Gandhi. It’s located in a lovely large, peaceful park/garden.

    Unfortunately they closed the area right at the actual Gandhi memorial (eternal flame) for 30 minutes right as we got there, so photos from afar are as close as we got.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    1Divyang is Hindi for people with disabilities.1The part of the structure where the prime ministers give Independence Day speeches (facing outside)Old Market PlaceNooks for candles, water came from the roof down to this canal3Inlaid stonework12These bits of mirror represent what the whole ceiling looked like!Pomegranite tree!Canal with fountian being restored

    The Red Fort

    April 27, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 97 °F

    We were lucky enough to be shepherded to the front of the long line to get into this very old fort, which is our second UNESCO World Heritage site of the trip. A free government approved guide offered to show us around, thank goodness, as it was a large complex (254 acres) with little signage.

    (As a side note, we had to go through metal detectors and have our bags X-rayed to enter The Red Fort and another place we visited today. To go into our hotel we have to have our bags X-rayed and trunks and under the hood are checked in all cars coming onto the hotel property.)

    The Red Fort was built in the mid-1600s during the Mughal Empire and served as the residence of it’s leaders. It was erected by the same leader who had the Taj Mahal built. It was so interesting to learn about its former glory - buildings with gilded and mirrored ceilings, pashmina curtains hanging on the openings of the buildings, and a throne covered with jewels including a huge diamond that is now part of the UK’s Crown Jewels. There were shallow canals build in the complex that were filled with rose water and created waterfalls in some of the buildings! After the British captured the fort in 1957 they destroyed 2/3 of the complex and erected military barracks. All of India’s prime ministers have given Independence Day speeches from its ramparts. It’s an incredibly important place.

    Interestingly, we were back in a situation where we were being seriously gawked at and asked frequently for photos/selfies. We’ve learned the hard way before that if we are in an area with lots of Indian tourists, if we say yes to one person then it will be never ending. I think we were being stared at so much again because there were people from all over India visiting the Red Fort. Walking down the streets in Delhi, people seem to be accustomed to tourists with light skin and don’t act that way.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Turmeric wholesaler!!Garlands for templesSikh TempleEntrance to a mosque at one end of the market2Rice, lentils, etcJaggery (cane sugar)These loaded carts were everywhereLaborers for hire sit here with the tools of their tradeSide street in the market. Look at that wiring! 😳Old hand-cranked sewing machines still usedWe saw so many wedding dresses for saleDetail work on a wedding dress fot saleLassi in terracotta cups

    Chandni Chowk Market and Spice Market!

    April 27, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 93 °F

    Our guide walked us through this incredible old wholesale market that had just about anything you would ever need to buy. We specifically wanted to visit the spice market, which was absolutely incredible. The spells were amazing. I was actually sneezing in a couple of places, it was so intense. Most of the stalls were wholesale, but we managed to pick up a few things from a retail shop.Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Rented cover-up clothing to visit the mosque. I didn't need to cover my head11

    Jama Masjid (Jama mosque)

    April 27, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    We started our day with a visit to this huge mosque in the heart of Old Delhi. It can hold 25,000 worshippers for Friday prayer!

    Going first thing in the morning there were not very many visitors and it was a very peaceful place. We climbed the minaret and had a fantastic view of the surroundings, although the bad air quality had the effect of feeling like we were in a frosted-glass dome that we couldn’t see through past a certain circumference.Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Delhi Gate
    US embassy5The view from our roomSunset in Central Park2My margarita was green mango and cumin seedOur tour organizer2Our tuk-tuk driver who let Eric drive!5I love watching traffic weaving together in India.3Above the toilet in our hotel room

    Hello Delhi!

    April 26, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    We are staying at another lovely hotel, this one being conveniently situated in New Delhi close enough to Old Delhi. After we got situated we took a walk to a nearby area of markets and shops called Connaught Place where we were planning find a place to eat dinner. We ended up also enjoying a walk around a lovely park called Central Park that was created in the hub where several large streets meet.

    On our way out of the hotel we ended up chatting with the concierge for a while about tour ideas for Delhi and beyond. The disappointing thing we learned is that the Taj Mahal is not open for night viewing during the full moon in the first week of May, which I’d really been hoping to experience. After talking with him, we were contemplating hiring a driver for a couple days to visit at least one nearby city.

    On our walk three different people ended up telling us that we should visit one of the tourist centers if we wanted to set up any tours, because you pay a big mark-up doing anything through the hotels. When our tuk-tuk (rickshaw taxi!) driver after dinner encouraged us to get a free map from on of the centers, we decided to go in and check it out.

    I’m excited to say that we now have an INCREDIBLE itinerary lined up for our last 10 days in India thanks to this tour operator. The next two days are guided day tours in Old and New Delhi, and then we will travel to four cities slightly further afield from Delhi for guided visits (including a boat trip on the Ganges!) - heading out on this adventure by plane and back by train!! We are super excited to have the last part of our trip all planned out and packed full of sights to visit.

    When our tuk-tuk driver this evening learned that Eric had driven a rickshaw 3500+km, he couldn’t believe it. He proceeded to let Eric drive his rickshaw the last block or so back to our hotel! 🤣🤣🤣🛺💨    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
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    Flying from Pakyong airport on SpiceJet

    April 26, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    (You know I want to call it SPICYjet!). Whew, we made it out of Sikkim!

    Visiting the state of Sikkim was in interesting experience for sure, not only because we ended up inadvertently staying in a hotel where it was tough to get a taxi to go anywhere, and everything was way to far away to walk.

    Having to get a permit and essentially a visa to enter the state when we drove in and then having to sign out again at the airport was unique. And we threw the officials off by staying an extra day than we had initially planned when we got our permit. It flummoxed them despite the fact that our permit was good for 30 days. Luckily the official’s superior, reached by phone, said it was fine to let us go, haha!

    This airport is one of the 5 highest in India and was opened in 2018. Only one flight leaves this airport a day, 5 days a week, and they just go to Delhi. I swear there are as many employees at the airport as there were passengers on our full airplane!

    (Edited to add a video of our take-off that Eric took)    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    The Institute of Tibetology
    Library shelves in the Institute of Tibetology2The dates of some of these manuscripts blew me away!21"The Wheel of Life"Beautiful hallways and stairwellsThe outside of the libraryBuddhist Monastery in GangtokEric spinning prayer wheels at the monastery in Gangtok4Butter Lamps at the Gangtok monasteryThis explanation was at the Ranka Buddhist Monastery near our hotelEntrance to the Ranka Monastery near us8One of the stupa's or shrines at the monastery near usA giant prayer wheel in a stupaMama and baby chickens seen on a walk near our hotel1Angel's trumpet plant down our road. We've seen them on roadsides in different parts of India!

    Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

    April 25, 2023 in India ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    We planned with the man at the front desk of our hotel to have a driver all day today who would take us to the Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok proper, drive us to the pedestrian mall for lunch, and then take us to a monastery about 15 minutes past the hotel before delivering us back to the hotel. I think a red flag was that this morning we had to pay the guy at the desk instead of the taxi driver, and it was a bit expensive. Come to find out that a middle-man had told the taxi driver that he was only driving us to the Institute and back, and the taxi driver wouldn’t budge when we realized this after our visit to the Institute. He finally relented and did take us to the monastery past our hotel, but it was the first really sour experience on our trip, so I think we are doing pretty well!

    The photos are from the Institute (a repository for artifacts of Tibetan Buddhist culture and a library of history and teachings going way back), plus a Buddhist monastery near it in Gangtok and then the monastery near our hotel. Photography was restricted in some parts of places we visited today, unfortunately.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
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    Kirat Rai Cultural Center

    April 24, 2023 in India ⋅ 🌙 57 °F

    We learned that the hotel we are staying in near Gangtok is actually much more than a hotel. It is part of an integrated complex that includes an active temple and a cultural center for the Kirat Rai community, which is one of over 33,000 sects within the Hindu religion.

    Since day 1 when we showed up here, a particular person has been sort of a guardian angel to us. His name is Sanjai, and he has helped us get situated when we first arrived, gave us his number and said to call if we had any issues (we have done so many times to help with communication and logistics), and has just been super friendly and helpful. Well, he does not even work for the hotel, he works for the cultural center!

    It turns out his Hindu community, backed by the state of Sikkim, built the entire complex to preserve, promote, and keep alive their cultural history and traditions. The hotel (the nicest we have ever stayed in, no exaggeration) was built both as an income-earning property and a guesthouse for visitors to the center.

    So when Sanjai was done with his official work for the day, he gave us a detailed tour of the entire facility. Along the way we got an incredible lesson in the culture, history, and traditions of his Hindu community. This community numbers about 2 million worldwide.

    The place has amazing architecture, artwork and displays which walk you through the formative stories of his religion. We even got to visit the inside of the temple, and see some textiles made from nettle fiber (traditional to his group).

    It was such an incredible and meaningful tour. After which we continued to be completely spoiled by the hotel staff!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Look how close we were to the border with China!I think this is about tied for the highest that I have ever been!18331This sweet woman gave me the warmest hug after asking for a selfie with me!12

    Tsongmo Lake

    April 24, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 39 °F

    What an interesting experience visiting this lake was. Unfortunately the clouds prevented us from having a distant view of mountains, but the lake was beautiful. Our trip was timed well - there was wet snow and hail falling as we started back down.

    The area up and down the road is populated periodically by the military and their support services, AND people who support the tourist industry. There are areas along the road where photos are prohibited, where soldiers are up in lookout towers.

    Our guide stopped us at a little shop for tea and breakfast (Bread Omelet - yum!) and rubber boot rental. I wished later that I’d stuck to my hiking shoes for better traction in the slushy snow.

    At the lake there is a ropeway (gondola) that usually would take people up higher, but it was closed for maintenance. So we walked along the lake a ways, and Eric rode on a yak!!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    32White prayer flags honoring the deadAt 10,000 feet the chip bags have all puffed up!1A little window of mountain came and went3Our tour vehicle for today

    On the road to Lake Tsongmo

    April 24, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    The road so far is twisty and steep and lined in many places with hundreds of vertical prayer flags. We learned that the white ones are honoring the dead.

  • The Great India Adventure
    2All of the roads in town have these small rocks imbedded in the asphalt for tractionWe've seen G20 banners in a few places along our travels2I think this is the steepest stairway I've ever seen32We ran into the kind guide who we'd chatted with shile in line for our Sikkim visitors permit!Fire truck was dispensing drinking water4This was the view from inside a grocery/department store!3Plants staged out our hotelNow we realize that we are looking over to Gamgtok proper from our hotel deckThis is the amazing private covered deck attached to our hotel room2Our room here at Oro Montana Hotel. It is attached to a Hindu temple and provides them income

    Exploring Gangtok

    April 23, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We enjoyed the luxury of a leisurely morning today and then spent the day walking around the heart of Gangtok.

    We discovered that our lovely, peaceful hotel is unfortunately not very conveniently located for getting into town easily, but our hotel arranged for a taxi to take is in, which showed up eventually. A lot of the roads surrounding the city itself are horrendous. The worst we’ve encountered on our trip. So it’s a slow 30+ minute drive into town on rough, twisty roadways.

    Despite that we enjoyed poking around Gangtok. We rode a gondola that we honestly thought might take us to a higher viewpoint than it did, but it was a handy way to easily get elevation in a city built on a hill. In the heart of the city is a mall/street closed off to cars that was full of shops and people. Even the grocery/department store that we visited had a stunning view.

    We came upon a fire engine in the middle of Gangtok that was filling water bottles for people out of its tank. Later we learned that the main water line/source to the city was damaged by a mud slide 7 days ago. I guess we are lucky to be far out of town after all, where the water system is fine.

    We have booked an auto tour for tomorrow to Tsongmo Lake with a couple of other Rickshaw Run participants who we ran into in town. It’s about a 2 hour drive higher up into the mountains. We had to apply for a special travel permit in order to go on this trip tomorrow because we will be within several miles of the Chinese border! Wow!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    The view from our hotel room
    Chicken delivery serviceBeautiful bridges draped with prayer flags1Welcome to Sikkim! Now stand in line!5We each got a hand-painted baby Spicy!! ❤️54Saying goodbye to SpicyThe rickshaw with the rooftop tent. It totally wrecked the rack. That was predictable...The finish line!1Lightning storm from our hotel deck. There was torential ran while we were in a taxi coming back.

    WE MADE IT TO GANGTOK!!

    April 22, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We did it! With an hour to spare!

    We had to stop at the border of the state of Sikkim because they are not open to anyone just coming in. What we were told would take 10 minutes actually took 2 hours waiting in two different lines, so we were very glad that we left Darjeeling earlier than we originally planned. The up side is that we had a wonderful conversation with a Nepalese mountain guide who was in line behind us.

    We are staying in a gorgeous hotel away from the center of Gangtok. I’ll share pics of it tomorrow. Now we are off to the finish line party!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    1

    On the road to Gangtok

    April 22, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    We got an earlier start than we were originally planning because although Google maps said the route to Gangtok would take about 3.5 hours, the intel from other teams has been that it’s a full day. The finish line is open 10-4, and we will ideally drop all of our stuff at our hotel before we turn in Spicy.

    We had our first view of the Himalayas today before the clouds closed back up around them!!

    Yesterday we ran into several other teams around Darjeeling who were spending the night there last night. Now we’ve been seeing more and more Rickshaw Run teams on the road. Lots of people on the side of the road along our route are waving and cheering us on and wishing us good luck.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    1A view of our hotel
    Our room from the outside13View from the grounds1Later view from the hotel grounds1Trees looming above the hotelMonsteraI think this is very cool!13

    The Elgin Hotel

    April 21, 2023 in India ⋅ 🌧 55 °F

    We are staying in a hotel tonight that was established in 1887! It has beautiful grounds and a lovely view. An annex to the main building has a gallery of photos honoring Tensing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who summited Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. Though he wasn’t born here, Norgay later lived in Darjeeling.

    Edited to add: A dramatic thunderstorm came through and the power went out for a few minutes! Then playing parcheesi in the hotel bar - perfection!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
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    Lloyd Botanical Garden

    April 21, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We hustled to get to this lovely garden before it closed at 4. To make our way there was like going through a maze on a steep hill, but we got there with a half hour to spend before they closed.

    The garden was established in 1878! It’s a neat mix of trees and shrubs, some of which we recognized from home. Our favorite spot was the conservatory, where they have clivia plants just like mine and a bunch of relatives of my Night Blooming Cereus!Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    1
    2Narrow guage railroad track next to the road3A shrine on the side of the roadA shrine on the side of the road1This is how the 2-stroke rickshaws have to fuel up - mix oil into the petrolFuel station perched on the hillside126

    Drive to Darjeeling

    April 21, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Wow, what a lovely, chilly, steep drive in and out of fog today as we climbed the foothills up to Darjeeling. We are now at 6,986 feet! Unfortunately everything was socked in this afternoon, so we have had no view of the mountains yet. It looks like we are floating in the clouds. I’ll post photos here of our trip. I have a couple more locations to post about separately.Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    The Ganges River!
    The Ganges!1Drying corn along the side of the road. We've seen this a LOT4Lunch was like cornbread crumbled with chili poured over. So good! 70¢ for both of us, WITH 2 chaisBeautiful produce stalls everywhere3We saw a lot of seemingly manmade ponds with large lily pads for a while today3Spicy at our hotel for the night1446A feline friend!

    Siliguri. Cooler day and lovely lodging

    April 20, 2023 in India ⋅ 🌙 81 °F

    Who knew that 97° would feel so much cooler than 107°!! Today was a little shorter of a driving day for us since Darjeeling was too far to reach in daylight. We reached our hotel in Siliguri by 4:30, which was a nice change of pace.

    We did an amazing thing today - we crossed the Ganges River. To even just drive over this sacred river was an amazing experience I never imagined that I would do.

    Where we are staying tonight is a peaceful resort tucked into the edge of an urban area. After a lovely dinner and drinks on site, we are taking advantage of a little table and chairs on the patio in front of our room. A breeze is blowing a wind chime in the garden and we can hear the call to prayer from a few nearby mosques. What an unbelievable, peaceful experience!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    2
    Kids watching us.

    Fresh sugar cane juice!

    April 20, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 97 °F

    We have been seeing these stands on the side of the roads and highways for practically this whole trip and didn’t understand what they were. We thought they were doing something with sugar cane but couldn’t tell.

    This morning an employee of the hotel accompanied us to an ATM to get cash for our bill, and on the way back he stopped at one of these stands and bought us glasses of —- sugar cane juice!! Yummm!

    We just stopped at one of the stands on the side of the highway and got to see the whole process. These machines wring a lot of juice out of one length of cane. And he slips some lime in during the pressing, too.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    1

    Another amazing Bajaj service stop

    April 20, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 97 °F

    We used up our spare 500ml of motor oil we had from our stop at the Bajaj service center early on in our trip so we were on the lookout for another service center this morning to top up the oil and get some extra for our climb into the mountains.

    Lucky for us we spotted the perfect place on the outskirts of the city of Purnia. They had us drive right around and up into the shop where they sat us down on chairs and set up a fan for us. They let Spicy cool down a bit and then checked and topped off the oil, blew out the air filter, checked the gear oil, and checked all of the tires. That along with a little extra oil to go was about $6 US!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    22I wonder if there is a picture book of Indian truck art!2Large dry riverbedMile markers!! I love them!Large bamboo poles

    Bhagalpur for the night- whew what a day

    April 19, 2023 in India ⋅ 🌙 91 °F

    The traffic in Bhagalpur this evening was crazy, and Eric handled it like a champ. What a relief it was to pull up to the hotel we picked off of Google maps and be greeted by the owner holding open the door. And we were expecting to pay 4500-5000 rupees, but he bargained us DOWN to 3500 for a lovely suite room!! Let’s call that $43. Crazy!

    I was wrong yesterday about the states that we would travel through. Today we passed through the state of Jharkhand (where the protest was) and now we are in the state of Bihar (a dry state!). Tomorrow we will travel back into West Bengal as we aim for Darjeeling probably on Friday. Darjeeling is at ~6700 feet! Looking forward to relief from the heat!

    It was SO hot once again today, and the humidity is much lower inland. Our phones are just hammered by the heat. It’s nearly impossible to charge them back up when they are so hot, and we don’t have a cooler to cool them off. But I figured out a trick of wrapping them in a wet bandana to get an evaporative cooling effect. In no time one would cool down and charge up quickly. Hurray!

    Speaking of phones - I am using an eSIM from Airalo on my phone with a data plan for India that I can easily top up as needed. I set it up before we left home. 10GB/30days for $27. I just ran out today and topped it off with another 10GB. The only catch is it doesn’t warn you when you are running low, it just stops connecting to the internet. Eric bought a reconditioned older iPhone and purchased a physical SIM card with a good data plan for $7 for 30 days. He did this in Fort Cochi after we got here. $7?!! It’s been handy to have that Indian phone/number.    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure

    Protest blocking the road! Kindness wins

    April 19, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 108 °F

    Oh my gosh! We came to an area where trucks were stopped dead for a full kilometer leading up to an interchange where we needed to go under a highway and then get onto it. We were able to drive on the wrong side to get up to the interchange. After a few minutes the bus we were behind started slowly moving forward so we stuck to it. Meanwhile we were starting to chat a bit with all the guys hanging around. The bus was was let through and then large bamboo poles were pulled across the road to block the road after it!! A car next to us drove into/over the bamboo, and luckily our new-found friends told them to let us pass also.

    On the other side of the roadblock trucks were backed up for at least a kilometer again. We thought we were good to go on a highway with no traffic, but then we came upon ANOTHER road block on the highway at the town of Barapalasi. We got off onto the side frontage road but it was blocked too, and a man told us we can’t go through until 6pm. Luckily we chatted and negotiated selfies in exchange for letting us through! Hahaha! Plus I explained that we can’t wait until 6 because we have to drive when the sun is up. The young son of one of the leaders spoke very good English, so he was a great help. They gave us ice cream cones, I gave them a sticker, we took a million selfies, and we stuffed the two leaders of this protest plus a few little boys into Spicy with us and we were accompanied through the barrier and on our way. Isn’t that incredible?!!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    Cab driver who pushed us to town
    1Pushing us with his foot!Pushing us with his foot!Fried dough like a crisy donutDoughnut with ground nutsSpicy cooling down outside the bakeryWhere we waited for the mechanicSo many people came to check us outHuge dry riverbed heading out of townOur new police officer friend!

    Unplanned Breakie/Spicy rest in Panuria

    April 19, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 104 °F

    The only running issues that we’ve had with Spicy (knock wood) is what seems like a vapor lock/air bubble in the fuel line situation every once in a while in the heat of the day. After a short slow down or a bit of a rest to cool down she is good to go.

    Today we experienced it earlier than normal, and luckily it happened on a country road where we could wait in the shade. I’ll tell you why I’m not worried about being stuck for long if we have a breakdown - we stand out like a sore thumb and it doesn’t take long at all before someone turns around and comes back to check us out.

    In this case a taxi driver came back, lined up his tuk tuk behind ours and drove pushing us with his foot!! He pushed us 1km to a petrol station, but we explained that we had half a tank still, so he pushed us another 1km to the town where there was a mechanic. We were told that the mechanic would come to us in 10 minutes, and luckily we were stopped in front of a little bakery where we had samosas and a sweet baked good for breakfast. Our chai tea came in a tiny unglazed clay cup with a volume of maybe 2-3 tablespoons, and they throw out the cups when you are done!

    When the mechanic finally arrived, of course Spicy started right up and ran like a champ. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fuel filter issue, but by the time we did a short test drive and came back, the mechanic was gone again. Oh well!

    As we headed out of town there were a couple of police at a busy traffic bottleneck, and we’d just read that if police want you to stop, it’s easier to pretend you didn’t hear and keep going than go through potential hassles. The police officer pulled aside a gate so we could drive through, but then a second and apparently higher ranking officer said “Stop! Stop!” and motioned us to pull over. We felt pretty obligated at that point, so we stopped. Lucky for us he was just super curious about where we were from and where we are going! I gave him one of our stickers, and he gave us his phone number and said to call him if we have any troubles!! How lucky are we?!    Read more

  • The Great India Adventure
    222Janet H-B, this photo is for you!The round green fruits the size of oranges are called Mosambi or sweet limes. Yummy juice!2

    Durgapur and a neat older hotel

    April 19, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Last night we stayed in Durgapur, a city on the Damodar river, a quite large river. Our hotel was called The Damodar Retreat. I would guess that it might have been built in the 30s - some details really reminded me of the Bastyr University building back home. We had room service dinner for the first time on this trip. We thought we were the only ones staying here, but we saw a cup of coffee being taken to another room this morning so we guessed there was one other person. We were thinking of “The Shining” last night for sure!

    We skipped the pool because it didn’t appear to have any sort of circulation system working, though the water was clear…

    Durgapur has the dirtiest air that we’ve experienced so far. Dusty and smoky. Despite the floor looking clean, when we walked barefoot in our room our feet got filthy. Durgapur is called “The steel capital of East India”, and heading out of town we saw black smoke coming out of stacks. And for the first time we saw cooling towers for nuclear plants! Three of them.    Read more

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