MUMBAI (BOMBAY) - We finally made it to Mumbai, where I fly out of tomorrow night. We took a sleeper bus to get here. (Just a tip, don't trust Paulo Travel!!) I think we've both sworn off buses in favor of trains though... far less chance of being rediculously late (it took about 20 hours at an average speed of 30 km/hr), and they stop in well marked predictable stations. Our sleeper bus featured a late night stop for some scary food we didn't go near, a creepy guy in the aisle seat that kept pulling back the curtain to look into our sleeper compartment, and a final destination completely different and much further than they promised they would drop us. We walked to a local train station and took a local train to the right area of Bombay with a French couple that also got kicked off the bus at the unpromised destination. Jo-Ann and Ann took the women only car (since apparently some Indian men like to crotch grab women on the train) and I took the train with Fabian. Except we got on the first class car by mistake, and got busted by the local transit authority. We weretrying to explain that it was an honest mistake when a super nice Indian man (yay! an Indian person not trying to screw us) actually paid the fine for us in the name of Indian hospitality. We found a hotel that was fairly reasonable (better be for bucket showers) and finally ate (after about 24 hours of bus and train and taxi trekking). Now we're enjoying the cosmopolitan modernization of Mumbai - caffe lattes, chocolate desserts, and movies (The Village). Tomorrow will be aq bit of shopping, and then I hop on the bird home. More to report when I am waiting in Kulala Lumpur. Love from Jo and Jeff.

Baga, Goa - It has been a while since I updated the blog, but we have been on the move. Jaipur was a whirlwind of jewelry shopping and siteseeing. Jeff and I got our engagement rings and we bought various other things for other people (you'll have to wait until I get home to see, yes I am teasing you, Mel!) From there we headed to Sariska Tiger Reserve on an evening bus after I pulled a miracle in getting tickets for the bus. Note: Never wait in line for tickets in India, you will never get anything done, just go to the front of the line and act like you are supposed to be there and you get served immdiately. We groped our way in the dark to the hotel near the reserve (Shirley did survive, but was a bit pale....) I don't think anyone had stayed in the hotel for a while, it had a serious mildew and musky smell, but it was the only option. Our safari the next morning got off to a rough start, since at 6am, when were supposed to be leaving the driver wasn't even up yet! They tried to convince us not to go that day as there was a huge festival in the park (there is a temple in the reserve). It was our only chance to get out, so we went ahead, along with the other thousands of locals! We got to see lots of deer and peacocks, but no tigers. It was an event-filled ride where we got to stand in the back of a truck for 3 hours and drive aroudn beatiful country, so it was worth it. From there we split off from Kevin and Lori. They were headed back to Jaipur while Chris, Shirley, Jeff and I went back to Delhi to send Shirley off and get a train to Jalgaon, in northern Maharastra. The bus trip from the reserve was a joy ride for Jeff and Chris as they got to go ontop of the bus to protect our bags from the locals and encountered some monsoonal rains! The rest of our trip was decadent. At Alwar we loitered at a local hotel and gorged ourselves on wonderful food in the A/C. We then got on a Shatbdi train to Delhi where we were fed and got to relax in the A/C again. Once in Delhi we grabbed a hotel and then slept in (a luxury, as we had been getting up around 6am every day since Jeff and Chris arrived). We spent the next day sorting out flights and doing some power shopping. We packed up another duffle bag of stuff for Shirley to take home for us (Jeff and I have REALLY been enjoying the shopping, which will benefit all of you, since most of it has been gifts!) From Delhi we said goodbye to Shirley and headed to Jalgaon, our jumping off point for Ajanta caves, which are Buddhist master pieces that were rediscovered early in the 1900s. Our train was LONG, about 30 hours. We made new friends from Bangladesh and had many other onlookers throughout the journey. The three of us aren't quite the show that the six of us were, but we still get lots of stares and I still get lots of ogling from the Indian men. Jeff has been handing out dirty looks to deter them, but it still doesn't stop them! Perhaps that could be because many of the Indians we have met think of him as "m'aam". After the train we hustled onto a local bus to get us to Ajanta. We only had 2 hours there, but it was phenomenal. the caves are in a horseshoe formation around a lush area, so it is very peaceful and serene. The caves have tempera paintings which are fading, but they have done some reconstruction, so you can imagine how they would have been hundreds of years ago. That night we stayed in Aurangabad, the jump off point for Ellora caves, which have Hindu, Jain and Buddhist caves. We went to the caves the next morning. They had more carving than Ajanta, and a different setting, but were equally as magnificent. The highlight of Ellora is the Hindu temple that is twice the size of the Parthenon and took 150 years to build. It was built from the top down and has some of the most exquisite carving I have seen yet. Both caves are World Heritage sites and were worth seeing for the second time for me. Jeff and I then split from Chris and headed to Goa on a hellish 30 hour journey. We missed connections and got on shitty local buses and just overall had a very long and tiring travel day (which was my birthday!) (Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and presents - oh, did I mention that Jeff forgot my birthday and has been trying to make up for it ever since!) Uh-oh, I just got in trouble for that....
Once in the capital of Goa we decided to head for a quiet beach in the north and have been relaxing ever since. It is dead here with many restaurants and shops closed. A blessing in one way and a pain because there isn't much night life. The food here is very different from what we have been eating - lots of pasta and seafood and cakes. We are spoiling ourselves, which is nice after the whirlwind last 2 weeks with the family. Tomorrow we are heading to Mumbai to send Jeff home. From there I will meet up with Kevin and Lori again and head further south. That's all for now, keep the comments coming!
Love, Jo

Jo-Ann is currently sitting beside me at the local Internet stall doing the complete travelogue of our recent days, so I will avoid the exact details -- which works fine because she'll be more accurate anyway!

Some of the real highlights for the past number of days have been the following:

Sitting by the lotus pool in front of the Taj Mahal with Jo-Ann in the morning before I proposed. The only sound the birds chirping, the only site the perfect cool marble poem that is the Taj Mahal. Some butterflies circling the love in my heart.

The buddhist carvings in the Ajanta caves. In a tropical rainforest type surroundings of a horseshoe shaped valley, the scene was breathtaking. I could imagine myself making the pilgrimage on foot to see them 1500 years ago. Also, trying to remain patient with completely ridiculous levels of bureaucracy: we had to pay a 10Rs amenities charge so we could get in the gate to pay 10Rs charge for a one way mandatory bus ride up to the caves and then waited longer for the bus than it would have been to make the walk ourselves.

Taking a shared Jeep back from the Ellora caves (like sharing a taxi but much more crowded) from some guys that were screwing around lying to us about how long we would be stopped in each small village trying to pick up more passengers. We were starting to get frustrated with them and worried about getting back to meet our next bus on time, but Jo-Ann made my dismay melt away when she started singing in Hindi to one of the songs they were playing. :) They like their (sometimes very shrill) music very loud here, with no concern for the distortion from the cheap or blown speaks they are playing it on. At least Jo-Ann's voice and beautiful smile was a pretty counterfoil to the otherwise typically Indian assault on the senses.

Meeting a father and son from Bangladesh on the train to Jalgaion (Hi Symon :), and having an interesting conversation of cultural exchanges.

Scrambling in Pune in the dark and in pouring rain to find a bus to Goa -- paying way too much to the auto rickshaw driver to drive us around to various travel booking offices to find a bus that left that evening. Eventually finding a "semi-sleeper" (the seats have foot rests and fold back a little more) and a really friendly Indian family from Goa that helped us eventually find our way here.

Sleeping in and being lazy and gorging ourselves on non-Indian food choices in the beautiful suite that we have near Baga beach in Goa. Perfect relaxation that is a wonderful end to the otherwise intense and beautiful frenetic tour through the sites of India. Having a beer and some chicken in white wine sauce and watching the sun set over the ocean with my love beside me.

That's all for now. We're heading to Mambos (a bar facing the ocean) for french fries and beer. :) Later, we head to Vagator (apparently the most popular spot for European and Israeli ravers) to look for some decent nightlife/party action. This IS Goa and there is a full moon tonight, but we're in off season and we haven't seen more than a handfull of foreign travellers. ;/ Sounds like our chances for good music would be better in the Mojave desert. Dance your feet off for us Vik!

Love from India, Jeff

JAIPUR - Thanks everyone for all of your love, positive wishes and support.
We're just leaving Jaipur for Sariska National Park where we will see lots of wildlife and hopefully a tiger! We bought two beautiful engagement rings in Jaipur that we can't wait to show everyone. Since our last post, we visited a bird sanctuary in Bharatpur and toured around Jaipur to see a celestial observatory and a fort that was the seat of Rajput kings in the 1600s. Lots of photos, coming soon. More as we find fast internet connections.
Love Jo-Ann and Jeff

JAIPUR - She said yes! I made poor Jo-Ann get out of bed really early in the morning yesterday to come with me to watch the sun rise at the Taj Mahal. I asked her to marry me, and she said "yes"! We're both really excited and happy. Sending love from India, Jeff.

AGRA - It's me, Jeff. It's just after a good and typical lunch consisting of alu gobi, nan, paneer (I'm sure I'm spelling these wrong) and butter chicken. Finally some meat after the holy meatless city of Varanasi. Actually, the vegetarian fare is really good, and I am surprised that after five days of similar food I'm not tempted by the (scant) other options like spaghetti and cheese sandwiches.
We've found a nice spot (relatively cool - i.e. they have a fan) to stay in Agra. We took an overnight train from Varanasi to get here early this morning, and actually arrived on time! Our hotel seems to be good enough, especially for the price and considering we aren't paying very much for it; about $10 for a double room with "air cooling".
Varanasi was unbelievable. Winding alleyways packed with small stalls. Animals living everywhere. I've seen cows sitting on the marble shop floor of a nice clothing store, and in the middle of the insanely busy streets. We visited a few of the burning Ghats (where Hindu bodies are immersed in the holy Ganges and then burned on large sandalwood pyres).
We visited Sarnath yesterday, which was where Buddha gave his first sermon (at Deer Park). It was quite a welcome and peaceful change from the chaos that is the streets of Varanasi. They had a Bodhi tree that was a direct ancestor of the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. Spread among gardens and some of the quiet streets were several other beautiful Buddhist temples built by Tibet, China, Japan. Jo-Ann gave me the gift of a Thangka of the Wheel of Life that makes me get teary eyed when I look at it and think of my love for her.
Things that India has a lot of: people, good (oily) food, animals (monkeys, cows in the streets, pigs, birds, goats), gorgeous textiles, touts and people looking, smells, piles of garbage, power cuts (the government can't supply enough power so everyone that needs to has a generator that kicks in throughout the power cuts during the day) and more crazy things I can't think of right now. I can see why cows are holy, they eat all of the garbage! ;) The circle of life and birth flows continuously, but people generally appear to be happy and accept things for what they are. It is quite eye opening to see people living the same way that they would have a thousand years ago.
Today we've visited the Red Fort here, which was a huge complex of many buildings from the Mughal Empire. There is so much stonework and marble here, and it is all hand carved. Craftsmanship is still very much alive here, even though it is a dying art in our manufactured land of North America. We also visited the "baby Taj" and we are on our way this afternoon to the grounds of the Taj Mahal. I've seen it in the distance from the Red Fort, and it really is a poem on love set in Marble. I can't wait to stand in its shadow.
That's all for now. Sending love from India, Jeff.

Agra - It has been a fun filled crazy trip since Chris and Jeff arrived. The train ride back from Bikaner was uneventful. Still dirty like the train into the desert, but much more manageable since we eventually got out of the dust. Delhi was hectic as always, but it was nice to see Chris and Jeff. We did a full whirlwind tour of Delhi taking in all of the sites (too many to mention them all). One of the highlights for me was the Bahai temple that is shaped like a lotus. I had not seen it before. It was stunning. The inside was plain, but seeing a huge white lotus in front of a blue sky was phenomenal. Our train to Varanasi was not the greatest, either (well, for Jeff and I especially). We were on the bottom bunk and it was pouring rain and we couldn't get the window to stay shut. It was a battle that left us wet, our bags slightly wet and with not much sleep. The train was also 4 hours late, so heeding my advice of no train food all of us were famished by the time we finally got to Varanasi. Varanasi is beyond words and even description, but I will try. It is one of the holiest cities in India and as such is a big tourist place for foreigners and Indians. Every step you take you are hounded by touts trying to take you to their silk shop or trinket shop or fabric shop. The alley ways beside the river are so narrow that vehicles cannot go down them, although bicycles and motorcycles and cows and everything else try. Our hotel was right on the Ganges and had a phenomenal view of the sunrise. The first morning we were there we took a boat ride on the river and then again in the evening. You get to see everyone and everything doing their business in the river. Bathing (humans and more), drinking, peeing, dumping garbage, burning corpses. We spent our days winding around the area and shopping. Jeff and I bought a lot of beautiful batiks and clothes. Shirley, Chris, Jeff and I went for an afternoon to Sarnath, a big Buddhist place where the Buddha gave his first sermon. It was nice because it was a Deer Park. It was peaceful and not too hot. We saw a Japanese, Chinese and Tibetan temple that were beautiful. Each of the traditions use very different images and art, but all are equally beautiful and serene. We took an overnight train to Agra last night. It was the best yet, as I fell right asleep and got woken up 20 minutes before we were to get off. We checked into the hotel and have been sightseeing all day. It isn't quite as hectic here as in Varanasi or Delhi, but we have yet to get near the Taj Mahal. I am expecting to be mobbed by people selling stuff. Earlier today we got to see the "Baby Taj", which was a precursor to the Taj Mahal. You can recognize many similar themes. The white marble and the inlaid marble work compares to the Taj, but the Taj is just on a bigger scale. We have been getting glimpses of it all day, but will head to the Taj Mahal for sunset and then sunrise tomorrow. The whopping almost $20 US to get in is a bit of a pisser, but I did spend the money on the plane ticket, so I guess I will have to suck it up. Sorry if I have repeated what Jeff has said on his post, but we are both writing at the same time and I figure we will have different ways of perceiving our adventures!

Varanasi - Jeff here. I'm hijacking Jo-Ann's blog since you are all already reading it. I arrived safely after a marathon flight, and had only a few dizzy feelings as a result. The Malaysian air flight from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur has defnitely spoiled us. I don't have much time to describe all of the chaos and beauty that I've seen so far, because we have hired a boat to take us down the ganges to watch a ceremony on the river tonight and we have to leave right away. Jo-Ann and I have managed to do quite a bit of shopping in only two days, but there are so many beautiful fabrics and pieces of batik art that it is hard to stop ourselves. The food has been all that I expected it to be and better, and so far I've managed to avoid the notorious Delhi Belly. I will post more as soon as I have a chance. Sending much love from a very different part of the world, Jeff.

Bikaner, Rajasthan - Well it has been a hectic week here in India. We arrived in New Delhi on sunday night after meeting Shirley and Kevin in Malaysia for our onward flight. The rest of my time in Thailand was spent on the beach relaxing and doing a bit of shopping. Kuala Lumpur was a big soupy saucy humid hot experience (it was actually a relief to get to Delhi after that weather!) for the day and a half that Lori and I were there waiting for our flight. I did like Malaysia for how easy it was to get around. The Petronus towers were like West Ed, but more levels and swankier stores. To get away from the heat Lori and I saw Collateral (A/C was our friend!) Thankfully, we got picked up at the Delhi airport, so we weren't forced to deal with the multitude of taxi drivers that no doubt would have ripped us off or taken us to a hotel that we didn't want to go to. The van swerved in and out of traffic with skill and we arrived at the hotel in one piece to be introduced to the burocracy that has hounded us ever since. Instead of being taken to a room immediately, we were seated in an office, given water and then had to be persistent with the fact that we wanted aircooled rooms and not A/C. Kevin and Lori got a dousy of a room where they could look out their bathroom window into a dark alley and the neighbourhood cow (probably where the hotel got the milk for Kev and Lori's lassi that they had for breakfast the next morning!) Shirley and I had a clean room, but I think we were next to the kitchen, as it was noisy for a while and early in the morning. Lori and I went for a little walk down the street, but by that time everything was closing. We stopped for a drink in the hotel restaurant and I was reacquainted with my favorite beverage - an ice cold limca (lime flavoured sprite basically). The next morning was the adventure of trying to get our train tickets. A large amount of people have jobs trying to redirect us to personal travel agents, but we finally got to the foreigners office upstairs (that wasn't closed or being painted as the touts had told us). The people upstairs were nice. We hit a bit of a snare when we didn't have the passport numbers of Chris and Jeff, but the manager eventually came in and gave us permission to get their tickets to Varanasi for next week (only after I signed a promisary note to say that they would carry their passports at all times while on the train - man do they love paperwork here! We bought our tickets for the evening Shatabdi express to Amritsar, so had the afternoon to walk around Connaught Circle and look at an emporium of goods from all over India. Our trip to Connaught was an experience not to be repeated - all 4 of us piled into a rickshaw (which should by all rights be only for 2-3 people). We were staying close to the train station, so we walked there to catch the train. We got a few funny looks and lots of offers of taxis and rickshaws on that walk! Once on the train (which left 15 minutes early, which was very shocking for a country where everything seems to be running on its own slow time) we realized the luxury. We got fed a snack and dinner and were in A/C. Kev and Shirley slept for a lot of it, understandably. Once in Amritsar we had to negotiate a taxi to the temple ashram. Surprisingly he took us there and we got a room. The foreigners are kept in one room which consists of about 10 beds out in the open and 3 smaller rooms with 3 beds each. The females took one of these rooms and Kev slept on a cot in the open. We had our own shower there, but had to walk across a courtyard where people were sleeping to get to the toilet. It was a neat experience, to be sure, but it is the most "basic" place I have ever said. I can't complain because it was free and given in good spirit, after night 2 there I was definately ready for a hotel. The next morning we spent at the temple. It was a great honour to be allowed to witness this holy place. Everyone was very friendly and happy to talk to us. We were a walking freakshow (Kevs words). Everyone wanted to take our picture, shake our hand and ask us where we are from. It was an innocent curiosity, so it was harmless, but it did get old when you were trying to get to the dorm to go to bed and 5 people want a pic with you. We decided to stay another night to rest, so we checked out Jalanwalla Bagh, the area where thousands of innocent men, women and children were fired on by the Bristish in 1919. You could still see a wall with bullet holes and the well that people jumped into to try to escape. The next day we took a bus to Jalandar where we connected with our train to Bikaner. The Jat Adi Express was the dirtiest train I have ever been on. We were in third class sleeper, which means the windows were open all of the time. Going through a desert at high speeds leads to a very dirty Jo-Ann and family. We arrived at 12:30 at night. I was feeling ill from the train dinner (warning: NEVER EAT TRAIN FOOD) and lack of sleep and the heat - it was still hot at that time! We walked to our hotel, which was only a block away and had the best cold showers of our life. Shirley and I decided not to go on the camel trek due to stomach aches and heat issues, so Kev and Lori were off the next day and Shirley and I have been staying in Bikaner. I have been hiding in the A/C resting and reading and watching TV and ordering room service. We did adventure out one afternoon to a co-operative of local village women to buy some things and to go to the rat temple - thousands of rats to revulse even the tough stomached! Kev and Lori should be back today from their camel trek and we will head to Delhi sunday night on the train to be there for when Jeff and Chris arrive on monday night. We have booked our train ticket to Varanasi for tuesday night and will be there for a few days to marvel at the holy Ganges and the wonderful people worshipping.

Had Rin, Thailand - The fullmoon party was an experience. Lots of drunk people (I would say over 5,000), loud music and general craziness. We stayed until around seven in the morning and have been spending our time swimming, sleeping and eating at our little beach since then. My tan is coming along nicely. We are just headed for the night ferry to take us off the island on our journey back to Kuala Lumpur. That's it for now!