So we survived the drive to the Taj; which is a fantastic monument from an Emperor to his departed wife. The Taj took 20,000 workers 22 years to build! The emperor and his wife were married 19 years, and she gave him 14 children, dieing during childbirth of the last one. He also had a hareem of wives making babies, but this was his favorite wife. After spending the countries money on this tomb for his wife, his plan was to build another in black marble for himself. Thats when his children locked him up and threw away the key. Probably a good idea...

I think it's time for David to dump the john deere and move up to some real grass cutting power - the two water buffalo reel mower with built in grass catcher. Perfect for the mogul who has everything!

Of course, this being India, men arn't the only ones who get the fancy tools to mow the lawn. Women also get some nifty devices to make the yard look neat:

How Cool!

Wow! I have a fan club! Just for that, here's a picture of a dead guys tomb:

It's Sunday night here in Delhi, and I just got back from the Taj Mahal (btw, thats Humayun's tomb in the picture). The Taj is cool, and the inlay of stones into the marble is really impressive, but the drive is amazing. It's four hours each way; picture the NH turnpike, but only 1.5 lanes in each direction. Now imagine you can go in any direction in any lane (north, south, east, west). Now add bicycles. Now add people walking; and rickshaws, and mopeds, and camels, and goats, and peacocks, and water buffalo, and dogs, and chickens, and and and... Oh, and don't forget cows. Sleeping in the road. I'm stressed out just being in the car, I don't know how the driver did it. I'm going to go have a beer, then maybe add to this when I get back.

India, day 1

I made it to New Delhi, India with out incedent and checked into the hotel, which was a pretty swanky place. First time I've been escorted to my room to register instead of doing it in the lobby. First thing in the morning I took a walk to India Gate

The most impressive thing was the ungodly heat and humidity at 6am. The next thing I noticed as I walked down the street was that this neiborhood is the home for all the high-ranking Indian government officials, and they all have armed gards posted all around their homes. I'm not sure if that makes me feel safer or more at risk. The third through ninth things I noticed were the heat and humidity. Lastly there were the homeless. They're everywhere; lining the sidewalks are whole families, in the ponds they're bathing, they piss where they stand. And then it gets bad. No pictures of homeless today

I took some pictures on the way to and from work, through the car window (if I open the window the rest of the guys would shoot me--it's well over 100 out there) here's some:

Topapilot test blog

This is where I test out posting my own blog. I expect to use this during my trip to India, and maybe even after that.