The Kolkata Police Care for Us

We wanted to share some of these pithy pearls of wisdom, courtesy of the Kolkata Police. They pop up all over the city and not only enlighten, but also occasionally entertain:-) What more can you ask for?

We've also uploaded more fotos to our flickr site and (sort of) organized them.

And for those of you doing the countdown, Jess'll be stateside in three weeks and Josh swoops in a week later. Wohoo! Can't wait to start catching up face to face with all of you:-)

Con Amor y Paz,
J&J

Who Loves the Hills? WE DO!

After doing Darjeeling with Jina, we couldn't stay away for long and a mere three weeks later we were back up in the hills where we luxuriated in the cool cloudiness, went for long walks in the rain, and had an unexpectedly perfect viewing of the third highest mountain in the world, Mt. Kanchenjunga.

The quiet comfort also helped us make the decision to return to the West Coast U.S.A. a bit sooner, something we've been contemplating as the heat in Kolkata built, concert season petered out, and our cravings for home became stronger after almost nine months in India. Our time here has been exciting and challenging, but everything has an end... So for you west coasties, Jess'll be swooping in to PDX 24 July, and Josh will touch down in San Fran on 1 August. We'll be bopping back and forth between Portland and SF over the next couple of months as we start building our nest in the Bay Area and catching up with our crew and clan.

And as for these fotos, some of them are from our May adventures and some are from last week's wanderings. Peruse and enjoy...

Paz y Amor,
J&J
The local shrine of a little village tucked into the tea estates a few thousand feet below Darjeeling.
Some of the homes of the tea estate workers.
Kanchenjunga in all her glory...



One of the tantalizing peeks the mountain gave us back in May.


These young girls guided me and Jina through the tea plantations around Kalimpong and brought us to the little temple where the deaf priest warmly welcomed us after the young girl yelled at him and explained who we were.







The Japanese Peace Pagoda in Darjeeling where you can listen to the monks drum all day and watch the sun set.

A Tibetan woman spinning wool at the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center.
Some of the little Tibetan beauties.




Darjeeling has banned plastic bags throughout the whole town. It makes a HUGE difference. High tea in all its British glory...



A Nepali family we met at a temple in Darjeeling. A joint photo session took place, inspired by our admiration for the young boy's T-shirt.



One of the Krishna shrines at the major temple in Darjeeling.

Once upon a time, in a far away land...

we readied ourselves for a trip halfway around the world. We bought train tickets, packed the smallest chess set in the world, grabbed Hemingway (he likes long journeys) and set off. From Kolkata to Jaipur to Delhi (where we spent the night in the airport...and which we emphatically do NOT recommend to anyone) to London to Newark to Westport to New York City back to Westport to Newark to London to Delhi to Kolkata. Fourteen days of utter madness and wicked fun. Here's some snippets of those 14 days, which were two months ago! Ahhh...where does the time go? If you want to see the wonderful brouhaha of Passover, check out Mr. Aaron "I live in Hawaii now" Feinberg's link on our sidebar. He captured some great moments while Josh and I blissed out on good wine, good friends and jet lag.

Josh loves train food soooooo much. Check out the fans that operate precariously close to his head. They're in cages but they still hurt when you wack your skull against one while trying to clamber down from your top bunk to get to the bathroom.
Some of our train neighbors.
The aforementioned chess set...very packable but a bit difficult to maneuver the pieces while rattling along train tracks.
Hemingway!! We love him!!
Claire and her totally decadent cupcake at a classy little cafe in the Big Apple.
In NYC, Josh and I spent a lot of time asking ourselves "Where are all the people? Where are all the cars? And why is everything so tall?"
Alison communing with some intellectually stimulating contemporary art.
We got a classic New England spring (with a classic New England nor'easter at the end of our stay) which was just what we needed...
Not quite sure what Jina's doing here, but I'm sure she has a really good reason for contemplating her fork so intently.
Hey look! We can kiss each other in public!!
The boys kicking back before one of our many hikes in CT. The fresh air and quiet woods felt so luxurious.
And back in India. Our first morning was in the Tibetan enclave in Delhi. We watched the sun rise over temples and a river and men and women out in the fields.


Paz y Amor,
J&J