Please be seated for take off!

Leah has been in the air for about 45 minutes now. Leah's first leg of her flight is from Seattle to London. Total flying time is approximately 9hrs and 20min. After a lengthly layover of over 9 hours in London, Leah boards another British Airways plane direct to Mumbai. This leg of her flight is 8hrs and 40 min. Total travel time from Seattle to Mumbai = 27 hrs and 30 min.

I hope she can sleep on planes.

Mumbai is 13.5 hours ahead of Seattle. Once Leah arrives in Mumbia, she will board yet another plane, this one a local flight to Goa. Once in Goa, I'd imagine she will sleep for a while... zzzzzzz.

Thankfully, while in Goa, Leah will have some well deserved down time on the beach in Arambol.

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Originally posted on 1/16/07 by Paul
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The journey begins...

Leah is officially travelling to India. Sure, she is in Seattle for a couple days before her flight, but she is on her way nonetheless.

We had hoped Leah would have more time in Seattle, but she had a minor passport and visa crisis that was only resolved on Friday. Leah's passport expired mid-November, at which time she promptly mailed it off to get a new one.

The Canadian passport office received her passport on Nov 18th and, according to their website, would only take 20 days to process. That would mean that by Dec 15th or so they would mail it back. Not so... it wasn't until Jan 10th (Wed) that the passport arrived, just in time for a flight to Vancouver to get her India visa processed. By Friday, Leah was back on track, India visa and new passport in hand.

So, I drove up to Vancouver on Saturday to pick-up Leah and get her on her way to India via Seattle. Leah leaves for Mumbai from Seattle (via London) on Tuesday. Its then that the real journey begins. For now, Seattle is just a warm up...

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Originally posted on 1/13/07 by Paul
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Arambol

Leah will be taking a little time off in Arambol to do some yoga, acclimatize and just relax before the rest of her busy trip in India.

Arambol, also known as Harmal is situated about 17km north of Chapora and about 35km from Panaji, on the tropical west coast of Goa, India.

Arambol beach is known mostly for tourism, as many people from all over (especially Israel) travel here for vacation during the winter between December and February. Leah will be there during prime time vacation season!

I hope we get lots of pictures from Arambol. After learning more about the place, I kinda wish I could go there too!

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Originally posted on 1/12/07 by Paul
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Tell me about Mumbai

Here is a quick overview of Mumbia (formerly known as Bombay). The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995, but the former name is still used by many of the city's inhabitants and famous institutions.

I didn't know this, but the city rests entirely on an island called Salsette Island. It has a population of about 18 million, with a density of about 29,000 persons per square kilometer. For comparison purposes, the density of New York City is about a third of Mumbai at only 10,316/km².



In the mid-1860's, Mumbai because the worlds primary cotton trading market and up until about 1980, the city owed much of its prosperity primarily to textile mills and the seaport. Since then, the city's economy has become more diversified and now includes information technology, healthcare, engineering and diamond polishing.

The entertainment industry is the other major employer in Mumbai. The majority of India's major television and satellite networks are based in Mumbai, plus most of its large publishing houses. Bollywood is also located in Mumbai, along with its largest studios and movie production houses.

In terms of India's economy, Mumbai contributes 10% of all factory employment, 40% of all income tax collections, 60% of all customs duty collections, 20% of all central excise tax collections, and 40% of India's foreign trade.

Next up... Arambol

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Originally posted on 1/11/07 by Paul
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Our Itinerary in India

This post will list all the cities we will be travelling to on our trip to India. Leah is leaving in less than a week on Jan 16th from Seattle.

Leah will start her trip in India with a week at a favorite Yoga retreat of hers. Following that, Leah will travel to several towns and cities by train and plane to visit our current supplier, plus research and meet potential new suppliers of organic fabrics and such.

I will leave for India about a month later, on Feb 11th. Leah and I will meet in Bombay (Mumbai) and travel to me our current supplier. This will be the first time I get to meet our supplier and I am very excited to learn more about their Natural Dyeing Process!

So, enough pre-amble, here is our itinerary...

• Date, City
• 16-Jan, Seattle, Leah leaves Seattle
• 18-Jan, Bombay, Leah arrives
• 19-Jan, Arambol, Yoga retreat
• 24-Jan, Ahmedabad
• 31-Jan, Jaipur
• 3-Feb, Delhi
• 5-Feb, Madras
• 7-Feb, Karur
• 9-Feb, Coimbatore
• 12-Feb, Cannanore
• 13-Feb, Bombay, Paul arrives
• 19-Feb, Ahmedabad
• 22-Feb, Indore
• 24-Feb, Nagpur
• 26-Feb, Ahmedabad
• 27-Feb, Bombay
• 28-Feb, London (1 day lay-over)
• 28-Feb, Seattle

Over the next couple days I will look up each city we are traveling to and write a quick profile. That way, I'll know where I'm going...

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Originally posted on 1/10/07 by Paul
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Learning about India...

Truth Alone Triumphs
-India Motto

So, as our trip approaches, I've understandably become much more interested in the other side of the planet (which happens to be where India is).

The first thing I did was to ask for a world map for xmas (which I got for Hannukah, thanks Dad). With the map pinned to my office wall (right over top my US map), I can now see India in the context of both its immediate surroundings and the rest of the world.

Who does India share its borders with, you ask? Well, here they are:

• Bangladesh 4,053 km
• Bhutan 605 km
• Burma 1,463 km
• China 3,380 km
• Nepal 1,690 km
• Pakistan 2,912 km

To me, the most interesting border country is Bangladesh. The reason? Simple, most predictions about melting ice caps and rising sea levels also predict that those changes will wipe Bangladesh off the map... Not fair for a country who has little, if nothing, to do with global warming...
Like the rest of the planet, India also has several Environmental Issues:

• deforestation
• soil erosion
• overgrazing
• desertification
• air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions
• water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides
• tap water is not potable throughout the country
• huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

What's interesting is that the same concerns that we have in North America about climate change, are also concerns around the world. In today's Gulf Times, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls for industrialized nations to develop alternative energy sources to save the environment. If only our leadership in the US and Canada was as forward thinking as others around the world.

The article goes on to point out that according to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, the top five sources of greenhouse gases are the United States, China, Russia, India and Japan. No big surprises here, except that Canada should also be on the list with the highest CO2 emissions per capita, per the David Suzuki Foundation.

So, what does this all mean? Well, I hope it means that in the process of learning more about India, I'll also learn more about how people around the globe are trying to reduce our impact on the environment. As I'm sure I will find, more and more people have growing concerns about the environment.
I guess the key though, is who among us is willing to actually do something about it...?

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Originally posted on 1/4/07 by Paul
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Shots, vaccines and violent nightmares

One of our first tasks in our preparations for India was to visit our doctors. Now, Leah has already traveled to India, Africa and other places where you would need, well, shots. Most of my travel has been in North America, so I've never had to worry about much.

For me, the list of shots and vaccines was pretty tame, I only had to get shots for Hep A and B (3 doses - now, in 1 months and again in 6 months), the rest of the vaccines are oral. The other vaccines were for Typhoid Fever and Malaria.

Sweet dreams...
I'm a little concerned about using Mefloquine to ward of malaria because I've heard about the violent nightmares as a side effect. Not only have I heard first hand accounts, but its listed as a potential side effect of the drug. Leah has recommended Malarone, but I haven't looked into it yet.

Leah said that after using Mefloquine on one of her trips that she was in bed for a week after her trip, plus she was paranoid the whole time. I don't know if I could deal with that kind of head trip in India, so I think I'll get a second opinion. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

In the end I might just resort to a solid plan of Deet, long sleeves and staying indoors at dusk...

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Originally posted on 1/1/07 by Paul
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