July 9 - Delhi

We flew to Delhi early in the morning, arriving at 12:30pm.  When we arrived, it started raining hard, so we stayed in the hotel for a bit then went out to explore the bazaars nearby in the afternoon.  There were tons of people - especially persistent salesmen hawking wares of questionable quality.

At one point we came across a large group of people dancing in the street to the music of an oddly-dressed band of trumpets, tubas, and drums.  We still have no idea what this was.

Vacation Schedule

The week of July 9-17 was our week off of work, and we traveled to four cities to see as much Indian culture in the 8 days as we could.  Our schedule was:

Saturday	9th	Pune -fly-> Delhi
Sunday	10th	Delhi
Monday	11th	Delhi
Tuesday	12th	Delhi -drive-> Agra -drive-> Jaipur
Wednesday	13th	Jaipur
Thursday	14th	Jaipur
Friday	15th	Jaipur -fly-> Udaipur
Saturday	16th	Udaipur
Sunday	17th	Udaipur -fly-> Mumbai -drive-> Pune

The trip was an incredible experience, and I'll get the next 8 posts up as soon as I can.

July 3 - Dr. Kelkar's Farm

A few hours after getting back from Mumbai, we headed to DMH to meet Dr. Kelkar and Dr. Joshi, the mentors for Jose and Ray.  We carpooled the 20 or 30 minute drive out to the farm, which is owned by Dr. Kelkar and several other investors.  It is a beautiful place, very green with flower gardens and several buildings.  There were also two german shepherds, Tiger and Rocket, who would be our hiking companions.  Tiger is a little bigger, and a bit more calm as well; he has a strange habit of picking up rocks and carrying them around in his mouth the same way most dogs carry sticks.  Rocket is fast and full of energy, hence the name.

Tiger

Rocket

We set off into the hills, hiking for about four hours.  The landscape was incredible - we passed farms, empty rice fields (they will be planted once the monsoon hits in full force), and emu enclosures.  Dr. Kelkar is an avid birdwatcher, and whenever he spotted something he would tell us about it.

At one point, we found a tree with some vines to swing from...

... Rocket didn't like the idea as much as we did

The Lion King?

At the top of the hill, Robert tossed a rock for Tiger to chase - a little to far.  It rolled all the way to the bottom... and Tiger chased it all the way down, then carried it all the way back up.

After the hike, Dr. Kelkar got his camera and went bird hunting

We choose to go to the moon...

42 years ago, we left this planet and set foot on another planetary body for the first time.  Someday, we will go back - and I hope to be a part of the new generation of engineers who will take us there.

Happy anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

July 2 - Mumbai

After taking the Immodium, I felt much better, and was able to join everyone on our trip to Mumbai.

The week I got sick (in fact, almost the day I got sick) we were joined by Sujay, Mr. Desai's nephew.  He is going into his last year of university, studying mechanical engineering.  Next year he will have to complete a large project as part of his degree program (it sounds a lot like senior design), and he spent two weeks at Virgo looking into potential projects here.  He is from Mumbai, and he offered to show us around.

Our first stop was Lonavala, an area of beautiful hills about halfway between Pune and Mumbai.

View Larger Map

A - Pune          B - Lonavala          C - Mumbai

It was a beautiful area of green hills covered in mist.  We drove up to a lookout point that Sujay said gives a great view of the valley below, but it was covered in mist.

At one point, the clouds parted for about thirty seconds, just long enough to snap a few pictures.

By the time we lined up this picture, the clouds were back

From there we stopped at a small restaurant for breakfast (I got butter toast, which is exactly what it sounds like - I wasn't taking any chances as far as digestion was concerned), then walked over to a small neighborhood where Sujay's family had a bungalow.  Behind the houses was a short trail to a beautiful valley:

Ray, Sujay, Robert, Jose, and me

Moments after this picture was taken, the cow charged at Robert.  He blocked it with his arm and was pushed back a few feet, then the cow lost interest.  I guess he was standing a little too close...

After a short stop, we drove on to Mumbai.  Our first stop was Sujay's house, where we met his mother, brother, and grandmother.  From the terrace on the roof, we had a good view of the city and the beach across the street.

The beach is right on the other side of the buildings to the right

After a brief stop, we went into the city to drive around.

The Trident Hotel, one site of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks

The Taj Hotel

Gateway of India

Leopold Cafe, where we stopped for a snack

After touring around for a bit, we went to a rooftop restaurant for dinner, where we had some amazing kebabs.  I don't know what they were - it was some kind of chicken sampler plate, and it was delicious

After dinner we headed back to Pune (making it there around 3am) and tried to get a bit of sleep in before heading to Dr. Kelkar's farm the next morning.