Category: Eastern Hemisphere

You can’t turn around in India without running into some historical site or ancient temple or something. Early in our month in India we had to come to grips with the idea that there’s just no way we could see all the things on our wishlist in 30 days. We couldn’t even see half of… Continue reading wild birds of Bharatpuhr

I already wrote about getting to Agra, and the main reason for visiting Agra. But let me mention a few other small things about our trip. Our lodging in Agra was our first Indian homestay. We stayed with a middle-aged couple named Anil and Sandhya. They have a daughter who is in college. When she… Continue reading Agra, Part 3: Other Experiences in the City

This post is about a long day of sightseeing we did on December 5, 2015, where we took in all the major sights in Agra, with the aid of a very good guide named Sudhir, and a driver who did not run into anything I noticed. The Taj Mahal The main reason for going to… Continue reading Agra, Part 2: The Great Sights (or Sites)

I know most of you just want to skip forward and see my photos of the Taj Mahal. Don’t worry, they’ll come in due time. But first, I’m gonna tell the story of how we got to Agra, the city of The Taj. My last post was about our foodie tour of Old Delhi, called… Continue reading Agra, Part 1: Getting There Was Half the Battle

They say there have been seven cities of Delhi. The first five I know nothing about. But the sixth one is what we call the “Old City” nowadays. It was designed and built in the 1640s by Shah Jahan (the king), who wanted a new modern planned city for his capital. The “New City” is the one designed… Continue reading our foodie tour of Old Delhi

Let me tell you about the first full day in Delhi, where I had some experiences that would set the tone for much of the trip. I already wrote about the multi-day journey from Kansas City to Delhi. We finally got to bed at our Delhi hotel around 4:30am. The rest of that day was… Continue reading welcome to New Delhi – tout and scam fatigue

If you’re somehow reading all these travel posts in chronological order, you just finished my article on coming back to the USA from Asia. My father-in-law, Bill Partin, died on November 11, 2015. When we got the news from the nurse earlier that week that he didn’t have much time left, Beth quickly made plane… Continue reading Kansas City: not where we expected to be right now

For hundreds of years, the area around the modern city of Siem Reap was the capital of Cambodia. The remains of at least two different capital cities are there. And there are hundreds of temples in the area, associated with one capital city or another. You’ve probably heard of Angkor Wat, which means “city temple”,… Continue reading my visit to Siem Reap – Angkor Wat and other temples