Three hours in Hong Kong

We have an eight-hour stopover in Hong Kong international airport. We though: why not try to visit Hong Kong for a couple of hours? Fortunately for us, it is blazingly simple to reach downtown Hong Kong via a super-efficient public transit system.

And it's warm here.

Today must be some kind of national holiday connected with the Chinese New Year---the town was more or less a ghost town. We walked around and tried to get a feel for what the place was all about. We found large impersonal corporate skyscrapers, frighteningly skinny and tall apartment high-rises, many closed shops, and the few people we encountered were very nice. Practically nobody noticed us, which was also nice. And there must be some fantastic A-team trash collectors here, becasuse we found absolutely no litter anywhere.

I'll try to post more pictures later, because I can't seem to get my card-reader to connect to this courtesy airport terminal computer.

We should be in Mumbai in less than 11 hours, and we are very excited. Let the travels begin!

Solutions for Mr. E

Brian Mossor, in a hint at his future musical career: lead guitarist for the jam-band "Solutions for Mr. E" at the Loveland theater on Saturday, 28 January 2006. Loved the music, loved the energy.

We can't wait to see him again when we return. Keep it up, Mossor.

Packing for the trip

We hardly know what to bring. We want to bring as little as possible, because we want to travel light. We have two bike bags each in which we put some clothes, a first-aid kit, a camera, toilet paper, bike tools, and yes, a loud horn for traffic safety. You also see Monica holding the guidebooks which should help us find our way around India and Sri Lanka for the next few months.

We go to the airport in one hour!

A brief trip to NYC before departure

So we just had to visit my parents in New York before we leave. There were grumblings from thirteenth street about maybe coming out to Sri Lanka and meeting up with us there. Maybe join us in northern India as well?

The thought of traveling with our parents in India might seem strange to some, but to us it feels like exactly the right fit. Here's an opportunity to share a very important part of our lives with two people who will know exactly how to appreciate the adventure.

The picture is of Monica, my dad, and myself looking very satisfied with our Chinatown Ice Cream treats (I got lycee). Mind you it was about 20F outside, but somehow it made sense to have ice cream.

Monica and I also used the trip as a chance to visit some of the schools to which we have applied. We both visited Stony Brook and I also visited the physics department at Columbia University---a very exciting place indeed.

It all begins with the plane tickets

There is something momentous about spending $2600. Airplane tickets to take you from North America to India for two adults cost us just that much. Our trip was instantly transformed from an idea in our head to tangible trip we can hold in our hands. Man, we don't have much time to learn Hindi. And there is not much time to finish all the things that we'd like to finish here in Portland.

But hey, that is the way it goes while we make an abrupt change in our lives. That is the cost: that we might not get every little loose end tied up; that we do not know where our next apartment will be when we return; that we do not know when or where we will return; and perhaps most importantly, that we do not know how this trip will change us.

We welcome the adventure all the more.