The temperatures in Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia were like training camp, preparing us to handle the heat of India - and a good thing, too, since India in late May and early June is about as hot as either of us has ever been...

We're in Dharmsala now, near India's border with Tibet, home to a large population of Tibetan refugees. It's dramatically different here from everywhere else we've been in India. For one we're at about 6000', in the foothills of the Himalayas. The air is cool and clean, the topography spectacular, and for the first time we're in a small town.

We left Varanasi yesterday afternoon, on a slow train that rocked its way through dry ochre landscapes on its way toward Delhi. We slept well, despite earthquake dreams no doubt inspired by the motion of the train...

Since I'd studied Sanskrit for a year in college, I thought I might take a crack at learning to read Hindi. The writing system developed for Sanskrit is still in widespread use in India, so at least learning to read signs and menus seemed within reach. I began deciphering any devanagari I could find with English transliteration printed beside it, and I started to remember some of that I'd learned almost 20 years ago at Reed.

On our first day walking along the ghats in Varanasi, we met 10-year-olds Vandana and Anjalie, two of the many children peddling souvenirs to tourists.

Vandana, on the left, and "Pinkie" (Anjalie) beside her

Knowing a bit about Cambodia's bloody recent history, and with strong feelings about our own government's refusal to end the use of these barbaric weapons, one of our goals in Siem Reap was to spend some time learning more at the landmine museum.

And C is for Cambodia. We left Bangkok this morning almost as soon as we'd arrived - after battling our way through the taxi touts who crowded the door of our overnight bus from Chumpon, the fifth taxi driver we talked to agreed to take us - on the meter, that's key - cross town to the bus terminal.

Turns out being asked an inflated flat rate for that taxi ride was the first of such incidents for the day...

We've just left Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand. During our week there we snorkeled and went scuba diving, read books, went sailing, read books, snorkeled, ate some good food...

Bangkok didn't grab me, first off, as a place I'd want to spend a lot of time in. Maybe it was the touts, or the fact that people here are so sick of tourists. I guess Indonesia is a tough act to follow, also!
A few days later, we had a good afternoon today, largely by accident.

Ever seen "bird's nest soup" on a menu in a Chinese restaurant? Maybe you are like me: I always imagined it was a tangle of noodles in broth resembling a submerged bird nest made of pasta. Now that I know more, I suspect I never actually tried it. Have you?