Sun., Jan. 23: Anders, Dave, Anand, Per, and Don arrived Chennai, 12:55 am, met Mr. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Naman (Residency Towers)

Tried on our new wedding clothes, toured Chennai with Mr. Radhakrishnan and hired driver, saw Ft. George, Mylapore, St. Thomas Church, Marina tsunami damage and markets, railway stations.

Overnight train to Madurai, leaving ~21:00 and arriving ~6:00.

Mon., Jan. 24: Toured Madurai: Milaxshi temple, tank, Nayak palace. Refreshed at local hotel briefly. Took a 4 hour drive with hired driver to Thekkady, took a boat ride at the game preserve, and stayed in Thekkady near the border betwen Tamil Nadu & Kerala.

Tue., Jan. 25: Took a 4 hr bus to Kumarakum in Kerala where we met Jon Landry as previously arranged, then took an overnight houseboat trip to Alleppy.

Wed., Jan. 26: Returned from Kochi to Chennai on a ~14:00 flight (Jet Airways), arriving in Chennai airport around 15:30.

Wedding activities

Stayed in Chennai (Residency Towers)

Thur., Jan. 27: Wedding activities

Rode to Fisherman’s Cove resort with hired driver. Stayed in Taj, Fisherman’s Cove

Fri., Jan. 28: Western-style wedding reception

Walked to tsunami-damaged village site. Saw Mahabilipuram temple site with driver arranged through hotel. In Fisherman’s Cove.

Sat., Jan. 29: Dave and Anders left the wedding party for Tanjore with hired driver, 8 hour drive, including several stops such as Pondicherry.

Stayed in Tanjore. (Hotel Oriental Towers)

Sun., Jan. 30: See Tanjore temple complex in morning.

Train to Trichy area (1.5 hrs). (Hotel: Jenneys Residence)

Mon., Jan. 31: Saw Trichy temple complex, fort area. Evening train to Coimbatore, about 6 hours.

Stayed in Coimbatore (Residency Hotel.)

Tue., Feb. 1: Nilgiri Express at 5:50 am, change at Mattupalayum (arr. 6:20 am, dep. 7:10 am) for scenic tourist railway through mountains. Whole trip to Ooty takes 6.5 hrs.

Stayed in Ooty. (Taj Hotel group’s Savoy.)

Wed., Feb. 2: Relaxed in Ooty.

Thur., Feb. 3: Bus to Mysore, Tippu Sultan’s capital. Saw palace.

Stayed in Mysore. (Green Hotel)

Fri., Feb. 4: Saw Srirangapatnam battle site via taxi.

Stayed in Mysore.

Sat., Feb. 5: Shatabdi Express train to Chennai at 14:20, arr. Bangalore 16:15, arr. Chennai 21:25. Anders left Dave at Bangalore. Took Udyan Express leaving Bangalore at 20:00 and arr. the next day at Mumbai CST 19:55. Overnight on the train.

---- North India

Sun., Feb. 6: Night in Mumbai. Shelley’s Hotel.

Mon., Feb. 7: The following sights in Mumbai: India Gate, the University grounds with their Victorian buildings, the Victoria Terminus, Gandhi’s home.

Left on overnight train. Gujarat Mail dep. 21:50, arr. Ahmedabad 6:45.

Tue., Feb. 8: In morning, connected to a 7 hr bus ride to Udaipur. Saw Gandhi’s ashram.

Night in Udaipur. Hotel: Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel.

Wed., Feb. 9: In Udaipur.

Thur., Feb. 10: Hired car (3 hours) to Chittorgarh, toured fortress complex. RSTC bus to Jaipur (7 hrs). Night in Jaipur.

Fri., Feb. 11: Saw Jaipur, the pink city. Sights: Jantar Mantar observatory, palace complex and museum, market area.

JP DLI Express dep. 16:15, arr. 21:10 in New Delhi (train was late). Stayed in New Delhi. Hotel: Hotel 55.

Sat., Feb. 12: Sights: Jama Masjid, Old Fort, Ashoka pilar at the Firoz Shah kotla, parliament, India Gate.

Night in New Delhi.

Sun., Feb. 13: Sights: Tuqluqabad, Qutb Minar.

Night in New Delhi.

Mon., Feb. 14: New Delhi-Agra: Gondwana Express, dep. 14:30, arr. Agra Cantt 17:12.

Night in Agra. (Hotel: Ganga Ratan)

Tue., Feb. 15: Taj Mahal in morning, old fort, 2 hr bus to Fatehpur Sihkri round drip in afternoon.

Night in Agra.

Wed., Feb. 16: Nizamuddin Gwalior Taj Exp dep. Agra 10:15, arr 11:15. Saw Gwalior Fort. Returned to Agra by bus. Night in Agra.

Thur., Feb. 17: Hired car for ride to Tundra JN station. The North East Exp dep. Tundra JN (just E. of Agra) at 9:45 am, arr New Jalpaiguri 9:35 the next morning. Night on the train to New Jalpaiguri (NJP), near Darjeeling.

Fri., Feb. 18: Arrived early morning, took shared jeep to Darjeeling, arrived late afternoon.

Night in Darjeeling. Hotel: Bellevue.

Sat., Feb. 19: Up at 4 am to catch shared jeep to Tiger Hill viewing station to see Everest and K3. Took the Toy Train in the morning to Ghoom. Shared jeep to NJP in the afternoon. Caught the 19:40 train to Kolkata, the NJP-Sealdah Darjeeling Mail, arr. 6:15.

Night on the train.

Sun., Feb. 20: In Kolkata. Sights: maidan, Victoria Memorial, exterior of Ft. William army base complex.

In Kolkata. Hotel: Fairlawn.

---- Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia)

Mon., Feb. 21: Read a book at the hotel. Night in airports and aboard aircraft.

Tue., Feb. 22: Thai Airways flight 314 Kolkata (CCU) to Bangkok (BKK), lv 01:40, ar 05:40
Saw several temples in Bangkok.

Night in Bangkok. Hotel: Viengtai.

Wed., Feb. 23: Palace, Wat Pho, and related temple complexes.

Night in Bangkok.

Thur., Feb. 24: Bus to Chiang Mai. (Hotel: Montri)

Fri., Feb. 25: Saw sights of Chang Mai.

Sat., Feb. 26: Bus to Chiang Rai in morning (4 hours?), saw wats there, sat by riverbank, then continued via 5 pm bus (2 hours) to Chiang Khong at Thailand-Laos border. (Hotel: River View Guest House.)

Sun., Feb. 27: Crossed border at dawn via riverboat launch, paid border taxes, boarded speedboat for 7 hour ride. In Luang Prabang.

Mon., Feb. 28: Saw the Palace. Night in Luang Prabang.

Tue., Mar. 1: Morning bus to Vientiane (11 hours).

Wed., Mar. 2: Bus to Friendship Bridge border post, buses across border, then 12 hour bus to Bangkok arriving 1 am. Night on the bus.

Thur., Mar. 3: Bus to Poipet on Cambodian border (5 hours), then on to Siem Reap via shared taxi. (Hotel: Chenla Guest House.)

Fri., Mar. 4: Saw Angkor by rental bicycle. Night in Siem Reap.

Sat., Mar. 5: Saw Angkor. Night in Siem Reap.

Sun., Mar. 6: 7 am departure to Phnom Penh via fast boat, 6 hours. Night in Phnom Penh. (Hotel: River Star.)

Mon., Mar. 7: Saw mall, palace complex, wats, and Tuol Sleng prison. Night in Phnom Penh.

Tue., Mar. 8: Saw killing fields. Night in Phnom Penh.

Wed., Mar. 9: Thai Airways flight 697 PNH-BKK, lv 10:20, arr. 11:25, overnight on flight to ICN.

---- South Korea and Japan

Thur., Mar. 10: Thai Airways flight 652 from BKK to Seoul-Inchon Int’l Airport (ICN), lv 00:30, ar 07:40. Met up with Liz as arranged, night in Seoul.

Fri., Mar. 11: Saw Namsan (mountaintop vista, reached by cable car) in morning, palace complex and changing of the guard, and Seoul Museum in afternoon. In Seoul.

Sat., Mar. 12: Bullet train to Busan (3.5 hours), saw museum of Busan History.

Sun., Mar. 13: Saw Beomosa temple, took cable car to fortress ruins. Night in Busan.

Mon., Mar. 14: Beetle hydrofoil ferry to Japan (4 hours). (Liz took train to Seoul and returned to Tokyo the next day.) Night in Fukuoka. (Hotel: Green Hotel)

Tue., Mar. 15: Shinkansen (3 hours to Osaka, 4 hours to Shin-Yokohama, commuter lines to Kawasaki) to Kawasaki (Tokyo metro area). (Stayed with Liz and Seth in Kawasaki.)

Wed., Mar. 16: Saw Asakusa temple zone, Ueno pagoda, and Shibuya area with Liz. Kawasaki (Tokyo metro area).

Thur., Mar. 17: Saw museum at Ueno, met up with Liz and Seth for dinner in Shinjuku area. Kawasaki (Tokyo metro area).

Fri., Mar. 18: Left Liz and Seth, departed via 10 am Hikari Shinkansen to Kyoto (3.5 hours). Night in Kyoto. (Hotel: Station Hotel.)

Sat., Mar. 19: Toured various Kyoto temple and Nijo-jo palace complex. Night in Kyoto. (Hotel: switched to APA Hotel.)

Sun., Mar. 20: ~9:45 am train to Nara (45 mins, via JR Nara line), toured Nara sights, returned around 4:30 pm to Kyoto. Night in Kyoto.

Mon., Mar. 21: 8 am Hikari Shinkansen to Tokyo Central, 11 am Narita Express to Narita (55 mins), 3 pm flight (NW 18, NRT-JFK), arr. New York 1:15 pm.